Mr Lee, a South Korean national, works at a bank in Vietnam. His child only speaks Korean and now studies at an international primary school. The school is not Mr Lee’s preferred choice, but he couldn’t register his child at the United Nations International School (UNIS Hanoi). He asked the South Korean Embassy to help him, but it could do no better. “I’m so dispirited. I don’t know why it is so hard to find a good international school for my child here,” said Mr Lee.
Finding a good school for their kids is also not so easy for Vietnamese parents. It’s not rare for them to wait at the school gate from 2am at the beginning of the school year to secure a “seat” for their children, and they work hard at identifying any way possible to move their kids from a normal school to a prestigious school.
Similar to Vietnamese parents, foreigners working and living in Vietnam also want to find a good international school for their kids so that they can concentrate on their jobs, safe in the knowledge that their children a receiving a good education. But it’s certainly not easy for them, especially Japanese and South Korean parents, to register their children at prestigious schools.
According to an unofficial figure, there are about from 55,000 to 90,000 South Korean working in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, significantly outnumber other nationalities. The number of international schools for all grades in Vietnam now is quite high, at nearly 30 in Ho Chi Minh City and 10 in Hanoi. But high quality international schools are few. UNIS Hanoi and the Hanoi International School (HIS) are considered the best in the capital. Foreigners in general and South Koreans and Japanese in particular would like their kids to study at UNIS Hanoi or HIS, but registering a place can be problematic. The Hanoi Academy School has just opened and is taking enrolments, which hopefully will make it a bit easier.
“Cultural diversity is important to the school, so there is a 20 per cent diversity cap on every nationality group,” said Ms Jolee Mosher, Communications Manager at UNIS. “As of August this year, approximately 15 per cent of our student population was Vietnamese, 14 per cent South Korean, 13 per cent American, 8 per cent Australian, 5 per cent British and 3 per cent Japanese. There are also students from countries as diverse as Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Tanzania, Macedonia, and Ecuador. UNIS is comprised of parents working for Vietnamese private businesses, South Korean enterprises, embassies, United Nations (UN) missions, non-governmental organisations, and foreign businesses.
Ms Mosher also explained the order of priority at UNIS. First are children of UN and diplomatic employees posted to Hanoi, followed by children of expatriates posted to Hanoi, regardless of employer, and finally all other applicants.
“UNIS is located within Ciputra International City,” she continued. “The student body is made up of 880 students from 52 different countries, including Vietnam, speaking over 32 languages. The enrolment process is quite detailed and the guidelines clearly state the procedure UNIS follows for every candidate. UNIS accepts students when there is a vacancy. Each year there is roughly a 20 per cent turnover of students leaving and those accepted. Turnover is due to graduates, diplomatic placements or business transfers.
Acceptance to attend UNIS is based on several factors: English language ability, the cultural diversity cap, UN and diplomatic priority, sibling preference, class size, and age.”
Ms Makoto from Japan would very much like to register her daughter at HIS, but has been told there are no vacancies. According to recruitment information from HIS, each class has a maximum of 17 students, from all nationalities, and students from any one nationality must not exceed 30 per cent in one class.
The biggest difficulty for foreign parents is that good international schools stipulate a maximum number of students in their classes. For example, according to information from UNIS, the school limits the number of students as follows: Discovery to Kindergarten - 16 students, Grades 1&2 - 18 students and Grades 3 to 12 - 22 students. “Classes may not exceed the above numbers, unless authorised by the Head of School,” said Ms Mosher. The policy, while sensible, means vacancies are few.
In early September, the Hanoi Academy School (HA School) officially held its Academic Year Opening Ceremony for the 2009-2010 year. It educates from pre-kindergarten to secondary, but only in Vietnamese and English. If students are from foreign countries such as Japan or South Korea, they are only accepted if their mother or father is Vietnamese and they must speak Vietnamese well.
The shortage of space is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Parents will still need to spend a lot of time finding a good school for their children.
