VietNamNet Bridge – While state owned nursery schools do not
have seats for the children of immigrant workers, private schools always charge
overly high tuitions. As a result, immigrant workers have to bring their
children to household-run classes or to grandparents in home villages.
Nguyen Tan Dinh, Deputy Head of
the HCM City Management Board of Industrial Zone and Export Processing Zone,
once saw a female worker crying at the personnel department of an enterprise.
The worker just came back to work after a 4-month maternity leave, but asked
for the permission for another unpaid holiday to take care for the child. The
enterprise refused her proposal and sacked her.
The problem of the female worker
was that she could not find a babysitter who could take care for child at
“reasonable fees” when she was away at work. Therefore, she wanted to stay off
work for a certain period until she found out a solution. However, she did not
want to give up the job, because she needed money to feed herself and her
child.
Dinh said that the lack of
schools and babysitting services in big cities is one of the biggest concerns
of immigrant workers.
Who take care of immigrant
workers’ children?
With the modest income of workers
in industrial zones and export processing zones, immigrant workers cannot
afford the sky high tuitions set up by private schools. Therefore, the workers
have no other choice than bringing their children to household run classes.
Nguyen Thi My Kim, a worker of
Hong Ik Vina in the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, brings her child to an
old woman living near her rental room every day to have the woman taken care
for the child. The old woman arrived in HCM City some days ago to help the son
take care for the grandchild.
Kim thought it would be better if
the old woman takes care for the two children at the same time. However, she
always feels worried about the child when she is at work, because she is not
sure if the old woman can look after the two children.
Nguyen Thi Oanh, a worker of the
Bach Tuyen Cotton Company in Vinh Loc Industrial Zone, has to bring her child
to a household run class near her rent room.
“I have to pay 1.5 million dong a
month in tuition. If I pick up my child late in the afternoon because of extra
working hours, I would have to pay 20,000 dong additionally,” Oanh said, adding
that the child’s tuition alone gobbles up her monthly pay.
When asked about the education
quality of the household run class, Oanh said the class runners just feed the
children, not educate them.
Oanh and her husband feel worried
stiff after reading on local newspapers that a lot of children got accidents at
household run classes because of the low quality of the unlicensed babysitting
services. However, she has no other choice.
Meanwhile, Nguyen Huu Duc, a
worker of CCHTop in the Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone, is luckier than
others, because his mother can help look after the grandchild.
“We remit 2 million dong a month
to my mother, so that she can take care for my child. However, we feel sad
because we are far away from the child,” Duc said, adding that some of his
colleagues are from northern provinces and they can only meet their children
once a year.
Compiled by Thanh Mai
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