Vietnam Primary Education

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Updated: 12/10/06Vietnam Primary Education

Dr. Trinh Quoc Thai, Director General

Primary Education Department

1. Introduction

It is stated in the 1992 Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam that ³Education is the

right and responsibility of every citizen. Primary education is compulsory and tuition-free to allchildren´ (Article 59).

It is stated in the Education Law that ³primary education is compulsory to every child aged from

6 to 14; primary education lasts 5 years from Form 1 to Form 5. The schooling age is 6 yearsold´ (Article 22). ³Primary education is to provide pupils with initial and essential bases for

proper and life-long development in terms of morality, intellectual capacity, physical assets,aesthetics and basic skills for their progress into secondary education´ (Article 23).

Primary education must support children with basic understandings of the nature, society and thehuman beings. Primary education must provide them with basic skills of listening, speaking,

reading, writing and calculating, shape their habits of physical training, and provide them with basic insights into singing, dancing, music and arts.

Essentially, it can be said that primary education, a fundamental foundation for the shaping and

developing of a comprehensive personality, sets the ground for secondary education and for thewhole national education system.

2. Facts and Figures

In recent years, Vietnam¶s primary education has achieved remarkable results in both terms of quantity and quality. By 2000, Vietnam succeeded in making primary education universa-lized

throughout the whole country. The network of primary schools and classes has been broad based.There have been primary schools and classes in almost every ward in the country, even in

remote, mountainous, island and boundary areas.

Next to public schools are private schools, which have been increasing in number and qualitythanks to the Government¶s policy of varying types of primary schools.

The number of primary pupils increased since 1990 and peaked in the school year 1997-1998 of

10.5 million. Since that peak year, the number has reduced year by year and maintains a stableenrollment rate. The main reason for the reduction comes from the campaign of making primary

education universalized and compulsory for everybody, particularly to every child in his/her schooling age and from the campaign of family planning.

School year Number of primary

schools Number of

students Number of primary

education teachers 1989 -1990 12,296 8,583,025 251,052



. . . . . . . . . . 1994 - 1995 1995 - 1996 1996 - 1997 1997 - 1998 1998 - 1999

1999 - 2000 2000 - 2001 2001 ± 2002

. . . . . . 13,540 13,778 13,888 14,240 14,507

14,815 14,968 15,090

. . . . . . . . . 10,047,564 10,218,169 10,377,830 10,431,337 10,250,214

10,063,025 9,748,164 9,400,000

. . . . . . . . 288,173 298,407 310,264 324,431 336,294

340,871 347,833 353,804

In the whole country, the net enrollment rate of students keeps growing and the gross enrollment

rate continues to reduce over the past decade. This achievement is thanks to the efforts made by provinces in reaching the standards of primary education universalization although the rate still

varies from region to region.

1990-1991 1994-1995 1998-1999 2000-2001 GER

(%) NER

(%) GER

(%) NER

(%) GER

(%) NER

(%) GER

(%) NER

(%)

Nationwide 101.6 86.0 109.3 91.3 108.2 94.8 106.6 97.54 Red river

delta 113.7 96.4 114.4 94.7 103.3 98.0 97.8 97.56

Northwest

region 80.6 61.3 86.4 90.4 98.6 94.8 110.3 91.56

North of

Central

Vietnam 102.5 84.8 107.5 92.1 120.5 96.4 108.6 97.6

Highlands 91.3 92.5 112.4 90.7 123.7 89.2 121.9 99.08 Cuu Long

river delta 96.5 81.2 111.4 87.5 107.7 90.8 108.1 96.71

The quality of primary education has also been nurtured as indicated by the increasing rate of passing pupils and decreasing rate of pupils dropping-out. The rate of pupils passing primary

education to proceed to secondary education reached 97.3% in the school year 2000-2001, a highrate showing many opportunities that primary pupils have for secondary education.

Primary teachers have been improved in terms of quantity and quality, although this fact cannot

be completely applied to remote areas, where teachers have not yet met the required trainingstandards.

Percentage of teachers meetingrequired training standards

1990-1991

(%) 1994-1995

(%) 1998-1999

(%) 2000-2001

(%) Nationwide

Red river delta Northwest region

North of Central Vietnam

58.2 70.5 50.3 64.4

67.7 78.3 59.8 71.7

77.6 85.6 68.1 79.8

84.95 94.36 75.55 91.13



Highlands Cuu Long river delta

50.1 51.4

65.9 62.8

70.8 73.8

71.83 82.29

3. Primary Education Programs

Since the school year 2002-2003, the Government has instructed nationwide reforms in the primary education starting from Grade 1 and in the next grades in following years.

The renovated primary education program is structured into two phases:

- Phase 1 includes Grades 1, 2 and 3 with 6 subjects: Vietnamese Language, Mathematics,Morality, Nature and Society, Arts and Physical Education.

- Phase 2 includes Grades 4 and 5 with 9 subjects: Vietnamese Language, Mathematics,Morality, Science, History, Geography, Basic Techniques, Music, Arts and Physical Education.

The renovation of curriculum is accompanied by renova- tions of textbooks, teachingmethodologies and assessment methodologies.

In this renovated program, a school year is divided into 35 weeks with the average schoolingtime is 3.3hrs/day, equivalent to 660hrs/year, which is not high in comparison with those of other

countries (average 1,000hrs/ year).

For those schools that can meet all the requirements of teaching capacity the pupils can register

in foreign language classes and computer classes with the agreement of their parents. Theseschools can also organize classes to foster students¶ studying capacity or build up optional

education programs pursuant with regulations of Ministry of Education and Training.

Most of primary students are registered in half-day classes. Just over 10% are entitled to whole-day classes. The implemen-tation of whole-day classes are of great interest and popular

in provinces such as Nam Dinh, Bac Ninh, Hanoi,Ho Chi Minh City.

4. Difficulties and Challenges

Analysis in the previous sections has shown the following difficulties and challenges for thecurrent primary education level:

- Although primary education was universalized nationwide in 2000, there still exists a number

of children under schooling ages who cannot go to schools or complete their primary education programs; and some educational institutions have not met the primary education universalization

standards. Consequently, how to maintain and increase the rate of primary pupils going andcompleting primary education, as well as how to keep the quality of primary education

universalization, will be a great challenge that Vietnam¶s education has to face.



- The gap of primary education quality between regions in the country can be clearly observed.How to erase this gap and how to maintain the equality of primary education to children of

favorable regions and in-need regions can be considered as another challenge the Vietnam¶s primary education.

- The rate of teachers who are not yet qualified is rather high at 15%. In some provinces in NorthWest and Tay Nguyen this rate amounts up to 30-40%. Teachers of Arts, Singing-Music,Physical Education and optional subjects such as Computer, Foreign Languages are strongly

needed. Although the number of teachers meeting training standards is increasing, their professional skills and methodologies are still weak. Lecturers in the pedagogical institutions for

training primary teachers have not yet been highly qualified and particularly lack practicalexperience.

- Classrooms are insufficient, meeting only 50% of demand and the number of three-shift

classrooms is 2,026. Most of them have not been well equipped.

- The amount of average schooling hours for primary pupils is still low in comparison with thoseof other countries. The relevance of curriculum, teaching methodologies and assessmentmethodologies needs more consideration.

- The system of education and finance management is still weak. There is a shortage of primary

education managers and they lack high qualification. The education information managementsystem has not been exact and updated. The method of allocating educational finance has not

been satisfactory.

5. Priorities

- To maintain and continue raising the rate of primary education universalization in the country,in particular to increase the rate of children under schooling age attending schools from 95% in2000 to 97% in 2005 and 99% in 2010.

- To renovate the curriculum and textbooks for primary education, aiming at comprehensive and

unified change; Special attention will be paid to the renovation of teaching and learning methods,the renovation of teaching assessment and the improvement of infrastructure for teaching and

learning activities.

- To standardize and modernize primary education.

Targeted Performance Indicators:

- 50~60% of provinces will accomplish standards of primary education universalization for

children of the right schooling age by 2005.

- Rates of schools, classes and students who are entitled to whole-day classes will be graduallyincreased.



- Primary schools will be standardized by 2010.

- Opportunities for upbringing will be opened to every child in need, with 50% of disabledchildren entitled to education by 2010.

- There will be no temporary classrooms and 50% of students will enjoy whole-day classes by2005.

6. Programs/Projects for Primary Education

6.1. National Objective Programs

- To maintain achievements of primary education universalization through infrastructure

building, supplying equipment and teaching materials, and improvement of teaching capacity for teachers.

- To renovate curriculum and teaching methodologies through compiling textbooks, manuals andguidelines accompanying textbooks; improvement of equipment; training courses for teachers.

- To stabilize schools and classrooms through building of new schools to replace three-shift/day

classrooms; increasing whole-day teaching; building of libraries and laboratories.

6.2. Programs/Projects Funded by International Agencies/ Organizations

- Program to Support Primary Education Development funded by Japan International Co-

operation Agency (JICA): the Program aims at achieving a Master Program for Development of Primary Education, and at building a coordinating mechanism among donors to prevent clashes

in supporting primary education. The Program also aims at improving planning capacity for education managers. The National Master Program for Primary Education Development was

approved by the Minister of Education and Training in Decision No.28/2002/QD-BGD&DTdated 10 May 2002. The Program identifies areas that need support and resources, from which

sustainable programs/projects can be developed for primary education improvement.

- Primary Education Project for Disadvantaged Children using loans from the World Bank andofficial aids from CIDA, DFID, NORAD and AUSAID. The Project aims at raising the

education quality of primary schools in in-need areas, increasing the access to primary educationof families, reducing the number of children who are unable to go to school and improving the

qualification of primary students.

- Project for Development of Primary Teachersusing loans from the World Bank and official aidsfrom DFID. The Project focuses on increasing professional teaching standards and training

courses for teachers and management staff. The Project will concentrate in 10 selected provincesand cities from 2002 to 2005.

- School Lunch Programfunded by Agricultural Department (USA). The Program aims atimproving education quality through supplying nutrition to children, and at improving physical



fitness for children in unfavorable areas. The Program commences in September 2002 andcompletes in June 2003. The target groups of the Program are 33 districts of 6 provinces, totaling

613 primary schools with 2,120 school sites of 330,000 students.

- Co-operation Program with UNICEFthrough flexible education projects (1995-2000) and

Children¶s Friends - Primary Education Project (2000-2005). The main components of theProgram are developing teaching and learning materials for teachers and students indisadvantaged areas; training courses for teachers to improve teaching capacity; providing

textbooks, notebooks, pens and pencils for students and teaching aids for teachers.

Vietnam Primary Education

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