Education experts have insisted tighter inspection and management ofprivate kindergartens is needed to shore up education quality.

At a conference on private kindergarten management in Hanoi on October15, they also called for raising the calibre of qualifications requiredfor kindergarten owners.

Deputy director of theLong Bien Education and Training Office Hoang Thi Kim Phuong raisedobjections to the regulation that owners of a private kindergarten onlyneeded to have a secondary junior school degree.

Teachers of the kindergartens must graduate from vocational schools sothat they have a thorough grasp of child psychology and skills necessaryfor taking care of children, she said.

"Theregulation should be amended so that owners of private kindergartensmust have at least a qualification from a kindergarten vocationalschool, or have at least three years of work experience," said Phuong.

Deputy director of the Cau Giay Education andTraining Office Nguyen Thi Minh Xuyen said many private kindergartenowners only attended short-term training courses which did not equipthem with enough professional skills.

Deputy chiefinspector of the municipal Department of Education and Training Le ThiDieu Hoa said that the Ministry of Education and Training had issued adocument on inspection including kindergartens.

Thedepartment will also conduct surprise inspections at privatekindergartens, focusing on the quality of child care, facilities andfinancial transparency.

Deputy director of themunicipal department Pham Thi Hong Nga added that her office wouldorganise free annual training courses for owners of privatekindergartens.

In June this year, more than 900kindergartens were operating in Hanoi. Nearly 700 centres wereState-owned, with the remaining facilities run by the private sector,according to statistics from the municipal department.

Most private kindergartens were located in inner Hanoi, including BaDinh, Dong Da and Hoang Mai districts. Around 70,000 children areenrolled in private kindergartens.-VNA