VietNamNet Bridge – Should poor students be encouraged to follow university education? This question has recently become a matter of controversy on education forums.

Vietnam is well known as possessing a traditional fondness for learning. The stories about poor students who go to university every morning with empty stomachs have been cited by parents as good examples for their children to follow. The government commends poor students who overcome difficulties to gain high learning achievements every year.

A poor father reportedly brought 10 mynas while escorting his son to Hanoi, where the boy had to sit the university entrance exam some days ago. The poor father planned to sell the mynas in the capital city to get money for the travel expenses.

The man told reporters that though he is very poor, he would do everything he could to support his son’s university study.

Another father reportedly lived in a sewer area and a mother only ate bran in her meal to save money for their children to go to university. A weak grandmother reportedly begged for her living and lived with just two loads of bread every day, but still promised to her grandchild that she would earn enough money to send the girl to university.

In the thoughts of Vietnamese, these are courageous parents and students who need to be praised for their strong will and determination.

However, many modern educators believe this is not a good thing for the parents and students themselves, and for national education.

“Should poverty stricken students still try to go to university if their parents have to work hard on the rice fields and cannot earn enough money to fund their children’s university study?” a journalist, a member of an education forum, asked.

The question immediately triggered a heated controversy among educators, especially when the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) released a report that 162,000 workers with higher education level do not have jobs.

Many members of the education forum agreed that it is a mistake to encourage students to follow university education.

Hoang Ha, an office worker, said children should feel uncomfortable not being able to help their parents. They should work after finishing high school to get money to feed themselves instead of continuing studying at universities and creating a burden on their  parents.

“I could not imagine that an adult person would let his mother eat bran instead of rice or sell her blood just to get money to fund his study,” Ha said.

“Poor students should earn money to feed themselves and parents first, and they can go back to school anytime they want, when they have money and good conditions,” Ha said, adding that there are many ways for the youth to follow, and studying at university is not the only way.

Meanwhile, Tran Thi Minh Hoa, Vice President of the Hanoi University of Social Sciences, argued that she does not think people need to “abstain from learning” if they are poor.

“Going to school is a right of everyone. Why not follow higher education so you can be able to have opportunities to have better lives?” she said. “Poverty is not sin”.

Chi Mai