Maple Bear Vietnam is expanding!

Vietnam is about to see an increase in the number of Maple Bear Canadian schools.

The expansion is thanks to a recently signed agreement with Sunshine Group, a two-year-old Vietnamese real estate group which plans to open five Maple Bear kindergartens in their new housing development projects in 2018 and 2019 in Hanoi including schools in Sunshine Palace to be opened early of 2018, Sunshine Riverside, Sunshine Garden, Sunshine Center in late 2018 and Sunshine City in 2019. Sunshine is also expanding to Ho Chi Minh and other provinces. New schools projects will be opening in the coming years.

“Maple Bear Vietnam is very excited with this new cooperation,” says Dr. Thomas Chan, Chairman of CitySmart Group which operates Maple Bear schools in Vietnam. “It opens up a great opportunity for Maple Bear to offer more schools.”

The timing couldn’t be better according to Chan. “The middle income population in Vietnam has been increasing in recent years and young parents are better educated than before,” says Chan who believes parents are looking for better, affordable education for their children.

“But there is a shortage of public schools as the number of students are increasing,” he adds pointing to these statistics from the news source Euromonitor:

• From 2013 to 2015, the total number of children who entered nursery, kindergarten and pre-primary in Vietnam reached 4.6 million while only 1000 schools opened;
• The total expenditure of Vietnamese parents for education reached a high of 9% of total expenditures in 2015. It’s expected to increase in the next 5 years and account for 13% total expenditure in 2020.

“It also can often be difficult to find good locations for schools without having a strong connection with the building owner,” says Chan. “Sunshine Group has many good locations as well as the fact that most large residential developments in Vietnam require the developer to allow space for kindergarten.”

“Maple Bear is a great program and the benefits to children have been proven after years of operation in Vietnam,” he says.

“Parents really love the methodology and have a strong wish for their children to attend. By using local teachers and offering lower tuition fees, more Vietnamese children will now benefit from the Maple Bear program.”

There are currently six Maple Bear schools operating in Vietnam: three in Hanoi and three in Ho Chi Minh. Maple Bear Vincom, Maple Bear Golden Westlake, Maple Bear Westlake Point are in Hanoi; Maple Bear Flemington, Maple Bear Go Vap, Maple Bear Horizon in Ho Chi Minh.