Survey report: Actual Situation and Management Mechanism of Independent, Private Child Care Groups in Viet Nam

Over the past years, private child care centres and family-based child care groups have been booming in Viet Nam to meet the public demand for under 3-year old child care as public education cannot accommodate fully these children. There have been many concerns about quality related issues of these groups/centres including but not limited to abuse, violence, unsafety, malnutrition, obesity, intellectual delay, etc. As such, this study looks into the actual situation of these groups/centres and to recommend solutions to remove existing barriers that hinders early childhood development especially of children under 3-years old in Viet Nam. The study was conducted by the Early Childhood Education Research Centre under the Viet Nam National Institute of Educational Science, with support from UNICEF Viet Nam since 2015. Field visits were made to six provinces represented three typical areas in Viet Nam, namely densely populated areas (Ha Noi, Nghe An), industrialized zones (Binh Duong, Vinh Phuc) and ethnic minority areas (Lao Cai, Gia Lai).