Preschoolers to receive lunch support from the State

The State will provide a monthly lunch support of 10% of the basic salary per child to the preschoolers who meet the specified conditions, with the support period based on the actual number of school months, but not exceeding nine months per school year.

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The aforementioned content has been stipulated in the Government’s Decree No. 6/2018/ND-CP.

Accordingly, preschool-age children (excluding the ethnic minority children as stipulated in the Government’s Decree No. 57/2017/ND-CP dated May 9, 2017) who are enrolled in kindergartens in preschool institutions, will be eligible for the State’s lunch support if they satisfy one of the following conditions:

1- The kids themselves or their parents, fathers, mothers or caregivers reside in extremely difficult communes in mountainous and ethnic minority areas, coastal regions or on islands, as prescribed by the Prime Minister.

2- The kids enjoy no sources of nourishment stipulated in clause 1, Article 5 of the PM’s Decree No. 136/2013/ND-CP dated October 21, 2013 on support policies for social protection beneficiaries.

3- The kids are members of poor or near-poor families as stipulated by the PM.

Payment methods for lunch support

Under the decree, the payment of lunch support will be implemented twice per school year: in October or November annually (covering four months) and in February or March annually (covering five months).

Based on the schools’ lunch management and arrangement practices, the heads of preschool institutions will discuss with the representative board of students’ parents to choose one of two payment options as follows:

Option 1- Preschool institutions keep the support funding to organize lunch for children (encouraging preschool institutions to cook lunch for students).

Option 2- Grant cash payment directly to children’s parents or caregivers.

If the parents or caregivers have yet to receive the support funding within the prescribed timeframe, they will acquire it in the next phase of payment.

In case of children who move to other schools, preschool institutions are responsible for returning the dossiers applying for lunch support to their parents or caretakers. The preschool institutions where children move to will take over the dossiers and do the next steps to implement lunch support for children.

VGP