VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has sent a statement to Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam, asking for the government’s permission to take on the management of vocational schools  under the control of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

Hoang Ngoc Vinh, director of MOET’s Profession Education Department, said it would be more reasonable for MOET to have management over the whole national educational system.

Vinh told VietNamNet that MOET is going to submit to the Prime Minister the framework of the national education system, and that ‘everything will be in chaos if there are two state management agencies that operate the same system’.

At present, MOET has management over preschools, general education, intermediate schools (2-year training), junior colleges (3-year training), universities and post-university education. Meanwhile, MOLISA manages vocational schools (2-year and 3-year training).

250,000-300,000 secondary school graduates every year do not continue studying at high school, while only 50,000 go to intermediate schools.

Professional education in Vietnam is facing big challenges. Productivity is far below that of other ASEAN countries. Vietnam’s resources for education are limited, while there is no master plan to develop the education system. 

Meanwhile, the government is speeding up administrative reform under which each ministry focuses on its major works, and staff cutbacks will be made, thus easing the burden on the state’s budget.

Vinh pointed out that there is an overlap in education and training between MOET and MOLISA which causes big management problems which is contrary to ongoing administrative reform, thus causing adverse effects to human resource development.

A report shows that 250,000-300,000 secondary school graduates every year do not continue studying at high school, while only 50,000 go to intermediate schools. Because of the current management, it is impossible to intervene general schools and give career advice to the students, the work being implemented by local education departments.

In the document to Dam, MOET pointed out that this is a big waste to let two ministries control the education system. There are 63 divisions in charge of vocational training put under local labor departments. Meanwhile, MOET also has its own professional education management divisions.

Experts also think that there are big problems in the current management policies which need to be fixed noon. 

Nguyen Minh Duong, member of the national council on education and human resource development, pointed out that he does not know any other country in the world which allow the existence of two models of schools for the same education level.


Van Chung