In order to improve the quality of education sector, the Ministry of Education and Training may stop the operation of dozens of teacher training institutes as part of a drive to improve quality.

The ministry already plans to cut the admission quota for teacher training universities to prevent unemployment and to improve the quality of teaching staff.

Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha said their first priority was a realignment of supply and demand in the sector combined with increased quality.

Vietnam currently has 117 education facilities to train teachers but Nha said they would focus on eight to nine major universities as part of the quality drive.

Other small universities and colleges will be merged under major universities or shut down.

Professor Dinh Quang Bao from Hanoi National University of Education said that he approved of the plan.

"The ministry should issue criteria for teacher training and based on that, we'll decide which facilities are allowed to continue their training activities," he said.

The rector of Hanoi Metropolitan University Bui Van Quan previously suggested the system was revealing weaknesses as many training facilities lacked both facilities and quality training.

Vietnam sees 19,200 primary teacher graduates, 18,700 secondary teacher graduates and 23,030 high school teacher graduates joining the jobs market every year and by 2020, Vietnam would have 70,000 unemployed teachers, Quan predicted.

Bao blamed the unemployment rate on a lack of planning. There were times when Vietnam lacked teachers so every locality opened their own facilities to train teachers en mass.

He said the new goals were not simply to cut down the number of teacher training facilities, but also intended to improve quality and the sustainable development of the sector.

Bao also placed the blame on the management of schools and universities. "Low quality teachers and rigid, uncreative management has made reform harder," he said.

Dr. Nguyen Manh An from Hong Duc University said that government should have policies to attract outstanding students to the education sector as most students want to pursue degrees in other sectors. In addition, students were afraid of redundancy and that they wouldn't be able to find job.

Tuition fee exemptions were no longer attractive enough to students if they are unemployed after graduation.

Meanwhile, the government was just wasting money spending VND6m a year on students for an already oversupplied sector.

Bao said that education sector needed a similar mechanism like in military and public security facilities where all graduates are assigned jobs when they leave.

Reducing the number of teacher training facilities was a long-term plan and need to be carried out gradually.

"Cutting a large number of universities and colleges suddenly is dangerous. This is a difficult problem for the Ministry of Education and Training," Bao said.