Children born in poor areas in the central region dozens of years ago were told by their parents they needed to study well to change their circumstances and have opportunities to lead a more comfortable life. 

Both the parents and children believed that having a high education level was the only way to escape poverty. They were willing to save every dong to fund their studies and wait for the time to enter university and have a new life.

At that time, the students were the pride of not only their parents, but also all villagers.

But parents and children have realized in recent years that studying at university is not the only way that can help them lead a better life, and that not all people who study well and have a higher education level can reap success and earn a lot of money. 

Many university graduates have had to work as factory workers and regret that they spent four years studying at university.

Meanwhile, many people working as guest workers at factories overseas can earn big money, and help their parents build big, beautiful homes.

Labor export has been and will continue to help change the face of poor areas in the central provinces and other areas.

The ads posted by labor export companies sound attractive. One just needs to have an IELTS certificate with a minimum score of 5.5, or speak a little Japanese, to apply to work abroad. 

After one or two years of working overseas, they can remit money to their parents, who often use it to build a new house. Nowadays, villages have many multi-storey houses built from money remitted from overseas. 

Finishing high school and going abroad to work, and then returning home with huge capital and running their own business, is the path followed by many students.

However, many educators say this is not good news. What will happen if excellent students don’t want to continue studying to obtain a higher education level? 

What will the country be like if most human resources are unqualified workers and only have so-called exported labor certificates? How will Vietnamese create assets for themselves and society if they don’t have a high level of professional knowledge and skills?

A high school teacher in Hanoi said that he met many poor parents from the provinces of Thai Binh, Nam Dinh, Quang Nam and Ha Tinh, who accompanied their children - 11th and 12th graders – to labor export companies. These children bear a heavy burden on their shoulders – working to get money to pay the debts of hundreds of millions of VND their parents had borrowed to send them abroad.

If even excellent students also choose to go abroad to work after finishing high school instead of going to university, this would be a threat to the knowledge-based economy, especially in the context of the 4.0 era and the rapid change of science and technology. This also shows the uncertainties in the orientation for developing education and the country's welfare, labor and employment policies.

Van Thieng