As per a report of the Out-of-school Children: Vietnam Country Study 2016 conducted by the Ministry of Education and Training and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), drop-out rates of children aged 5-14 fell drastically, said at a meeting on January 23 in Hanoi.

Moreover, the dropout in preschool age dropped dramatically. The percentage of ethnic children who have never attended school or who dropped out in 2014 was significantly lower than in 2009.

Though more Khmer and Mong ethnic indigenous kids went to school in five past years, they still had the highest out-of-school rates of all the ethnic groups

The survey also showed no disparities between rich and poor dropouts especially in higher education.

At the age of five, the out-of-school rate of low-income families is three times higher than the rich families meanwhile it is 5.5 times higher in out-of-school rate in primary age and ten time higher than in junior high school.

Deputy Education Minister Nguyen Thi Nghia said that lower rate of dropouts confirmed Vietnam’s achievement in education and positive effects of policies. It helps to narrow the disparity between the poor and the rich ensuring the equality for all children in the country.

Yoshimi Nishino, UNICEF Acting Deputy Representative in Vietnam, recommended that the Southeast Asian country needs to add more supportive polices which should be adopted to cut education fee and remove barriers in a bid to provide education to disadvantaged children.

SGGP