Kindergarten in Hanoi feeds children noodles and thin porridge: parents turn pale, teachers slander?

A few days ago, Ms. MA, a parent whose child is studying at the Zing Zing private kindergarten in Phuong Mai ward, Dong Da district, Hanoi, posted a complaint against the class group for feeding the children instant noodles "without a pilot" twice a week.

The other meals were also of poor quality, one day it was thin porridge cooked with broth and pureed vegetables, the other day it was just white rice with thinly sliced ham soup. Ms. A. said that each month she paid a total of nearly 4.4 million VND for her child's tuition, of which 50,000 VND/day was spent on meals. Ms. MA's child is over 2 years old and has been studying here for 1 year. In the pictures shared by Ms. MA, the children's meals are instant noodles without vegetables or meat or a bowl of thin porridge without meat cooked with pureed vegetables.

Pictures of the children's frugal meals were sent to Ms. A by a teacher at the school. After that, this teacher was fired.

Sharing with the press, Ms. A. confided that when she received the image from the teacher, she was very upset and made an appointment to talk to the head of the independent preschool group, but this person avoided it. On the evening of August 8, Ms. A. and other parents met Ms. T. - the head of the group. She admitted to feeding the children instant noodles "without a driver" but did not admit to the image of the bowl of thin porridge.

According to Ms. A, Ms. T. denied it even though the homeroom teacher was willing to confirm it. Ms. T. claimed that the homeroom teacher had slandered the school. Ms. T. replied "I don't remember the password" when the parents asked to see the camera to confirm the meal image.

Ms. A. provided a clip in which Ms. T. said that feeding instant noodles to children is not wrong because there is only a recommendation not to, but no regulation that says "not allowed".

Regarding this, Ms. Trinh Dan Ly - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Dong Da district - confirmed the incident occurred at the independent preschool group Zing Zing. Today (August 9), the People's Committee of Phuong Mai ward suspended the activities of this group. Previously, Ms. A's accusation shared on social networks attracted the attention of many people, especially parents. Most people assessed that collecting 50,000 VND for meals/day to feed children like this is too little and not guaranteed.

Ms. A also emphasized: "Many mothers say instant noodles are okay, but for children, they need to be very limited. Instant noodles for adults are sold by the kilo, are cheap, and twice a week, not occasionally, so what's wrong with that, mothers? Instant noodles are not good for health, especially for children under 1 year old. So there's no need to make a big deal out of it."

Zing Zing Independent Preschool was established in June 2023 by Ms. Hoang Thi Thuy with a class size of children aged 12-24 months, preschool, and middle preschool. The facility has 4 teachers directly caring for the children, 1 staff member serving the nurturing work.

At the time of inspection, the interdisciplinary team determined that the quality of child care and education at the independent kindergarten Zing Zing did not meet the professional operation guidelines of the Department of Education and Training of Dong Da district.

The facility created an inappropriate menu for the age group of the nursery school, arbitrarily changing the menu for children from 12 to 18 months (instant noodle menu for 1 year old children is not suitable). Based on the above inspection results, based on current regulations, the People's Committee of Phuong Mai Ward issued a notice to temporarily suspend the operation of the independent preschool Zing Zing from August 9.

At the same time, the delegation requested Ms. Hoang Thi Thuy to be responsible for notifying parents who are sending their children here about the temporary suspension of operations and resolving the rights of related individuals.