Draft of the second version of the Decree stipulating policies on preschool education development is currently open for public comments and is expected to come into effect in 2020.
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This Draft has added the category of children eligible for lunch support, which includes the children of workers working in industrial zones and attending non-public kindergartens, both private and community-based. Specifically, Clause 1, Article 4 of This Decree stipulates support policies for children of workers working in industrial zones as follows:
1. Children of workers and laborers working in industrial zones, employed by enterprises with labor contracts and social insurance as per regulations, residing with either parent, and attending non-public kindergartens (excluding institutions cooperating with foreign entities or having foreign elements) shall be entitled to the following support policies:
a) Support for lunch expenses, at least the level of support stipulated in Article 3 of This Decree;
b) Support for tuition fees, at least equivalent to the tuition fees of public educational institutions located in the same area.
Therefore, in the near future, if This Draft is approved, children of workers and laborers working in industrial zones and attending non-public educational institutions will also receive lunch support, provided their parents have labor contracts and social insurance as per regulations.
This is a very humane regulation by the Government of Vietnam. Because Decree 06/2018/ND-CP has not yet provided specific regulations on lunch support for children of workers in industrial zones, but only stipulated support for children without caregivers as per Decree 136/2013/ND-CP; children from families classified as poor, near-poor, or with either parent being a permanent resident in specially difficult communes, villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, or specially difficult coastal areas and islands.
Additionally, This Draft also specifies that the minimum support amount for lunch will be 10% of the statutory pay rate per child per month and tuition support will be at least equivalent to the tuition fees of public educational institutions in the same locality.
For more details on the Draft, see HERE.
Toan Trung
