Nguyen Duc Thanh, a finance expert, has proposed selling the Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted and other similar schools to private investors.

The Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted

Thanh believes that the existence of these state-funded schools creates injustice in society. He believes that the school-for-the-gifted model would be acceptable if the schools have private investment.

If so, parents would have to pay big money for the high-quality services for their children.

The presence of private investment in education will create more effective and diverse services, but it will be impossible to create social justice by selling schools for the gifted to private investors.

Dr Nguyen Tien Viet, an economist working for a university in the UK, in his article published on VnExpress, said that selling schools for the gifted won’t bring social justice.

It would be more effective to provide education at different levels based on their capacity and demand, he said.

It would be a big waste to invest too much in children who don’t have demand or capacity in learning or invest too little in the children who have high demand or high capacity in learning.

Private investment in education is a must, because it can mobilize more resources for education.the private sector uses capital more effectively, so the investment will help better satisfy education demand and provide diverse education products.

However, Viet said that the private sector has no incentive to ensure social equity.

“Therefore, it is a humorous idea to sell state-owned schools for the gifted to private investors in the name of social justice,” he commented.

Prof Nguyen Minh Thuyet, chief editor of the new curriculum for comprehensive education reform, described the proposal of selling the Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted to private investors is an ‘extreme idea’.

He said that over the last decades, the school has produced a high number of talented students who serve the nation’s interests, and selling the school is a question that should be considered only when the state cannot continue funding the school.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has said that schools for the gifted must not be developed by non-state investors.

Nguyen Xuan Thanh, director of the Secondary Education Department, said at the Q2 press conference that the disadvantaged and the talented, including students at the schools for the gifted, are the two groups that can receive state funds.

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