Early childhood care and education (ECCE) caters for children between 0-5 years old and provides nurturing, caring and education services. ECCE is divided into 3 broad groups: crèche (nursery) provided for children between 3 months to 3 years old, kindergarten for children aged 3-4, and kindergarten for 5 years olds providing a school readiness programme. ECCE is complemented by parental education activities. The main objective of the programmes for the 0-3 age group is to extend the quality of care and services available to young children. For children aged 3-5, kindergarten and pre-primary readiness programmes give more emphasis to socializing and learning. ECCE in Viet Nam is not compulsory and offered by both the public and the private sector (UNESCO 2009).

In recent years, the number of children enrolled in both public and private crèches and kindergartens has increased and the average yearly increase of enrolment was 2.29 % between 2000-01 and 2004-05. Private ECCE providers are now running 75% of all crèches and 55% of all kindergartens. However, the coverage of ECCE programmes is limited in remote and mountainous areas, especially for ethnic minority groups, girls and boys with mental and physical difficulties, and those from low income families. Also, the availability of ECCE programmes is poor for children from ethnic minority communities, low income families and other disadvantaged backgrounds (UNESCO 2009).

There are great variations in quality of ECCE depending on geographical location and quality related issues are especially apparent in remote areas of the country. The quality of ECCE is further constrained by the shortage and low quality of teachers. Many teachers are employed on a contract basis, and they receive low salaries and limited professional training. In addition, there is a significant shortage of good quality facilities and learning materials. Data from MoET indicate that only 25% of the classrooms have play and learning materials and teaching aids complying with the acceptable standard (UNESCO 2009).

The ECCE’s administrative system is divided into 3 levels: (i) the Department of ECE under the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET); (ii) the Bureau of ECE and the provincial Service of Education and Training; and (iii) district ECCE units in charge of crèches, kindergarten, pre-schools and home-based day care centres. At the same time, MoET, based on the appraisals by the National Review Council for Appraising Curricula for Early Childhood Education, makes decisions on ECCE programmes. Both the government and the local communities are responsible for the financial provision of ECCE, but a significant proportion of ECCE costs are covered directly by parents and communities (UNESCO 2009). 

According to Resolution No. 05/2005/NQ-CP on expanding socialization of education, healthcare, cultural and physical training and sport activities, the development of preschool education is not only the responsibility of the Government, but also each family and society as a whole. According to EFA National Action Plan, a main goal is to increase access to ethnic minorities and disadvantaged children. In addition, the Pre-school Education Development Project 2006-15 emphasizes quality improvement and network establishment of ECCE institutions, and it is also especially targeting ethnic minority groups and remote, disadvantaged areas. To achieve this, the Pre-school Education Development Project highlighted concrete focus areas such as teacher training, improvement of new training curricula, consolidation of the national ECCE network, and infrastructure improvement (UNESCO 2009).