Vietnam: Does a preschool that has a child slip and fall meet the standards?

Does a preschool meet safety standards against accidents and injuries if a child slips and falls?

Pursuant to Article 8 Circular 45/2021/TT-BGDDT of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, standards of safe preschool education facilities for preventing and controlling accidents and injuries are specified as follows:

Standards of safe preschool education facilities for preventing and controlling accidents and injuries

1. During the school year, preschool education facilities shall not let the following situations happen: children are abused, receive violence, or have serious injuries resulting in hospitalization or death; managers, teachers, and staff behave unethically and violate regulations on teacher ethics; food poisoning happens or epidemics spread in a wide scale in their premises.

2. Regarding assessment results of the criteria for safe preschool education facilities for preventing and controlling accidents and injuries as prescribed in the Appendix hereof:

a) Nurseries, kindergartens, and preschools that satisfy at least 40 criteria (including 20 mandatory criteria) will receive a “passed” assessment.

b) Independent daycare groups, kindergarten classes, and preschool classes that satisfy at least 30 criteria (including 15 mandatory criteria) will receive a "passed" assessment.

The preschool must ensure sufficient standards for a safe preschool facility, preventing and controlling accidents and injuries.

Ensuring that during the academic year, at the preschool facility, there are no instances of: children being abused, assaulted, suffering severe accidents or injuries leading to hospitalization or death; management staff, teachers, employees behaving inappropriately, violating teacher ethics regulations; food poisoning or widespread infectious diseases occurring at the preschool facility.

Thus, if a preschool has a child who slips and falls requiring hospitalization, it will not meet the standards to become a safe preschool facility, preventing and controlling accidents and injuries.

A preschool has a child who slips and falls – does it meet the standards? What skills should preschool teachers be trained in to handle accidents? (Image from the Internet)

What responsibilities do preschool teachers have to prevent children from slipping and falling requiring hospitalization?

Pursuant to Article 27 of the Preschool CharterCharter of Preschools issued together with Circular 52/2020/TT-BGDDT of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, tasks of teachers are as follows:

- Protect the safety of children's physical, mental, and lives during their time at school.

- Perform the work of nurturing, caring, and educating children in accordance with the educational program for preschools.

- Preserve the virtue, honor, and reputation of educators; treat fairly and respect the personality of children; protect legitimate rights and benefits of children; unite and help colleagues; perform etiquette principles of teachers and regulations on educators’ morality as per regulation.

- Disseminate scientific knowledge about raising children for parents of children; proactively cooperate with families of children in performing educational objectives for children.

- Conduct self-study and advanced training to improve the professional capability in nurturing, caring, educating children.

- Perform regulations of the school and other regulations of the law.

What skills are preschool teachers trained in when there are emergencies involving children?

Pursuant to Article 4 Circular 45/2021/TT-BGDDT, the improvement of awareness and professional capacity for managers, teachers, and staff is prescribed as follows:

Improvement of awareness and professional capacity for managers, teachers, and staff

1. Provide training in the improvement of awareness and professional capacity for managers, teachers, and staff regarding preventing and controlling accidents, injuries, and drowning; prevention of fire and explosion; traffic safety; prevention and control of children violence and abuse; prevention of drowning; food safety assurance work.

2. Provide training in skills and knowledge of response and handling of emergencies that happen to children, such as accident and injury handling, first aid skills, and response to natural disasters and epidemics for managers, teachers, and staff.

3. Provide training in professional skills and teacher ethics and disseminate relevant laws on children protection and care for managers, teachers, and staff.

4. Disseminate regulations related to children's safety assurance, prevention and control of epidemics, and prevention and control of children violence and abuse in meetings, professional activities, and thematic activities of preschool education facilities.

5. Prepare adequate guiding documents on skills and knowledge of safety assurance, prevention and control of accidents and injuries of children for teachers in preschool education facilities.

Thus, according to the above regulation, preschool teachers are trained in skills regarding handling accidents and injuries; first aid skills; natural disaster response; disease control to help teachers acquire knowledge to respond and handle emergencies involving children.

Furthermore, the school will also provide adequate instructional materials to guide teachers on knowledge and skills to ensure safety, prevent accidents and injuries for children within the preschool facility.