A teacher at a private kindergarten in Hanoi tells one of her pupils how to wear a mask to avoid contracting flu. The quality of kindergartens may be improved by tighter supervision.

At a conference on private kindergarten management in Hanoi on Tuesday, experts also called for raising the calibre of qualifications required for kindergarten owners.

Deputy director of the Long Bien Department of Education and Training Hoang Thi Kim Phuong raised objections to the regulation that owners of a private kindergarten only needed to have a secondary junior school degree.

Teachers of the kindergartens must graduate from vocational schools so that they have a thorough grasp of child psychology and skills necessary for taking care of children, she said.

"The regulation should be amended so that owners of private kindergartens must have at least a qualification from a kindergarten vocational school, or have at least three years of work experience," said Phuong.

Deputy director of the Cau Giay Department of Education and Training Nguyen Thi Minh Xuyen said many private kindergarten owners only attended short term training courses which did not equip them with enough professional skills.

Deputy chief inspector of the municipal Department of Education and Training (DoET) Le Thi Dieu Hoa said that the Ministry of Education and Training had issued a document on inspection including kindergartens.

The department will also conduct surprise inspections at private kindergartens, focusing on the quality of child care, facilities and financial transparency.

Deputy director of the municipal DoET Pham Thi Hong Nga added that the department would organise free annual training courses for owners of private kindergartens.

By June this year, more than 900 kindergartens were operating in Hanoi. Nearly 700 centres were state owned, with the remaining facilities run by the private sector, according to statistics from the municipal DoET.

Most private kindergartens were located in inner Hanoi, including the Ba Dinh, Dong Da and Hoang Mai districts.