In Vietnamese preschools, health, nutrition and safety are part of the curriculum, not a separate service. The national preschool programme sets the number of meals and the share of children’s daily energy needs to be provided at school, school health rules require growth monitoring and health checks, food safety rules govern the kitchen and the keeping of food samples, and dedicated regulations set standards for a safe environment and accident prevention. Principals are legally accountable for all of it, and every teacher carries part of the work each day.
For international educators this is one of the least visible parts of a Vietnamese school, because most of it happens in the kitchen, the health room and the leadership office. Yet it shapes the day in the classroom: when children eat, what they eat, how they are weighed and measured, how a fever is handled, how the yard is checked. This article outlines the framework for teachers, curriculum leads and partners, and shows where good care practice and good pedagogy meet.
Care and education as one curriculum
The phrase that runs through Vietnamese preschool regulation is nourishing, caring and educating. The national programme describes content for each of the three, and for the youngest children care takes up most of the day. Its goals for physical development include healthy growth, good eating and sleeping habits, personal hygiene and the ability to recognise and avoid danger, and these appear in the expected outcomes for each age just as language or cognition do.
That integration has practical consequences. A teacher’s weekly plan includes care: what children are learning to do for themselves at meals, how hand washing is practised, which safety habits are the focus this month. Evaluation of children’s development includes their health and growth. And the school’s leadership team usually includes a vice-principal with responsibility for care and nutrition, who works with the kitchen, the health officer and teachers to keep the system running.
For a curriculum framework layered on top of the national programme, this is an opportunity rather than a constraint. Meals, hygiene and rest are the most predictable and repetitive moments of the day, which makes them ideal for independence, conversation and, in bilingual schools, a second language. Global Nexus treats life skills and independence as two of its six dimensions for exactly this reason.
Nutrition: what the programme asks of schools
Number of meals. The programme sets a minimum number of meals at school for full-day children: for nursery groups, more frequent meals including two main meals and a snack; for kindergarten, at least one main meal and one snack. Many urban schools add breakfast or a second snack.
Share of daily energy. It also gives the share of a child’s daily energy needs that school meals should provide, which is higher for nursery children than for kindergarten children, roughly 60 to 70 percent and 50 to 55 percent respectively, along with guidance on the balance between protein, fat and carbohydrate.
Menus built by calculation. Schools plan menus in weekly cycles and calculate their nutritional value, often with dedicated software. Menus are posted for families and reviewed by the person responsible for nutrition in the leadership team.
Texture and age. Food is prepared differently for each age group, from soft porridge for infants to rice and separate dishes for older children, in line with the guidance on feeding young children.
Eating as learning. The programme expects children to be encouraged, not forced, to eat, and to learn to serve themselves, use utensils, try new foods and clean up. Teachers record appetite and eating habits as part of observing children’s development.
Growth monitoring and school health
School health in Vietnam is governed by joint regulations of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education and Training, issued in 2016. They require schools to have a person responsible for health care, a health room or corner with basic equipment, health records for each child, regular health checks and cooperation with local health services for vaccination campaigns, disease prevention and outbreak response.
Growth monitoring is the most visible routine. Children are weighed and measured regularly, monthly for the youngest and quarterly for older children, and their measurements are plotted against growth standards based on those of the World Health Organization. Children who fall outside the expected ranges, whether underweight, stunted, overweight or obese, are flagged for follow-up with families. Vietnam has made long-term progress in reducing child stunting, while overweight and obesity have become a growing concern among young children in large cities, so many urban schools now give equal attention to both ends of the range.
For teachers, school health also means daily observation: noticing a child who is unusually quiet, warm or off their food, following the school’s procedure when a child becomes ill, informing families, and keeping the classroom clean. During outbreaks of illnesses common in young children, such as hand, foot and mouth disease, schools follow health sector guidance on cleaning, monitoring and when children should stay at home. These procedures are written down in every school and new staff should read them in the first week.
The main areas of regulation at a glance
Several sets of rules apply at once. The table below groups them by area so that newcomers know what each one covers and who in the school is usually responsible.
| Area | What it covers | Usually responsible |
|---|---|---|
| Nutrition | Number of meals, energy share, menus, feeding practices by age | Vice-principal for care, kitchen lead, teachers |
| School health | Health room, records, growth monitoring, health checks, outbreak response | Health officer, with the leadership team |
| Food safety | Food sourcing, kitchen layout, hygiene, storage, keeping food samples | Kitchen lead, vice-principal for care |
| Safe environment | Facilities, equipment, accident prevention, supervision | Principal, all staff |
| Child protection | Respect for children, prevention of violence and abuse, staff conduct | Principal, all staff |
Ownership does not change these obligations. Public, private and independent settings are all expected to meet them, and inspection by local education and health authorities covers each area. In practice, food safety and safety of the environment receive particular attention because problems there have immediate and visible consequences.
Food safety and the school kitchen
Food safety in schools is governed by the Law on Food Safety and its implementing rules, together with guidance specific to collective kitchens. Schools are expected to buy food from suppliers who can show its origin and safety, keep records of what is received, and organise the kitchen in a one-way flow, so that raw food, preparation, cooking and serving move in one direction without crossing. Kitchen staff need training and health checks.
One practice that surprises visitors is the keeping of food samples. A portion of each dish served is sealed, labelled and kept in a refrigerator for a set period, usually 24 hours, so that it can be tested if children become ill. Combined with daily checks on deliveries and cooking, this gives schools a trail to follow if anything goes wrong.
For teachers, food safety extends into the classroom: hand washing before meals, serving food at the right temperature, watching for allergies and choking risks, and never bringing unsafe food into the room for activities. Cooking projects, which many bilingual curricula value, need to be planned with the kitchen and the person responsible for nutrition, so that the experience is rich and the rules are respected.
A safe environment and accident prevention
Since 2010 the Ministry of Education and Training has set criteria for safe preschools focused on preventing accidents and injuries, covering buildings, yards, play equipment, electrical safety, water, kitchens and supervision. More recent rules on building a safe, healthy and friendly educational environment, issued in 2021, extend the focus to prevention of violence and to a culture of respect in school. Together they ask schools to check their environment regularly, remove hazards and train staff to respond to common injuries.
Supervision is the heart of it. Children are never left alone, numbers are checked at every transition, gates are controlled, and handover to families follows a set procedure. Water is a particular concern in a country with many ponds, rivers and flooded streets in the rainy season, and preschool safety education gives attention to recognising and avoiding dangerous water.
Child protection sits alongside physical safety. The Law on Children of 2016 sets out children’s rights to protection from violence and abuse, and education regulations prohibit any form of physical punishment or humiliation in schools. Cases of mistreatment in some small settings have prompted closer supervision of independent groups and greater use of cameras in classrooms. For curriculum leads, the most effective protection remains a team culture in which respectful interaction with children is visible, discussed and expected of everyone.
Questions international schools often face
Schools that bring in international staff or an imported curriculum meet a few recurring questions in this area. The first is food. Families from abroad may ask for different menus, and international teachers may be used to children bringing packed lunches. In Vietnamese preschools the norm is one shared, nutritionally calculated menu cooked on site, with adjustments for documented allergies and medical needs. Explaining the reasons, nutrition targets, food safety and the social value of eating together, usually resolves the question better than creating exceptions.
The second is sleep. Staff trained in systems where older preschoolers do not nap sometimes push to shorten the midday sleep. The national regime expects it, and families generally value it, so the better conversation is about how to support children who do not sleep: quiet rest, books, a calm corner, and a flexible approach for individual children.
The third is risk. Many international curricula value outdoor challenge, real tools and risky play. These fit within Vietnamese safety rules when they are planned with clear supervision, suitable equipment and written risk assessments that the leadership team has approved. What does not work is introducing them informally and leaving colleagues to worry about who is responsible. A short shared procedure, agreed before the first woodwork session or tree climb, protects children and staff alike.
Where care meets pedagogy
Good care practice and good pedagogy reinforce each other. A child who serves their own rice, chooses how much to take and helps wipe the table is developing independence, coordination and self-regulation. A teacher who sits with children at lunch and talks about the food, where it comes from and how it tastes is building vocabulary and thinking in both languages. A safety walk around the yard, planned with children, becomes a lesson in noticing, predicting and keeping each other safe.
Care routines are also where trust with families is built. Parents may never see the morning activity, but they hear every day whether their child ate, slept and was comfortable, and they judge the school largely on that. Teachers who can describe a child’s meal or nap with specific, warm detail, rather than a tick on a form, give families confidence that their child is known as an individual.
The risk in bilingual and international programmes is to see care as the Vietnamese side of the school and learning as the international side. That division serves no one. The strongest schools plan care routines with the same intent as activities, involve all staff in them, and observe children during them, so that the framework’s attention to the whole child is visible from the moment children arrive until they leave.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
How many meals do children eat at a Vietnamese preschool?
For full-day children, the national programme sets a minimum: kindergarten children have at least one main meal and one snack at school, and nursery children have more frequent meals including two main meals and a snack. Many urban schools also serve breakfast or extra snacks.
How much of a child’s daily energy should school meals provide?
The programme sets a target share of daily energy needs to be met at school, higher for nursery children than for kindergarten children: roughly 60 to 70 percent for nursery and 50 to 55 percent for kindergarten, with guidance on the balance of nutrients.
How often are children weighed and measured in Vietnamese preschools?
Growth is monitored regularly, monthly for the youngest children and quarterly for older ones, and plotted against growth standards based on those of the World Health Organization. Children outside the expected ranges are followed up with their families.
Why do Vietnamese preschool kitchens keep food samples?
Food safety guidance for collective kitchens requires a sealed sample of each dish to be kept refrigerated for a set period, usually 24 hours, so that it can be tested if children become ill. It is part of a wider system of supplier records and kitchen hygiene.
Who is responsible for health and safety in a Vietnamese preschool?
The principal is legally accountable. Day-to-day work is shared by a vice-principal responsible for care and nutrition, the health officer, kitchen staff and every teacher, who observes children, follows procedures for illness and injury, and supervises at all times.
Are physical punishments allowed in Vietnamese preschools?
No. Education regulations prohibit physical punishment and humiliation of children, and the Law on Children protects children from violence and abuse. Rules issued in 2021 also require schools to build a safe, healthy and friendly environment and to prevent violence.