VietNamNet Bridge – Nguyen Minh Thuyet, vice chairman of the National Assembly's Culture, Education, Youth and Children Committee, spoke with Khoa hoc & Doi song (Science and Life) newspaper about the development of education in Viet Nam.

What do you think about the development of education in Viet Nam?

There is severe competition among parents to stuff as much knowledge as possible into their children's heads, pushing the children to learn too much. The kids not only have to go to school but also to extra classes every day. Everyone seems to be in a race. Teachers want higher incomes so they hold extra classes to earn money.

Causes of the problems are varied and it's not only in the education sector. As the living standards have improved, parents have the conditions to pay more attention to their children.

Do you think there are many pressing problems in the education sector?

Frankly, the education sector is not getting worse. But I have to say there have been a few pressing problems in the last few years. Now, it is commonly believed that anyone can get a job as soon as they graduate if they have money for bribes, while it is difficult for graduates with good academic records to find jobs. This psychology is destroying the education sector.

Teachers are blamed for not equipping their students with enough skills. Is it true?

That's right. In my opinion, the main reason lies in slow innovation. The teachers stick to the curriculum and text books so how can their students develop creativeness.

Having monitored all education levels I find the higher the education, the slower the innovation. Literature teachers at primary school level are not much different from the teachers of past decades. Schools have been armed with projectors but that's not innovation.

The education sector has been threatening to modify teaching methods to bring in student-centered learning for years?

Part of the teaching staff is inactive. There is hardly any teachers at university who would permit their students to be active because they are afraid of not being able to answer students' questions, for example about something they found on the internet.

The Education and Training Ministry is also in an embarrassing situation because it does not know from where innovation should begin. When looking at teachers' books it's obvious teachers have not yet been guided to make changes. They have merely settled on a new way of asking the same questions of students. It is an imposition for teachers to instruct their students to only come up with the answers the teachers want.

Public opinions say educationists are not as committed as their predecessors. They cite as an example the content of text books, which they say are changed every year but are still peppered with mistakes.

That is not really correct. Text books need editing and correcting when social changes take place as well as if mistakes are discovered but there is no money in text books which are still very cheap.

"Education socialisation" has brought about some encouraging results. What is your assessment of the issue?

A paradox exists here. What should have been socialised the most turns out to be very slow. Low-quality schools will appear if the education system runs after market demands. As a matter of course we do not prevent people from paying money for education but we should not let education be completely run on market demands. The State should invest more in public schools. In Ha Noi there are no primary schools in the six wards of the Old Quarter simply because we have reserved places for hotels and restaurants but not for schools.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News