Vietnamese students learn English for at least seven years at school. However, many of them cannot obtain basic knowledge, which has been blamed on the teaching method.

VietNamNet Bridge - More foreign language centers are opening because of increasingly high demand. The quality of the centers, which can yield high profits, has been difficult to control. 

The Ministry of Education & Training (MOET) plans to produce 9,000 PhDs more for universities and junior colleges by 2025 in a VND12 trillion program, though Vietnam now has over 24,300 PhDs.

Will the $80 million project on reforming general education be successful, or will it fail like other multi-trillion projects, including the classification of majors, VNEN and national program on foreign language teaching?

The VND9.3 trillion national program on teaching foreign languages at general schools by 2020 has spent VND5.4 trillion so far. However, MOET admitted that the goals of the program may be unattainable by 2020.

The national foreign language teaching project for the 2008-2020 period seems to be forgotten in the draft for general education, scheduled to be implemented on a large scale in the 2018-2019 academic year.

Vietnam has vowed to improve students’ English skills by pouring trillions of dong into English teaching programs, but the majority of university graduates cannot communicate in English.

VietNamNet Bridge - The major goals of the national plan to develop schools for the gifted have not been met in the last five years. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Some provinces have announced that 80 percent of their teachers of English meet national standards. However, the real quality of the teachers remains an unknown.

VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has been told that it will put a heavy burden on students by including multiple foreign languages in the curriculum at general schools.

VietNamNet Bridge - HCM City parents and students are frustrated that the city’s education department has made many new decisions related to English teaching and learning. 

VietNamNet Bridge - Japanese, Korean, Russian, Chinese, French and German will be taught at general schools in Hanoi and HCMC before being applied on a large scale throughout the country.

Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha said the textbooks for teaching English at Vietnamese schools will be textbooks of a certain country that will be ‘localized’ to fit Vietnamese conditions, rather than ones compiled by Vietnam

VietNamNet Bridge - Universities complain that it is difficult to find students with good English skills, while employers complain about graduates poor English-language ability.

VietNamNet Bridge - The DVB-T2 set top box (STB) has a 35 percent import tariff. The STB market is chaotic with counterfeit goods and the broadcasting wave quality remains poor.

VietNamNet Bridge - It is estimated that Vietnam will need 7,770 more teachers of English by 2020 to implement the national program on teaching English, under which third, fourth and fifth graders would have four English sessions a week.

VietNamNet Bridge - Many parents said they fear their children would be overloaded if they have to learn both English and Korean.

The HCM City Education and Training Department has released a list of 43 high school teachers who did not participate in refresher courses as part of the project on upgrading English skills in 2011-2020. 

The nationwide Viet Nam Energy Efficiency Programme has achieved satisfactory results in the last five years, according to officials attending a seminar organisedOctober 30 in HCM City.