EDUCATION-VIETNAM: High Marks Hide Rural-Urban Gaps

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Nguyen Nam Phuong

HANOI, Jan 14 2000 (IPS) - Vietnam’s steady gains in basic education stand up well against many of its richer neighbours, but they mask weaknesses like the sizable gaps between the cities and rural areas.

The country remains among the world’s poorest — annual per capita income hovers around 300 U.S. dollars — but its impressive economic growth figures in recent years have meant a boost in state spending.

The state budget allocation for education and training rose from 8.9 percent in 1991 to 14.1 percent last year, says a new government report prepared for an Asia-Pacific conference on education in Bangkok next week.

This year the government has set the figure at 15 percent, one third of which is to go toward primary education, viewed as the most important component of the Education For All (EFA) initiative that urges countries to reach specific education goals.

Vietnam has lots to be proud of in education. Over the last 50 years, it has made massive strides in boosting literacy. In 1945, around 90 percent of the population were illiterate; by the end of the 1980s the figure had been reduced to 12 percent.

In 1997, the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) calculated that eight per cent of over 15-year-olds remained illiterate. But in the same year, the World Bank estimate was six per cent - equalling the target set at the World Education for All Conference in Jomtien, Thailand in 1990. The Bangkok conference is a review of progress made since Jomtien.

Considerable progress has also been made in the number of students completing primary education, rising from 54.5 percent in 1993-1994 to 75.5 per cent in 1998-1999 period nationwide.

Despite these gains, many Vietnamese complain that the quality of education has fallen short of demand.

According to Vietnam’s National Committee for EFA Assessment, the push to universalise primary education has led to a reduction in the proportion of primary school teachers reaching required minimum standards for training, from 96.3 percent in 1990-1991 to 92.8 percent in 1998-1999.

Population growth, which stood at 1.58 percent last year, has also placed considerable pressure on the education system, necessitating the recruitment of inadequately-trained teachers.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the country now needs an additional 106,000 teachers at all levels.

Remote rural and mountainous areas, inhabited largely by ethnic minority groups, suffer most from a shortage of qualified staff — as well as educational facilities.

Pre-schooling in these areas is often most neglected. The Communist Party newspaper ‘Nhan Dan’ reported in October that around half of the 140,000 pre-school teachers in remote areas gained no state salary or social insurance.

Instead, teachers relied on fees from parents which often amounted to only around 5 U.S. dollars a month. Some districts are so poor that teachers are paid in rice, maize or peanuts.

In remote areas, many schools are still made of bamboo and lack libraries, laboratories, telephones and even access to electricity.

Not surprisingly, teachers are reluctant to work in these areas. After training, many stay in cities such as Hanoi — where they can receive state salaries of more than 10 dollars a month, supplemented by parental contributions - and risk unemployment rather than accept a posting in a remote area.

Discrepancies in investment in education between the cities and poor rural areas are reflected in primary education statistics.

The percentage of pupils completing primary education in Hanoi rose from 54 percent in 1993-1994 to an impressive 96.5 percent in 1997-1998 — but in the Central Highland province of Gai Lai the respective figures were a dismal 36.3 and 37.4.

On a national level, the gender gap in education has all but closed. But remote neglected areas, notably those with a high proportion of ethnic minorities, lag behind.

In Gai Lai province in 1998, 60 percent of illiterates were women, compared with 50 percent in other southern – dominantly Kinh or ethnicVietnamese – provinces.

“The challenge for the future is to reach ethnic minorities,

hard to reach areas and girls,” commented one UN education expert.

At the same time, wider criticism has been leveled at school curricula which fail to meet both students’ own needs and Vietnam’s aspirations for economic growth and modernisation.

While the government has expressed commitment to accelerating free-market reforms to boost competitiveness and breathe life into the faltering economy, observers believe that the shortage of skilled workers could prove a servere stumbling block to this.

“The quality of Vietnamese education is very low compared with other countries in the region,” says professor Nguyen Van Dao of Hanoi National University at an education seminar recently.

“The training methods put a heavy emphasis on theory. Students have not been provided with scientific and logical thinking skills. They all lack scientific ambition,” he added.

In an interview in the ‘Vietnam News’ newspaper in December, Deputy Minister of Education and Training, Nguyen Tan Phat, conceded that the general school curricula was impractical, placing too much pressure on pupils and relying on outdated teaching materials.

Added Phat: “The present teaching methodology is characterised by teachers’ presentation and students passive assimilation. Those combined shortcomings have affected the efforts to improve the quality of education.”

Indeed, he said: “Although the State Budget for education has kept increasing in recent years, it does not satisfy the requirements as seen in the sharp increase of the number of students and pupils, higher demand for salaries paid to the teaching staff, and spending on schooling equipment and facilities.”

Some education experts suggest that changes need to be made in the way state subsidies are disbursed.

“One thing Vietnam could do is reduce subsidies in secondary and higher education and use the subsidies more in primary education,” says one foreign analyst. That would help address regional discrepancies and raise the number of hours of tuition primary pupils recieve – currently, at four to five a day, among the fewest of any country in the world.

There are other problems, like the informal contributions by parents that need to be controlled. The arbitrary imposition of fees by headmasters and local authorities has led to resentment among parents, allegations of corruption and further hardships for poor families.

To ease the burden on poorer families, some propose that poor students be exempt from charges altogether and have their education subsidised by contributions from wealthier parents.