Decision No. 149/2006/QĐ-TTg Approving the Project "Developing Early Childhood Education for the Period 2006-2015"

Pursuant to …;

Approve the Project on Early Childhood Education Development for the 2006-2015 period

________________

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Pursuant to the Education Law dated June 14, 2005;

Pursuant to the Resolution of the Government's session in November 2005;

Based on the proposal of the Minister of Education and Training.

Pursuant to …;

Article 1. Approve the Project on Early Childhood Education Development for the 2006-2015 period with the following main contents:

I. Guiding viewpoints

1. Early childhood education is the first level of the national education system, laying the initial foundation for the physical, intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic development of Vietnamese children. The care and development of early childhood education is the shared responsibility of all levels of government, each sector, each family, and the entire society under the leadership of the Party and the management of the State.

2. The State has the responsibility to manage and invest in the development of early childhood education; at the same time, it creates favorable conditions regarding mechanisms and policies, promotes socialization efforts; the State prioritizes investment in early childhood education in regions with difficult economic and social conditions, particularly extremely difficult areas, mountainous regions, remote areas, islands, and border areas.

3. The care and education of young children must be carried out with close coordination and integration between schools, families, and society. Emphasis should be placed on enhancing and improving the effectiveness of promotional activities and disseminating knowledge about child care and education to parents to diversify methods of caring for and educating children.

4. Gradually implement reforms in the content and methods of early childhood education according to principles that ensure synchronization, suitability, advancement, and alignment with reforms in general education, preparing children well for primary school, contributing positively and practically to improving educational quality.

II. Objectives

1. General Objective:

Develop early childhood education to achieve fundamental, solid, and comprehensive changes, improve the quality of nurturing, caring for, and educating children; consolidate and expand the network of early childhood education facilities, especially focusing on ethnic minority regions, areas with extremely difficult economic and social conditions, mountainous regions, remote areas, border areas, and islands; diversify childcare and education methods; ensure salary and policy benefits for kindergarten teachers as stipulated. Strive to ensure that most children are cared for and educated through appropriate forms by 2010, reducing the rate of malnourished children.

2. Specific Objectives:

a) Train, enhance, and improve the quality of the kindergarten teacher workforce, aiming for 80% of teachers to meet the training standards by 2010 and 100% by 2015, including 8% exceeding the standard by 2010 and 15% by 2015;

b) Consolidate and expand the network of kindergartens and classes, increasing the ratio of children under three years old attending nurseries and groups from 15% in 2005 to 20% in 2010 and reaching 30% in 2015; children aged three to five attending kindergarten from 58% in 2005 to 67% in 2010 and reaching 75% in 2015; five-year-old children attending kindergarten from 92% in 2005 to 95% in 2010 and 99% in 2015;

c) Increase the percentage of early childhood education facilities meeting national standards from 9% in 2005 to 20% in 2010 and 50% in 2015;

d) For regions with extremely difficult economic and social conditions, mountainous regions, remote areas, border areas, and islands: increase the ratio of children aged three to five attending kindergarten from 43% in 2005 to 55% in 2010 and reaching 62% in 2015. Strive to equalize the kindergarten attendance rate for five-year-olds in these regions with the national average;

Consolidate and complete early childhood education facilities in regions with extremely difficult economic and social conditions, mountainous regions, remote areas, border areas, and islands. From 2006 to 2010, allocate funds to equip infrastructure, teaching equipment, and train teachers according to standard criteria for approximately 2,500 early childhood education facilities in these regions; develop plans to train and enhance the qualifications of approximately 3,000 teachers.

e) Improve the quality of nurturing, caring for, and educating children in early childhood education facilities, striving for 80% of children meeting developmental standards by 2010 and 95% by 2015, reducing the rate of malnourished children in early childhood education facilities below 12% by 2010 and below 10% by 2015;

f) Increase the percentage to 70% by 2010 and 90% by 2015 of parents receiving basic knowledge dissemination on child care, nurturing, and education.

III. Tasks and Solutions

1. Building and improving the quality of the teaching staff and management cadre in early childhood education

a) Direct and implement tasks related to early childhood education as stated in Decision No. 09/2005/QĐ-TTg dated January 11, 2005, of the Prime Minister approving the Project on "Building and Improving the Quality of Teaching Staff and Management Cadre in Education for the 2005-2010 Period";

b) Develop training and enhancement plans for the teaching staff and management cadre in early childhood education for each phase in each locality and nationwide; consolidate and re-plan early childhood teacher training institutions in line with overall planning;

c) Reform and perfect the content, curriculum, and teaching methods for early childhood education at the secondary, college, and university levels to suit national requirements and international integration;

d) Develop programs and plans for regular enhancement and training to meet and exceed qualification standards for early childhood teachers according to the needs of each region and locality;

e) Direct the implementation of policies and benefits for early childhood teachers in accordance with state regulations, particularly social insurance, health insurance, and salaries; establish policies ensuring equality among teachers working in public and private early childhood education facilities.

2. Reform the curriculum, content, and methods of early childhood education

a) Develop and implement a new early childhood education curriculum integrating care and education content around themes, organizing activities for children, especially play activities suitable for their age-specific psychological and physiological development and the requirements of nurturing, caring for, and educating children;

b) Improve methods for monitoring and evaluating children's developmental quality;

c) Enhance the provision of equipment and toys to serve the innovation of preschool education content and methods. Provide game programs and computer and foreign language toy sets so that by 2010, about one-third of preschool education facilities will have access to computers and foreign languages.

d) Compile guidance materials for implementing the new preschool education program, with emphasis on teaching Vietnamese to children from ethnic minority areas.

3. Develop and improve planning for the network, strengthen investment in physical infrastructure for preschool education facilities.

a) Develop planning for the development of the preschool education facility network in various regions, meeting needs and adapting to the conditions of each locality.

b) Preschool education facilities are established in three types: public, private, and民办非企业。主要在经济和社会条件特别困难的地区建立公立类型。

Implement the transfer of public-private preschool education facilities to private or民办非企业类型，按照法律规定进行。鼓励成立民办非企业学前教育设施。

c) Prioritize funding for the construction of public preschool education facilities in areas with particularly difficult economic and social conditions and ethnic minority areas, ensuring that each commune has at least one preschool education facility, ensuring that children can study the five-year-old kindergarten curriculum before entering primary school.

d) Strengthen physical infrastructure, equipment, and toys to ensure the progress and quality of the implementation of the new preschool education program.

4. Supplement and perfect systems and policies, and vigorously promote socialization in the field of preschool education.

a) Continue to implement, while researching, supplementing, and perfecting the policies for developing preschool education stipulated in Decision No. 161/2002/QĐ-TTg dated November 15, 2002 of the Government. The state supports preschool teachers working in private preschool education facilities to earn a salary not lower than the minimum wage set by the state; they are entitled to participate in insurance and enjoy other benefits as those with the same level of training and job responsibilities in public facilities; support regular training and development for teachers working in民办非企业学前教育设施；

b) Private preschool education facilities must ensure that teacher salaries are not lower than those in public and民办非企业学前教育设施，并按规定实施教师保险和其他政策待遇；

The state implements policies to encourage the production of toys and equipment serving the new preschool education program.

c) Fully implement socialization in accordance with the spirit of Resolution No. 05/2005/NQ-CP dated April 18, 2005 on promoting socialization in educational, health, cultural, and sports activities. Encourage, mobilize, and create conditions for social organizations, social professional organizations, economic organizations, and individuals both domestically and internationally to invest in preschool education.

d) Improve the allocation of state budget funds for preschool education towards calculating standards based on the number of preschool-aged children in the area.

5. Enhance awareness and vigorously promote information and communication work on preschool education.

a) Raise awareness among Party committees, governments, communities, and families regarding the role and position of preschool education in the national education system and in human resource development.

b) Increase the responsibility of Party committees, government management agencies, and local authorities in directing and organizing information and communication work on preschool education.

c) Develop information and communication plans, compile and provide materials to disseminate basic knowledge and skills in nurturing, caring for, and educating preschool children, creating conditions for political-social organizations, social professional organizations, parents, and the whole society to participate in preschool education development.

6. Strengthen preschool education management; promote international cooperation.

a) Fully implement分级管理教育的精神，根据政府第166/2004/NĐ-CP号决定关于教育国家管理责任的规定。教育部履行其职能和任务，集中做好战略、规划和发展机制、活动制度、质量管理、监督、检查和教育质量认证工作。

b) Establish a close coordination mechanism in management, information, and communication between the Ministry of Education and Training and relevant ministries, sectors, and localities in preschool care and education work.

Vigorously enhance and improve the effectiveness of international cooperation, actively attract investments and sponsorships from international organizations such as UNICEF, UNESCO, WB, ADB, and domestic and foreign non-governmental organizations.

IV. Sources of Funds

The sources of funds for developing preschool education include:

- Funds from the state budget allocated in the national target program and annual regular expenditure budget according to the分级管理预算的规定；

- Other lawful sources.

Article 2. Implementation

b) Inspect and supervise educational institutions in implementing vaccination work.

a) Take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries, sectors, and localities to direct, guide, and develop detailed programs and projects to implement the contents of this Plan.

b) Coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment to develop an investment program according to the preschool education development goals to be implemented in the National Target Program on Education for the period 2006-2010, and submit it to the Prime Minister for consideration and approval.

c) Organize supervision, inspection, regular evaluation, and summary of the implementation results of the Plan, and report regularly to the Government and the Prime Minister.

2. The Population, Family, and Children Committee shall be responsible for:

a) Take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training to supervise the implementation of contents related to protecting children's rights in the field of preschool education.

b) Coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training, relevant ministries, agencies, and localities to implement communication programs and mobilize the whole society to participate in preschool education development.

c) Establish mechanisms and policies regarding families and children to serve the goals of developing preschool education.

3. Responsibilities of the Ministry of Planning and Investment:

a) Take the lead and coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training to compile and review the investment program for preschool education under the National Target Program on Education for the period of 2006-2010 for submission to the Prime Minister for approval;

b) Coordinate with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Training to develop annual investment plans for preschool education in localities; improve budget allocation work for regular expenses.

4. The Ministry of Finance shall be responsible for:

a) Allocate regular budgets and targeted programs for preschool education to ensure the objectives and implementation schedule of the Project; strengthen financial audits and inspections in accordance with the Law on State Budgets;

b) Take the lead and coordinate with relevant ministries and agencies to study improvements in budget allocation; develop and perfect necessary financial mechanisms and policies to promote preschool education.

5. The Ministry of Home Affairs shall be responsible for researching, amending, and supplementing mechanisms and policies concerning staffing for preschool teachers and educational management personnel across various types of educational institutions.

6. The Ministry of Health shall be responsible for:

a) Taking the lead in building plans and implementing vaccination and disease prevention programs for children; coordinating with the Ministry of Education and Training to develop and perfect health service programs, healthcare, and nutrition integrated into teacher training and development.

b) Coordinating with the Ministry of Education and Training to disseminate knowledge and skills and provide childcare and education services at home.

7. The Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs shall be responsible for:

Taking the lead and coordinating with the Ministry of Education and Training to direct and supervise the implementation of social insurance, health insurance, and other social policies for preschool teachers and children.

8. People's Committees at all levels are responsible for:

a) Building specific programs and projects to concretize the objectives, tasks, and solutions of this Project to direct and implement on the territory;

b) Directing the planning and construction of preschool education facilities, teacher training plans, and mobilizing preschool children to attend school for each phase on the territory, in line with the socio-economic conditions of the locality;

c) Directing the investment in physical infrastructure, equipment, and toys to support the implementation of new preschool education programs; adopting preferential policies to promote preschool education on the territory; ensuring the allocation of budgets for preschool education in accordance with current regulations;

d) Directing the application of regulations and policies for teachers in various types of preschool education facilities on the territory in accordance with state regulations.

9. The Government requests the Vietnam Fatherland Front, the Vietnam Women's Union, the Vietnam Association for Supporting Education, and other organizations and associations to actively participate in promoting preschool education, encourage children to attend kindergartens and nursery schools; enhance the dissemination and provision of knowledge on child care and education to each family.

Article 3. This Decision shall take effect fifteen days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette.

Article 4. THE MINISTERS, HEADS OF GOVERNMENT-LEVEL MINISTRIES, HEADS OF GOVERNMENT-LEVEL AGENCIES, AND CHAIRMEN OF PROVINCE AND CITY PEOPLE'S COMMITTEES DIRECTLY UNDER THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ENFORCING THIS DECISION./.