Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha

“Ministry of Education (MOET) is just like Ministry of Examination”

Nha at a conference in January 2017 commented that both state-owned and private schools do not pay appropriate attention to scientific research, but only focus on training and enrollment figures.

He admitted that he himself spent too much time on exams and will have to escape the situation.

“MOET will not be busy organizing and supervising examinations and enrollment together with schools. The ministry will focus on programming networks and building up policies, but won’t spend too much time on examinations,” he said.

“This exam has not passed, yet another exam has arrived. MOET is now just like a ministry of examination,” he said.

“Training 9,000 PhDs isn’t rampant training”

Asked about MOET’s plan to produce 9,000 PhDs for universities with a huge budget of VND12 trillion, Nha said training plans must be closely linked to labor force demand.

He stressed that the 9,000 PhDs mentioned in the plan won’t be newly trained ones and the plan is not a new plan, but was renewed from Project 911 with emphasis on attracting overseas trained PhDs to Vietnam and creating a policy to facilitate PhDs’ work.

“The training of 9,000 PhDs won’t be rampant training. We do not focus on quantity, but on quality to meet training requirements,” he said.

“How can one live with a pension of VND1.3 million?”

The story about a retired nursery school teacher who receives VND1.3 million ($50) a month in pension after 37 years of working stirred a debate among the public.

When asked to comment, Nha said the low salary and low pension is the common problem of all teachers.

He said he is working with the ministries of Interior Affairs and Finance to find solutions to ensure reasonable pay for teachers.

“Students of pedagogical schools must be the best ones”

At a meeting with presidents of pedagogical schools in December in Hanoi, Nha said it is now time for schools to stop the training of too many graduates. 

In order to do this, schools need to implement training based on demand and improve training quality.

He said it is necessary to check the demand for teachers in every locality to find out the exact number of teachers needed. 

From 2018, MOET will assign training quotas to pedagogical schools based on reports about local demand.

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