June 1st School

At a park outside the Opera House in Ho Chi Minh City, six-year-old boy spends the day fiddling with sticks and playing alone, or joining his father as he drives customers on his motorbike. He isn't in class because his father doesn't have the money to pay for it. Situations such as this are common all across Vietnam. Rather than hit the books, school-age children bus tables, work at convenience stores, or wander the streets peddling gum and lottery tickets from their satchels.

Education in Vietnam, which has a long scholarly tradition, is meant to be free. It’s constitution even pledges, "Primary education is compulsory and tuition-free.” But still many families can't afford it. That’s because public schools can require students to pay fees for sanitation, traffic guards, gardeners, pens, notebooks, and even to have the buildings repainted. The practice was seen as so abusive that in 2011, the Ministry of Education and Training ordered schools to stop overcharging parents. The wide range of fees means school is out of reach for many families.

Aid for Kids support of the June 1^st School in Ho Chi Minh City. We recently offered scholarships to 20 children at the school. That allowed them to continue their education. We hope to expand that number in May.

According to the General Statistics Office, 15.5% of students age 5-18 leave school early. For many families money is needed just to survive. And so if they have to pay for school, then how will they manage to live? With your continuing donations we can prevent these families from making such a horrific choice.

Help us put the "free" back into free public education!

Links:

• http://www.aidforkids.org/vietnam