14/06/2023 10:04 (GMT+07:00)
On the last days of the 2022-2023 academic year, the parents of fifth graders at a school in Hung Yen province met to discuss a summer retreat course at a pagoda in Thanh Tri district in Hanoi.
The pagoda said that it would organize two retreat courses this year, on June 5-11 and June 19-25. The pagoda didn’t fix the fees; it depended on the parents.
However, many parents complained that they could not register for both courses because the number of registrants was too high, especially for the second course. There were 650 registrants, aged 12-18, and most were from Hanoi and the neighboring provinces of Hai Phong, Hung Yen and Hai Duong.
The parents said they hoped the retreat courses would help their children stay away from smartphones and iPads, teach them to live independently, and love other people and friends.
“I regret that I could not register for the course for my son,” Hanh, a parent in the Ocean Park urban area in Hanoi, said.
Educators say recent generations are different from their parents and grandparents. Instead of staying at home, watching TV, reading books and sleeping, they now tend to go out and travel to have more experiences. That is why summer camps, life skill classes, and dancing clubs have been booming.
The classes and courses were interrupted because of Covid-19, but now have resumed.
Le Cong Nang, CEO of Wondertour Vietnam, said they began again after Vietnam reopened its tourism market last year on March 15.
This includes field trips and experiential activities such as skill practicing tours, especially summer camps for students.
However, Nang thinks the tours and summer camps this year are less popular than in 2022 and previous years because of lower purchasing power.
One of the reasons is the quality of service.
Nguyen Thi Ha in Viet Hung new urban area in Long Bien district in Hanoi said last year she sent her 10-year-old daughter to a life skill training course in Thai Nguyen, which had committed to help children ‘be closer to nature and be independent’. However, she was disappointed about the course.
“Children stayed in houses in poor condition, used electric fans, and suffered from mosquito bites,” she said.
According to Duong Kim Tuyen, director of ABA Center, there are hundreds of summer camp and life skill programs, but there were only three facilities 12 years ago.
“Too many summer camps have opened, leading to saturation,” she said.
Because of economic difficulties, parents have had to tighten their belly and they have cut spending on less essential products and services. The center has fewer customers though it has tried to maintain reasonable fees.
The Department of Child Affairs under the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) confirmed that a number of activities and courses are organized outside schools such as ‘army semester’, domestic and international summer camps, and summer retreat courses, attracting thousands of children.
Of these, army semesters have attracted 100-600 children, police semesters 100-300, and retreat courses 300-thousands of children. Each course costs millions to tens of millions of dong.
International summer camps have also mushroomed. It costs about VND50 million to attend a summer camp in Singapore, VND65 million in Australia, and VND120-200 million in the US.
Pham Duy Nhan, CEO of Everest Life Skill Education and Talent Development, said the demand for skill practice has increased again after two years of Covid-19. He noted that in previous years, parents did not care much about training costs, but now, they think very carefully before making decisions.
In addition to a summer camp in Con Son – Chi Linh (Hai Duong), Nhan’s center has designed a new destination in Do Son (Hai Phong) and VinUni University in Hanoi. In addition to first aid, fire prevention and control, and child abuse prevention, his center also teaches children how to prevent drowning.
A common course costs VND4.5-5.5 million, while a VIP course is VND6.5-7.5 million.
Ngoc Ha
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