VietNamNet Bridge – Hoang Thi Linh, a worker at Lan Anh Sewing Company in HCM City’s Phu Nhuan District, is worried about having to pay VND3 million (US$181.8) in school fees for her son who is going to 10th grade.
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For many workers, their children’s school fees are a big burden. |
She is worried sick about having to pay her son’s fees as well as run the family on their meagre earnings.
Nguyen Thi Men, a worker at CCHTop Company in the city’s Tan Thuan Export and Processing Zone, is weary of paying her child’s kindergarten fees.
Though the school year has just begun, she has already paid VND910,000. In addition, her daughter’s school does not keep the children on Saturday, meaning she sends the child to a private nursery near her workplace that costs VND30,000 a day.
For many workers, their children’s school fees are a big burden. Though they are reluctant to stay at home – and lose their moderate earnings – to take care of their young children, many are unable to afford school fees.
Tran Thi My Huol, a worker at Pou Yuen Company in the city’s Binh Tan District, says she wants to stop working to take care of her child.
Her son had attended kindergarten for a year, but she was unable to send him to school any more after his fees went up from VND700,000 per month to VND955,000 this year.
“The fees are higher than my salary,” she says.
Huol’s colleague Bui Thi Thanh too does not send her son to school. She smiles sadly and says she wants her son to attend school but cannot afford the fees.
The situation is the same in home after home in the area where Thanh rents a room.
For many workers the only choice is to take their children to their native villages or towns to study.
Bui Van Chon, a worker at T.V. Company in District 12, says that he has two children and cannot afford to send both to school on his monthly salary of VND3 million. So he has put his older child in primary school in his native Dong Thap Province.
But having children live and study far away from their parents has its downside.
Nguyen Van Hung of Upgain Company, says his son, who is studying in the countryside, has failed to get promoted to the next grade for many years because there has been no one to keep an eye on him. His wife has had to go and live with the boy though it is difficult to get a job in the countryside.
The daughter of Tran Thi Men of Bach Lan Company, who had also been studying in her native village, had remained in fourth grade for three years before Men decided to bring her back to the city.
“My life is so hard because I did not go to school. I do not want my daughter’s life to be similar to mine.”
(Source: Viet Nam News)
Update from: http://english.vietnamnet.vn//education/2008/09/806335/