The government’s draft of the amended education law has been warmly received by the public on the principle that spending on education is the top priority item, and that expenditures on education account for 20 percent of total expenditures.

Vu Chi Thanh from FPT Polytechnic said that Vietnam is among 50 countries which spend big money on education compared with the US, which spends 13 percent and Europe, 12 percent.

However, what to spend money on remains a controversial issue. Some people say it would be better to allocate budget for education universalization and education development in areas with difficult socio-economic conditions, rather than divide money among all sectors.

Some others believe that more money should be spent on specific education levels, including preschool education (for infants to 3 year old children) and continuing education, and the expenditures need to amount to 6 percent of total expenditures on education.

The government thinks that tuition exemption needs to be applied to  state-owned preschool, primary and secondary school students. 

Meanwhile, the state will give financial support to private school students.

When asked if 20 percent of total state expenditures would be enough for education development, Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former director of the Professional Education Department, said allocating 20 or 25 percent of budget expenditures is not the most important issue. It is more important to spend money effectively to bring real benefits to the education sector.

“The Ministry of Education and Training’s (MOET) huge projects worth trillions of dong did not bring the desired effects,” he said.

Vinh cited the project on training university and junior college lecturers for doctorates in 2010-2020, or Project 911. The State Audit found that the goals for the 2012-2016 period were unattainable.

“The same thing occurs with other projects as well. This is a big waste of money,” Vinh said.

An expert from the Hanoi National University commented that under Vietnam’s conditions, 20 percent of the state budget for the education sector is a reasonable spending level.

However, he stressed that the budget for education needs to be managed well to be sure that money is spent in a reasonable way.

“Money is misspent and wasted in many schools, localities and sectors, from textbook printing to capital construction, from facility and material procurement to training projects,” he said.

“I know that some education departments spent VND200 billion on teaching aids, including hi-tech equipment valued at tens of billion of dong. However, the equipment has not been used,” he added.

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