VietNamNet Bridge - Thirty medical and pharmaceutical schools have asked the government not to put them under control of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA).

The government recently decided to assign MOLISA to control vocational intermediate schools (2-year training) and junior colleges (3-year training), while the other schools remain under the control of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET).

The representative of the 30 schools said that in order to ensure training quality, it is necessary to standardize the educational system. 

Therefore, it would be better for the government to put the national educational system under MOET’s control.

“We know that MOET proposed the government to assign it to control vocational training and we totally agree with the ministry,” said Le Trong Ngoc, president of the Hanoi Medical School.

If the government persists in its decision to put vocational intermediate schools and junior colleges under MOLISA’s control, medical and pharmaceutical schools still want to belong to MOET as an exception.

“The Communist Party Politburo’s Resolution No 46 says that health care is a special sector and the workers for the sector need to be trained and used in a special way,” Ngoc said.

If the government persists in its decision to put vocational intermediate schools and junior colleges under MOLISA’s control, medical and pharmaceutical schools still want to belong to MOET as an exception.

Luong Quang Ngoc, president of Ben Thanh Intermediate School, said the government’s decision has worried intermediate schools.

Ngoc anticipated that if vocational schools are put under MOLISA’s control, they will find it difficult to enroll students because students and their parents don’t like vocational schools.

Many vocational schools now want to omit the word ‘vocational’ in their official names to be able to more easily enroll students.

He also warned that problems in transitional training will arise if vocational schools belong to MOLISA. 

Under current regulations, students can pass credits to continue studying to obtain higher education levels. Those, who finish vocational schools (2-year training), for example, can transfer credits to study at junior colleges (3-year training) and then at universities (4-5 year training). However, with the new management policy, it is still unclear if students can continue following this model.

“Many universities say they won’t accept students from vocational schools for further training,” he said. 

MOET recently sent a dispatch to the government, asking to put vocational schools under the control of one ministry instead of two (MOET and MOLISA). It also asked to assign it to take the job. However, MOLISA has been assigned to do this.

Le Van