Teachers in private kindergartens received an average salary of 2 million VND (100 USD) per month, while their colleagues in State-owned ones often needed to work about four years to achieve this level of salary, said Nguyen Thi Lan Huong, chief of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training's preschool education division
"Many teachers leave State schools to work in private ones," Huong said.
Nguyen Thanh Hang, a teacher at the Tuoi Hoa Private Kindergarten in Thanh Xuan district, said she left a State school after two years because she received no allowances and was unable live on the meagre salary.
"We were busy all day taking care of the children but received only a little over 1 million VND (50 USD) a month," said Hang.
Huong admitted that city regulations provided for allowances for primary and secondary school teachers but not for preschool teachers.
"But the school fees are low compared to the current standard of living and the State budget is limited, so if we want allowances for teachers, we need support from parents," she said.
But Ngo Thi Binh from the Soc Son district Department of Education and Training disagreed.
"We cannot encourage teachers in the district if we don't pay them more," she said.
However, few parents are able to afford to send their kids to private kindergartens because of high fees.
Le Mai Phuong, whose daughter is attending a private kindergarten in Hai Ba Trung district, said she reluctantly let her daughter study there while she was on a waiting list at a nearby State preschool.
"The school fees of 1.5 million VND (78 USD) a month here is too high for people on State workers' wages like my husband and me," Phuong said.
But the city is also suffering from a shortage of State-supported preschools.
Ha Noi has 667 State-owned preschools and 160 privately operated schools. Another 865 private kindergarten classes are offered, according to the Hanoi Department of Education and Training.
Huong said the number of children at preschool age had been increasing, with the result that State-supported schools were overloaded.
Many parents queued up all night for a chance to register their children in one of these schools, which are often larger and better equipped, as well as less expensive than private schools, Huong said.
Building new preschools was
also problematic, said Huong, because of the shortage of available land.
"We can't build preschools too high ," she added./.
