Vietnam Association of Non-Public Preschool Education was established on May 26, 2021 with Decision No. 662/QD-BNV by the Ministry of Home Affairs. According to statistics by the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training, early childhood education (ECE) is the level with the highest proportion of non-public educational institutions (private and self-funded) compared to other levels. As of the end of the 2020-2021 school year, there are 19,312 non-public ECE institutions nationwide (3,299 schools and 16,013 independent ECCE institutions), with more than 90.5 thousand management staff who provides care and education to more than 1.2 million children. Private kindergartens provide care and education to nearly 22.3% of the total number of preschool children in Vietnam.
Vietnam Association of Non-Public Preschool Education (http://mamnonvietnam.vn) is the representative organization of these ECE institutions, with the goal of improving the management and professional capacity of ECE organizations across the country; provide policy consultation and support to state policies on the ECE education system; seek, connect with international ECE organizations for exchange experiences in preschool management and operation. The association is also an extension of the state management agencies in early childhood education to contribute to improving the quality of the non-public preschool industry across the country.
The association had its first international collaboration activity in 2022 with an international partner, Preschool Market Singapore (https://www.preschoolmarket.com/). On April 21, 2022, the two sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to promote the professional development exchange program for preschool teachers of the two countries through the Program “Connecting Vietnamese-Singaporean preschool teachers 2022” that includes study tours, webinars for teachers and managers of ECE institutions in Vietnam to exchange experiences with Singapore preschools; co-organizes educational conferences and seminars in Vietnam and Singapore on topics of mutual interest.
Since 2015, Preschool Market Singapore has been providing preschool consultancy and training of preschool teachers, curriculum development, resource development, early childhood research work, learning programs for children at preschool level based on the Singapore Ministry of Education’s Nurturing Early Learners’ Framework and facilitated multiple cultural exchanges between preschool teachers and administrators from Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Singapore. Ms. Cheong Su Fen, Chief Executive Officer of Preschool Market, previously worked at the Singapore Ministry of Education, and is also a lecturer at the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS). She specializes in topics ranging from Sustainable Education, Robotics and Tech Toys For Early Learners, Computational and Sequential Thinking, STEAM Education, Knowledge Management, to Building a community of preschool teachers.
At the signing ceremony of the MOU, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dinh Thi Kim Thoa, President of Vietnam National Ethnic Minority Education and Training Association shared: “Vietnam Association for Non-Public Preschool Education has been making efforts to connect non-public ECE institutions for the implementation of the country’s goals in Early Childhood Education, to promote the sustainable development, quality and effectiveness of early childhood education. At the same time we strive to strengthen the capacity and professionalism of non-public ECE institutions to provide care and education to the young generation. Through the program “Connecting Vietnamese – Singapore preschool teachers”, our association wishes to support non-public ECE institutions to get to know the experience of Singapore preschools in digital transformation in teaching technology. We trust that indepth topics such as Learning with Robots and Computer Thinking in Kindergarten classrooms in Singapore, when introduced to Vietnamese ECE teachers and administrators, will help preschool institutions kindergarten generate more ideas, more playgrounds to express their creativity and innovation in early childhood education through digital technology.”
Ms. Su Fen Cheong, Managing Director of Preschool Market Singapore, expressed her views: “We are very excited to exchange experiences with the strong community of 400,000 Vietnamese preschool teachers through the VANPPE. We are willing to coordinate in organizing seminars, webinars for teachers and managers of ECE institutions in Vietnam to exchange experiences with Singapore preschools, co-organize educational conferences and seminars in Vietnam and Singapore on topics of mutual interest.”
For more information about activities in the Program “Connecting Vietnam – Singapore preschool teachers”, the school can contact the secretariat of HH ECE NCL Vietnam:
Secretariat of the Association, Building 791, Lane 59 Lang Ha Street, Ba Dinh, Hanoi
Email: banthuky@mamnonvietnam.vn; Phone: 0848 201 096 (Ms. Linh)
