Addressing the event, Assistant Prof. Dr. Le Anh Vinh, ViceDirector of the Vietnam Institute of EducationalSciences said that the 2019-2020 academic year marks a new milestone inschooling with the introduction of new textbook and curriculum starting from2020.

He highlighted remarkableachievements in the sector since 2011, such as the strong commitment toeducation as seen in the fact that budget allocation for the sector has always accountedfor 20 percent of total public investment and 5.8 percent of the GDP, which isa high level in the region.

Equitability is another strong point of Vietnam’s educationrecognised by the international community. The country completed the goal ofuniversalisation of elementary education in the early 2000s, secondaryeducation in 2010 and pre-school education for five-year-old children in 2017,he noted, adding that the school attendance ratio of children fromdisadvantaged groups and ethnic minority groups has been improving.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese education quality has rising, evidencedby PISA evaluation results or achievement of students in international contestsin different areas, said Vinh.

However, he pointed out that Vietnamese students are assessedto be lacking in studying motivation and skills. The education of morality andlifestyle has yet to receive adequate attention, he added.

Vinh stressed the need to design diverse school curriculums tosuit different groups, thus optimising the capacity of each individual.

Participants at the event presented their ideas on the new curriculumsfor schools, education technologies, as well as issues related to humanresources development, special education, non-school education, educationmanagement and education ideology.-VNA