Vietnam - Investments on education up, but education quality remains low

The state budget allocated for education and training development increased by 10 times in 2001-2011, while people’s investments and the loans from foreign sources have also increased. However, the education quality has not been improved.


More money poured into education

The National Assembly’s has agreed to spend 20 percent of the 2011’s total budget, or 145,120 billion dong, on education, training and vocational training. The estimates for education and training alone would be 110,130 billion dong, which is much higher than that of 2001 (15,609 billion dong) and 2006 (66,770 billion dong).

Meanwhile, the non-state budget finance for education and training accounts for 25-30 percent of the total investments in the sector, of which 25 percent comes from tuitions. 

According to the General Statistics Office GSO, the foreign direct investment in education and training in 1988-2010 reached 388.5 million. And according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, in 1998-2009, the total value of ODA (official development assistance) agreements reached 1,375 million dollars, including the loans worth 953.11 million dollars and the non-refundable aid worth 422.36 million dollars.

As such, the education and training sector does not lack money to develop.

More children, less general school students

Also according to GSO, in 2000, Vietnam had 2,212,000 children going to nursery schools, 17,776,100 general school students, 899,500 junior college and university students, and 25,400 vocational school students. The figures rose to 2,909,000 nursery school students, 14,912,100 general school students, 1,796,200 junior college and university students and 699,700 vocational school students.

The figures show no considerable increase in the number of students in the last 10 years. This means that the investments in education have increased by 10 times, but the number of students has increased just slightly.

Meanwhile, the GSO’s census showed a considerable increase in the number of children born in 2004-2009 in comparison with the previous five year period. The decreased number of general school students since 2003 could be explained by the decreased number of children born. However, as the birth proportion has increased again, it would be a problem if the number of general school students does not increase accordingly.

The forecasts for the next 10 years

GSO has concluded from the census that in the next 10 years, the number of primary school students will increase. The upward trend will continue until 2019, when the number of students begins decreasing. It is expected that by 2029, the number of students would be lower than the current number.

Meanwhile, the number of secondary and high school students tends to decrease, leading to the decreasing demand for classrooms and teachers.

In 2009, 24.7 percent of population aged from five in Vietnam reportedly joined the national education system. Experts found a close link between the financial capability of households and the capability to access education opportunities. Especially, the proportion of students who never goes to school has been decreasing.

Analyses show that the percentage of population having high qualification is relatively low: only 1.6 percent of the population finishes junior college (3-year training), 4.2 percent finishes university (4-year training), and 0.21 percent has master degree or higher.

The most outstanding feature of Vietnamese population now is the low percentage of dependent people (less than 50 percent), while the percentage of young people who are at the working age is high.

Under the international standards, the age of 25 is considered the age when every individual has experienced all levels of basic education, vocational training or university study. Though Vietnam has been praised for well implementing the plan to universalize primary education and eliminate illiteracy, it is facing big challenges in training technical skills to satisfy the demand in the new economic development period.

TBKTSG


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