Labor bulletins show that Vietnam has over 200,000 redundant workers who have higher education levels. This has been blamed on bad career guidance at general schools.

The majority of students finishing high school wish to have higher education level. They only go to vocational school as a last resort when they fail the exams to enter university.

As a result, Vietnam has an oversupply of bachelor’s degree graduates. It lacks skilled workers for factories because students don’t want to go to vocational school.

The bad career guidance also causes other consequences. Local newspapers report that thousands of university students drop out every year. At HCM City Industry University alone, 2,000 students did not attend lectures in the first semester of the 2019-2020 academic year.

The wrong decision in choosing majors caused by poor career guidance at high school is believed to be a major cause. 

The majority of students finishing high school wish to have higher education level. They only go to vocational school as a last resort when they fail the exams to enter university.

According to Giao Duc Viet Nam, high school students only have one hour a month for career guidance practice. Teachers don’t have good information about professions to provide to students.

The reports by the General Department of Vocational Education show a modest percentage of secondary school and high school graduates going to vocational schools. 85 percent of students finishing secondary school go to high school.

Under the 2011-2020 education development strategy, the number of secondary school graduates entering vocational school will account for 30 percent of total students by 2020. This means that from 2020, about 320,000-330,000 secondary school graduates will go to vocational school every year.

This is a difficult task. However, experts say it is a must.

As the head of the team carrying out research on solutions after the secondary education level, Do Thi Bich Loan from the Vietnam Education Science Institute said streamlining students creates a balanced development in qualification structure and professions, thus meeting economic restructuring in the process of industrialization and modernization of the country.

Loan put emphasis on the streamlining of students after the secondary education level, affirming that this won’t deprive students of the opportunities to continue studying, but will help diversify learning methods and give lifelong learning opportunities to everyone.

Career guidance and student streaming bring benefits to both individuals and the society. This allows individuals to develop careers in accordance with their abilities and conditions, and allows society to use the labor force in the most effective way.

Kim Chi 

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