Educational Reform in Viet Nam: A Process of Change or Continuity?

Author(s): Stephen Duggan

Source: Comparative Education , May, 2001, Vol. 37, No. 2 (May, 2001), pp. 193-212
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.

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Comparative Education Volume 37 No. 2 2001 pp. 193-212 FgU.k1,

Educational Reform in Viet Nam: a

process of change or continuity
STEPHEN DUGGAN

ABSTRACT Comprehensive national educational change is a complex and o

countries such as Viet Nam where the government exercises tight control o
development strategies, wide scale changes to an education system are often
increasing engagement with private sector development has, however, enab
improving and strengthening its education system. In response to Viet Nam
economy, educational planners have had to consider strategies for making th
responsive to current and future labour demands. Accordingly, beginnin
Government of Viet Nam put in place policies to enable the education syste
by the principle that an investment in education is an investment in eco
government has pursued and continues to pursue an agenda of education
curriculum reform. Early evidence indicates that despite an initial rapid de
tation of change-driven policies and strategic directions, the pace of reform is
of this paper is that a programme of substantial education change and in
actually a programme of cautious reform based on select targeting of partic
this case, populations in the larger cities, economic priority zones and ur

Introduction

Memoir on the Stele of Doctors at the Temple of Literature, Hanoi:

Virtuous and talented men are key factors for sustaining State development

Knowledge is the greatest asset of the nation. (1466)

This paper is offered as a contribution to the larger task of providing a compre

of education in Viet Nam during the period of economic renovation (Doi Moi) co
in 1986. The paper focuses on a period of robust national education reform whic
genesis a government strategy in 1994 of reducing the number of subjects stud
to make school education more responsive to labour market demands and requir
period of robust reform can be accurately tied down to developments in late 19
Minister of Education and Training announced a framework for modernizing ed
support Viet Nam's wide ranging market reforms.
The evolution of education reform in Viet Nam during the 1990s closely
developments in subregional planning enabling economic cooperation throug
Greater Mekong Subregion. Despite being tightly linked to the economies of Eas
East Asia through trade and investment, Viet Nam has largely escaped the down
regional economic crisis which also materialized in 1997. During this time, t

Correspondence to: Stephen Duggan, 13 Forster Street, Heidelberg Heights, Victoria 3081, Australia. E
opc.vic.gov.au

ISSN 0305-0068 print; ISSN 1360-0486 online/01/020193-20 @ 2001 Taylor & Francis Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/03050060120043411

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194 S. Duggan

system entered a process of restructuring to accommodate a significant increase in student

enrolments at all levels and to prepare those students for a workforce driven by market force
The education system strengthened and private sector provisions expanded.
This paper traces the process of education reform in Viet Nam and discusses the issues
and constraints ongoing reform faces in the immediate future. An important aspect of the
reform process was the gradual establishment of a policy and legislative framework th
enabled dramatic reform to be considered. Within this context, a single word, popula
provides a key metaphor for understanding the internal constraints Viet Nam faces in linkin
its education system (Giao Duc) to market reform. Within the education sector, change or
innovation cannot be contemplated unless the outcome is perceived to be popular. It will be
seen that the metaphor, although engaging, is elusive.

The Context

Viet Nam's education system has been enduring and despite long periods of war
throughout the 20th century has proven to be resilient and self-sustaining. Som
studies have been struck by the high priority given to education by the govern
Nam and the high esteem in which it is held by the people (Can, 1992; UNFPA, 1995;
World Bank, 1993, 1996). Key indicators of the strength of the education system are the high
adult literacy rate variously measured at between 88% and 94%, the high enrolment,
participation and transition rate of girls in primary and secondary education and the
substantial number of higher or post-secondary education institutions and the equally high
student demand for places in higher education. By 1998, when a 'comprehensive people's
education system' was in place, the system consisted of:

30,000 kindergartens and schools, over 20 million people in learning. Primary

schools exist in all hamlets and villages, lower secondary schools in all communes,
upper secondary schools in all districts ... (Hac, 1998, p. 46)

The national education system until the mid-1990s was divided into a four-tiered system
consisting of: (1) pre-school education; (2) general education [1]; (3) vocational education;
and (4) higher education. The system was highly fragmented with general education consist-
ing of primary, lower secondary and upper secondary education and vocational education
with streams of secondary vocational and technical (lower and upper) education. This
structure has since been revised to enable significant growth in general secondary education
at the expense of rationalizing and reducing structures in vocational education. Currently,
most students progress through the academic streams of secondary education. Where primary
schools once contained lower secondary school streams, these have since become separate
primary and lower secondary schools.
The national curriculum, in taking account of these horizontal and vertical organiza-
tional structures for primary and secondary education, was also fragmented and characterized
by an overloading of subject offerings. Students received instructional programmes in up to
13 subjects in a school day that amounted to no more than 4 hours, 5 or 6 days a week. The
education system enabled high enrolments and strong literacy rates but disguised also high
levels of overage enrolment, early dropout and uneven access and participation rates. Overall,
the quality of teaching was deemed to be weak and overly locked into an academic delivery
of subject content.
From Hanoi's point of view, the national system of education was reformed in 1950,
1956 and again in 1970. But it was not until 1975 when the two separate education systems
of the then North and South Viet Nam were unified under a national system. There has been

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 Educational Reform in Viet Nam 195

TABLE I. Comparative baseline data on schools and enrolments

Primary school education Lower secondary school

Period Schools Students Schools Students

1942 737 62,300 65 16,700

1991 7124 8,856,986 3129 2,678,350
1994 10,137 9,040,955 4616 3,101,483
1998 12,058 8,865,305 6321 4,860,709

Source: MOET (1998).

TABLE II. Baseline education data

Description 1991/92 1993/94 1995/96 1997/98

Primary education
No. of schools 724 10,137 11,685 12,058
No. of classes 262,686 288,367 309,942 316,968
No. of students 8,856,986 9,040,955 8,806,598 8,865,305
No. of 6-10 year 9,105,104 9,725.095 10,218,169 10,377,830
% going to school 103 108 116 117
No. of teachers 263,215 275,640 298,407 310,264

Lower secondary education

No. of schools 3129 4616 5900 6321
No. of classes 73,027 80,027 104,294 116,663
No. of students 2,678,350 3,101,483 4,312,674 4,860,709
No. of 11-14 year 6,147,933 6,352,203 6,935,671 7,226,836
'% going to school 43.6 48.8 62.2 67.3
No. of teachers 130,431 132,722 154,416 166,552

Source: MOET (1998).

significant growth in student enrolment since the unification. This growth accelerated agai
during the 1990s when enrolments in lower secondary school grew substantially with a 100%
increase from the 1991/92 to 1997/98 academic year (see Tables I and II).
During the 1980s, there were two unsuccessful attempts at national educational reform
by virtue of curriculum reform. (In Viet Nam, the national curriculum programme is
essentially textbooks and the delivery of instructional programmes based on the content of
each section of a textbook. There is often more than one textbook for each subject and each
lesson is locked into following the chapter sequence of each textbook. Accordingly, access to
textbooks is a key issue for students wishing to receive a quality education. By the 1997/98
academic year, the required number of textbooks for Years 6-9 was around 50 for each year.
Teacher training is also based on training students to deliver instructional programmes based
on textbook content.) Strategies to rationalize or streamline a very heavy subject number
dominated curriculum reform were put in place in the 1981/82 and again in the 1986/87
academic years. The next attempt was in 1994. This also may have failed had it not been for
the gradual installation of a policy and legal framework to enable the necessary reforms. This
framework, in many respects, reflects government endeavours to accelerate market reform.
This development is best examined historically.

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196 S. Duggan

The Process of Educational Reform: Renovation

Since 1991, education has been considered as a national priority for both so
economic development and as a vehicle for supporting Doi Moi. The Third Plen
of the Communist Party's Central Committee determined in that year a 10-ye
planning for educational development including universal primary education b
2000. 'Investment in education is investment for development' was a guiding princip
Third Congress, but it took the principle further to 'the concept which considers
as socioeconomic infrastructure' (Hac, 1998, p. 86). Since 1991, educational refo
Nam is described, like Doi Moi, as a process of renovation. In official literature:

Renovation in education and training is an important part of the renewal o

state. The basic task of renovation in education is to shift from meeting the n
of a subsidized, centrally planned economy to meeting the needs of a multi-sec
state-managed, socialist oriented market economy ... Investment in education a
training must be regarded as one of the main targets for development investm
Conditions must be created to allow education to serve socio-economic dev
ment even more actively. (Ministry of Education and Training, 1995, p. 14)

The explicit link between investments in education and subsequent economi

ment and the theories that support that relationship need not be examined within t
of this paper. Suffice to say that policy statements from the government support
which in turn find support from some of the largest multilateral investors in
including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB). Indeed, the AD
the relationship in Viet Nam as pivotal:

The quality of the labor force is a key factor behind productivity and competi
ness, and hence living standards. Education and health are the two variables
relevant to a quality labor force. Viet Nam has been successful in expanding access
to education during the last three decades ... However, past achievements are under
threat, with serious deterioration in indicators of both quantity and quality of
education. The changing economic structure has reduced the relevance of second-
ary education, especially technical and post secondary education. (ADB, 1997c,
pp. 15-16)

Determinations from the Third Congress created an enabling environment for strength-
ening provisions for education and reforming the system to respond positively to market
forces, but given the scale of the national education system and the allied complex bureauc-
racy upon which the system was supported, the resolutions remained largely rhetorical, for in
Viet Nam educational reform requires legal reform and the creation of a legislative framework
to transform Ministerial decrees into regulations that can be enacted.
The policy framework underpinning educational reform has as its roots an Education and
Human Resource Sector Analysis, a joint Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and UNESCO study conducted in 1991. The
study identified some major gaps and weaknesses throughout the system. These included

"* a decline in the quantity and quality of general education;

"* poor linkages between vocational technical education, production and employment;
* irrelevance of higher education and poor linkages to research, production and employment;
* an inappropriate organization and management of the education and training system; and
* the inadequacy of education and training in a changing society (of Viet Nam) (SRV, 1995,
pp. 24-25).

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 Educational Reform in Viet Nam 197

The report also recommended strategic directions for improvements. These included consol-
idating primary school education by means of the universalization of primary education
throughout Viet Nam by the year 2000, progress towards universal lower secondary edu-
cation by 2005 with nation-wide coverage by 2010, and improved linkages between second-
ary, technical and vocational education (within the upper secondary school level) [2]. These
recommendations were taken further by resolutions from the plenary sessions of the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of Viet Nam, which upgraded the recommendations to
the level of policy.
The Fourth Plenary Session of the Committee held in January 1993 re-committed the
government to 'continued renovation of the education and training cause' and determined
that education and training were 'the driving force and ... the basic condition for realization
of socio-economic objectives'. This resolution reiterated that investments in education are
'considered as one of the principal directions of investment for development' (MOET, 1995,
p. 20). To place these policies within a legislative framework, the Prime Minister determined
in November 1993 (Decree No. 90CP) a new general framework for the national education
system (Fig. 1) to enable improved access to school education, strengthening transition rates
to and retention in lower secondary school education and upgrading the standards and
improving the structure of higher education (SRV, 1995, pp. 26-27).
Whilst these resolutions and policies were being formulated and ratified not a lot of structural
alterations were felt throughout the school system where the emphasis remained on providing
primary schooling for the 6-14-year-old age group and various streams of lower secondary
schooling to primary school graduates [3]. A major structural alteration had occurred earlier
in 1990 when the Ministry of Education and Training was formed through the amalgamation
of the Ministry of Higher Education and Vocational Training and the Ministry of Education
(Fahey, 1996), but beyond early progress in rationalizing and strengthening the higher
education system, few reforms had filtered down to the school level. However, the commit-
ments of the Fourth Plenary did see a steady increase in the government budget dedicated to
education and with that gradual improvements in the provision of school education and,
attendant upon that, a steady increase in enrolments.
In September 1995, the government prepared and presented its own analysis of progress
and future directions for education at a major donor meeting. The Report by the Government
of Viet Nam to the Sectoral Aid Coordination Meeting on Education was tabled in Hanoi. This
meeting effectively advised the international donor community where investments in
education were required. Although the government had steadily increased the dedicated
education allocation to nearly 12% of the national budget (World Bank, 1996), this was still
insufficient to fund an overall qualitative and quantitative improvement of learning, teaching,
resources and facilities. Accordingly, the government identified six large-scale development
programmes comprised of 32 separate projects (SRV, 1995). This array of programmes and
projects effectively provided the international donor community with an indicative invest-
ment portfolio for strengthening and modernizing Viet Nam's education system. Of interest to
this paper were several strategic directions in the scope and coverage of reform. Objectives in
1995 for the development of the education system by 2000 included:

"* completing universalization of primary education by more determined measures;

"* implementing universalization of lower secondary education in the larger cities, industrial
estates and some delta provinces [4]; and
* increasing the net enrolment of primary school children to 90%.

A longer-term objective involved increasing lower secondary school enrolment to 80% by

2010.

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198 S. Duggan

Age Post graduate

(years)
Ph.D. training , Master training
Higher (3 years) (2 years)
education

University, high school

University College
18 (4-6 years) (3 years)

18

Upper Skill Vocational Skill training

Secondary secondary secondary secondary school
school school school school (6 months-2
(3 years) (3-4 years) (3-4 years) years)

15

Lower secondary Short term skill

school training
11 (4 years) (under 1 year)

Primary 11
school Primary school (5 years)
6

6
Nursery Nursery schools (3 years)
education

2 Kindergarten (1 year)

FIG. 1. National education system organisational structure as a result of Decree 90/CP, 24 Novemb

The Eighth Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party
Nam held in Hanoi in December 1996 seemed to give these policies greater momentum
through quite strong endorsements linking education development to economic develop-
ment. The Central Committee stated that:

To carry out industrialization and modernization successfully, it is necessary to

develop education and training strongly [and to] maximize human resources, the
key factor of fast and sustained development. (SRV, 1996a, p. 1)

The Central Committee reiterated the absolute importance of a sound education to national
development and cohesion and family and community solidarity. And it proposed again that
'the development of education must be closely related to socio- economic development
needs' (SRV, 1996a, pp. 7-8). In determining objectives for the year 2000, there were a
number of slight shifts. Universal primary school education for most primary school age
students was decreed with a net enrolment rate of 60% of students in lower secondary school.
In accordance with earlier Congresses, special attention was set aside for better coverage of

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 Educational Reform in Viet Nam 199

education for populations in mountainous areas, remote and isolated villages and island
settlements to enable all 'provinces to reach the national standards for literacy and universal
primary education before the turn of the century' (SRV, 1996a, pp. 9-10).
This position was supported by a major policy statement, which was adopted by the
Eighth Congress. The Strategic Orientations for the Development of Education and Training in the
Industrialization and Modernization Period and the Related Tasks Till the Year 2000 (SRV,
1996b) provided the framework and timing for interventions towards the overall qualitative
and quantitative improvement of education. It is too early to claim that this document will
prove to be pivotal or a landmark in Viet Nam's history of education, but it will serve as a
bench mark for measuring achievements by 2000 and 2010.
The policy position of the government was aided through the provision of several major
loan projects provided by the World Bank and ADB. The World Bank had been supporting
reform in primary schools within the World Bank Primary Education Project, which became
effective in 1995, and ongoing support in higher education. Both loans were poor or low
performing. The Primary Education programme was tasked to assist curriculum reform and
to reach populations where primary school access was difficult owing to terrain, isolation and
other related environmental events such as flooding. A key objective was to reduce the core
curriculum to nine subjects supported by a comprehensive programme in textbook develop-
ment and supply to support the subjects. In terms of policy, the project was sound and
relevant. However, although the Eighth Congress had determined in 1996 that universal
primary education should include students studying a minimum of nine subjects, the number
which the World Bank had agreed to support by means of textbook development, the actual
implementation of that policy was not slated for action until 2000. In short, it was agreed that
nine subjects would be studied; which nine remained unclear and would remain unclear until
1999. Consequently, textbook development and teacher training components of the pro-
gramme stalled until such time as the legislative framework would enable the proposed
reforms.

Additional support for basic education [5] was being considered by the ADB for
curriculum reform and teacher training in lower secondary schools. Unlike the primary
school programme, ADB support for lower secondary school reform received greater accept-
ance.

Lower Secondary School Curriculum Reform in Viet Nam

The Report by the Government of Viet Nam to the Sectoral Aid Coordination Meeting on Education
(SRV, 1995) addressed concerns from the Central Committee on poor access to education
and textbooks for a number of disadvantaged populations and communities. Of the estimated
79 million people living in Viet Nam at least 80% are based in rural settlements. Most of the
population is concentrated in the major rice producing areas, especially the Red River Delta
in the north, the Mekong Delta in the south and the coastal plains in the centre. The delta
population is almost entirely ethnic Vietnamese (Kinh) who make up roughly 89-90% of the
population. Minority groups including the Khmer, Cham, and M'Nong live in Viet Nam's
southern regions, whilst the Thai, Tay, Nung, Mong and Muong live in the mountainous
regions or upland areas of central and northern Viet Nam. Amongst these, the Khmer
(1,000,000), the Thai (1,000,000) and Tay (1,200,000) are the most numerous. Owing to
isolation, difficult terrain and prohibitive mountainous conditions, many populations are out
of reach of mainstream basic education and other basic social services. The Fourth Plenary
Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party made special provision for these
groups when it stated as a task for the next 5 years to

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200 S. Duggan

Increase investment in education in mountainous regions and areas inhabited by

ethnic minorities, expand boarding schools, and work out a scheme for the training
of state employees and intellectuals with ethnic minority origin. (MOET, 1995,
pp. 19-20)

The Sectoral Aid Coordination Meeting enabled the tabling of the government's education
development agenda to donors. A principle area of quality improvement requiring national
coverage was that in general education. Here, the government wanted to see a dramatic
improvement. It wanted a programme aimed at the (1) qualitative and quantitative improve-
ment in teacher training; (2) improvements in the curriculum and evaluation methods; (3)
modernization and better design and supply of teaching aids; and (4) provision of reading
material to secondary students through school libraries (SRV, 1995, p. 48). The government
was also concerned about curriculum development claiming that 'MOET is weak in curricu-
lum design and the ability to further develop programs into textbooks' (SRV, 1995, p. 49).
These issues had already been brought to the attention of fact-finding missions from the
World Bank and ADB, who responded positively with large basic education programmes
based on textbook development and supply and allied teacher training and library develop-
ment and training of librarians. As noted, owing to policy imperatives the World Bank
supported Primary Education Project faltered whilst a proposed ADB financed lower second-
ary education loan project slowed down to give way to a series of smaller technical assistance
projects. Specific interventions to assist ethnic minority and other vulnerable populations
nonetheless figured significantly in the government's education investment framework. It
specified assistance to:

"* building schools in flooded areas of the Mekong Delta;

"* building typhoon resistant schools in provinces at risk;
"* building schools in mountainous areas;
"* upgrading lower secondary schools in underprivileged areas;
"* strengthening and diversifying non-formal education;
"* providing textbooks free of charge to students from poor families; and
"* setting up continuing education centres in disadvantaged districts (SRV, 1995, pp. 49-54).

These initiatives in poverty alleviation had the potential to appeal to international donors
and reflected also the Central Committee's concern to provide adequate coverage of edu-
cation to meet the requirements of a national education system. Interestingly, the ADB was
encouraged to focus programming activity in several of these areas. An earlier ADB study had
witnessed significant inequities in provisions for basic education throughout Viet Nam. It
noted:

Educational services are not equally distributed. Disadvantaged groups include

ethnic minorities, women, populations in rural and remote areas, the poor and the
disabled. Three regions, the northern mountain areas, the central plateau and the
Mekong delta, are far behind in participation rates. Internal efficiency has been
deteriorating since 1987. The completion rate is 45 percent, and it takes an average
of 8.1 years to complete the five-year [primary school] program. The dropout rate
averages 15 to 17 percent and the repetition rates vary from 6 to 14 percent. Only
45 percent of students have textbooks for all subjects. (ADB, 1993, p. 2)

The study identified two major areas of programme assistance: lower secondary educ
where participation rates are lowest; and upper secondary technical and vocationa

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 Educational Reform in Viet Nam 201

education in selected priority fields. To prepare for loan projects in both areas, technical
assistance projects were mounted in 1996 and 1997. A large technical assistance project in
Lower Secondary Curriculum and Teacher Training Systems Development was prepared with
international specialists fielded in July 1997. The ADB and the government of Viet Nam
several weeks later submitted a loan project in Lower Secondary Education Development for
approval. The projects supported the government's objectives of modernizing the lower
secondary school curriculum. Key strategies included helping MOET to reduce the number
of subjects and the rewriting of textbooks to reflect a new and leaner curriculum framework.
The supply of textbooks to Viet Nam's poorest provinces was another key strategy.
The proposed loan project strongly reflected the investment framework prepared by the
government in 1995. Its three main components were in some ways a blueprint for the key
areas identified by the government. The first component, for instance, quality improvement,
targeted textbooks, textbook development and supply, quality improvement of teachers
(teacher training) and teacher training institutions and poverty alleviation by means of
enhanced student access to lower secondary schools. The second main component, increas-
ing access, targeted specific assistance to 10 of Viet Nam's poorest provinces: Bac Can, Bac
Giang, Bac Ninh, Son La and Thai Nguyen in the north; Quang Tri and Kon Tum in the
mountainous central highlands; and Ca Mau, Can Tho and Bac Lieu in the south; whilst
component three focused on overall institutional development to strengthen both central and
provincial staff in education management and planning.
The technical assistance project and loan project were basically one package of assist-
ance; the outputs of the former enabling sequenced inputs in the latter. Nationally, the
projects aimed at rationalizing the lower secondary school curriculum to a manageable
number of core subjects, taking account of this, training teachers and retraining teachers in
service to deliver instructional programmes as a result of these curriculum reforms, and
provision of sufficient textbooks and classrooms to enable increased numbers of students
from the ten targeted provinces with improved access to a quality lower secondary school
education. Accordingly, the project objectives were sound and consistent with government
policy to ensure national curriculum coverage and improved quality in, and access to, basic
education. The process of educational reform in lower secondary education the project would
support involved:

1. the development of a policy and legal framework to enable MOET to review, revise and
reform the lower secondary curriculum nationally, this involving the introduction of a new
curriculum framework consisting of fewer subjects;
2. the preparation of policy position papers for the reorganization of existing subjects into
new subject groups including where possible the integration of some subjects into a new
subject and the provision of revised in-service training systems to support the revisions;
3. the preparation of theoretical and conceptual positions to enable revised syllabus outlines
for new subject groups including the format and structure of new textbooks; and
4. a policy and legal framework and implementation plan for textbook development and
approval including plans for retraining teachers to coincide for the release of textbooks.

The important feature of these technical assistance and loan programmes was their
proposed national coverage. In addition to improving efficiencies in basic education through
such means as higher primary-secondary transition rates, improved access to textbooks and
lower student wastage (through repetition and dropout), the programmes sought to increase
access to education to those groups normally out of reach of a full range of basic education.
Despite the overloaded composition of the secondary school curriculum, the further schools
were located from the major urban centres, the less likely schools were able to recruit

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202 S. Duggan

TABLE III. The organizational structure of the current lower

secondary school curriculum

Vietnamese language Sports and military education

Foreign languages Hobby and physical activity
History Practical work
Geography Collective activities
Civics education Productive labour
Mathematics Thematic activities
Physics Career oriented activities
Chemistry National flag ceremony
Biology
Painting
Music

sufficient lower secondary school subject teachers to deliver even a core curriculum. C
quently, not only were many provinces short of secondary schools, they were also often
of teachers to deliver such subjects as history, biology, foreign languages and ph
education. These multilateral projects sought to improve this situation of limited acces
quality and restricted curriculum coverage to those populations regarded as remote, vu
able or otherwise disadvantaged due to geographic, climatic or financial reasons. In sho
those families who found formal schooling a burden. However, finalization of the
implementation plans and details proceeded the installation of the policy and leg
framework required to carry out such reforms.
In July 1997, the Prime Minister announced Viet Nam's education development str
for the 1996 to 2020 period. A press release issued on 11 July echoed many of the
resolutions of the Communist Party:

A decision dated on Wednesday [9 July] on designing the country's training an

education development strategy up to the year 2020 was promulgated by the Prim
Minister. The Minister for Education and Training will be responsible for organiz-
ing and achieving the decision's objective of formalizing the major tasks and
guidelines for the training and education development strategy in the period
modernization and industrialization. In addition, the strategy must become an
integral part of the socio-economic development program and help to creat
adequate human resources to successfully implement the country's socio-economic
targets ... The strategy is required to be a feasible one including a system of definit
and appropriate policies, solutions and mechanisms. (Viet Nam News, August
1998)

The Minister of Education and Training was tasked to organize a timetable for prepari
policy and strategy document 'addressing the training and education strategy through
year 2020 to submit to the government by mid-next year [1998]'. Within a short time
'mechanisms' and details of the World Bank and ADB supported basic education pro-
grammes were absorbed by this larger enterprise. In October the Minister put in place the
strategic plan for the national reform of education including staged periods of reform and
development covering 1996-2000, 2001-2005, 2006-2010 and 2011-2020. Within this
strategy plans for the universalization of primary education would be developed during the
first period with an aim of realizing the universalization of primary education by 2005
Planning for the universalization of secondary education would also occur during this period
with curriculum reform planned for introduction by 2000 or 2001. It was estimated that th

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 Educational Reform in Viet Nam 203

universalization of lower secondary education might take until 2010. The plan also made
explicit what had been hinted at in earlier resolutions.
Under the strategy access to universal lower secondary education would be provided first
to the major urban areas and economic priority zones (industrial estates). Access would be
gradually expanded next to the Red River (Song Hong) Delta, the central coast including Hue
and Da Nang, and the eastern part of southern Viet Nam including the Mekong River (Cuu
Long) Delta. According to the strategy, mountainous and remote areas would be brought on
stream last (circa 2010). This process of progressive expansion and engagement effectively
prioritized the large city and urban areas and economic priority zones for universal access to
basic education. Delta regions where the majority of the rural population resides would come
on stream next. Progress towards reaching the mountainous and remote areas would be
determined by success in coverage in the city and urban areas.
The Prime Minister's promulgation and the Minister's strategy plan effectively became
the national plan for the scope and direction of education reform. Importantly, it set in
motion the necessary procedures to enable national curriculum reform to be considered and
approved. The ultimate objective was to ensure that the proposed measures that would
enable improved access to lower secondary education would be popular. Under this scenario,
it was important for urban populations, and in particular those in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh
City to be exposed to and respond to the proposed changes.

The Conceptual Framework for National Curriculum Reform

National curriculum reform is a complex procedure in any country. When such refo
involves the reduction of subjects offered within schools, the restraining forces pr
venting reform can easily outweigh facilitating factors. Within Viet Nam, it has long been
recognized that the lower secondary school curriculum is too cluttered. Too many subjects
are provided during a short teaching day in a country characterized by a very short teachi
year of around 33 weeks. Table II reflects the dilemma at another level. The number of
teachers in primary schools is slightly smaller than the number of classes whilst in lower
secondary schools there is a surplus of teachers with 166,552 teachers available to teach in
116,663 classes.
In those systems, which are already modernized, governments can encounter stiff resist-
ance amongst teachers if the curriculum is shrunk to enable better subject coverage (i.e. fewer
subjects but greater instructional hours for each subject). In Viet Nam, where teachers in
lower secondary schools are trained to specialize in one subject, any reduction in subject
numbers entails less teaching for those subject specialists affected, if not redundancy. This
issue is particularly important for teachers in cities and urban areas. MOET was particularly
concerned to ensure that proposed changes would be popular amongst this group.
The situation is made more complex in Viet Nam owing to the many agencies involved
in education decision making. These must be consulted when major decisions are pending.
Beyond MOET and its many divisions, the following agencies must be involved in decision
making that involves reform (their listing does not reflect a hierarchy):

"* Central Committee for Science and Education;

"* National Committee for the Advancement of Women;
"* National Institute of Educational Development (NIED);
* National Institute of Educational Science (NIES);
* National Assembly for Culture and Education (NACE);
* national subject committees;
* key Hanoi universities; and

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204 S. Duggan

* provincial education directors and offices.

Within MOET a number of key departments whose involvement is essential, need to b

engaged in decisions regarding education reform including:

"* Primary General Education Department;

"* Secondary General Education Department;
"* Teachers' Department;
"* Planning and Finance Department; and
"* International Relations Department.

To engage these agencies in the formal process of considering, ratifying and approving
education reform, a structure is put in place to alert and 'mobilize' relevant staff. This
procedure is part of the legislative or legal framework that must be created to enable the
transition of policy to action. In brief, once the Minister has determined the strategic
framework for reform, the following must occur (this is in respect to lower secondary
curriculum reform):

1. the development of the necessary documentation to create a policy and legal base to
legitimate and institutionalize proposed curriculum reform and allied teacher training;
2. the synchronized mobilization and coordination of relevant MOET departments and
agencies directly affected by the proposed changes;
3. the synchronized mobilization and coordination of national education agencies including
National Subject Committees, Teacher Training Colleges and universities, Provincial
Education Directors, the NACE, NIED and NIES;
4. the mounting of a formal seminar programme starting at the central level and through
progressive engagement national agencies, provincial agencies and other relevant groups
such as universities, national subject societies to advise staff on the proposed reforms a
implementation plans;
5. as a result of the seminars the issue of documents detailing the reforms and revisions t
education objectives, the orientation of curriculum reform and allied teacher training a
implementation plans and time frames for reform;
6. the issue of documents detailing the views and opinions of designated experts on th
reform process; and
7. the issue of documents specifying the responsibilities of key agencies in the overall refor
process (MOET departmental staff will not activate tasks unless this documentation
received as formal directives) (MOET, 1997c).

Necessarily, this process is cumbersome, time-consuming and complex. An implicit

feature of the process is that at all stages, the Minister and the Directors of key MOET
departments must be aware of what decisions are being made and where the reform process
is headed to ensure that unpopular decisions are not revealed prematurely to the general
public. Accordingly, during 1997 and the first half of 1998 this formal procedure was put in
place to enable MOET to work its way through curriculum reforms for lower secondary
education. The majority of participants considering the reform process by means of a formal
seminar and workshop programme, were drawn from Hanoi with little participation from
provincial authorities or indeed senior government staff from Ho Chi Min City. A vigorous
marketing and publicity campaign was mounted by MOET throughout this process to
heighten community awareness of the proposed reforms. Television is an increasingly
important vehicle for developing public awareness of the proposed changes.
As noted, attempts at curriculum reform to strengthen basic education had been tried in
1981 and 1986. On both occasions the Communist Party's Central Committee for Science

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 Educational Reform in Viet Nam 205

and Education had determined that the curriculum was too difficult for most students and
that quality and access could only be improved if the curriculum was simplified. Textbook
writers responded by increasing the level of difficulty of textbooks and the Ministry incre
the number of subjects to 'strengthen' the curriculum. By the early 1990s, the lower
secondary school curriculum was based and organized around 20 subjects and activities.
MOET appreciates that the curriculum is cluttered or congested and fragmented with
students who would normally be in primary school taking on specialist subjects such as
chemistry, physics, biology and geography. MOET reasons:

In the lower secondary education students are provided with skills and systematic
knowledge of humanity, sciences, society and general techniques. The lower sec-
ondary education considers citizenship education, occupation training, and working
skills very important ... (MOET, 1995, pp. 48-49)

Amongst these subjects, mathematics, literature, physics, chemistry, biology and foreign
languages are considered the most important.
Lower secondary school students received instructional programmes in these subjects
and activities within a 4-hour teaching day. As subject teachers were trained to teach one
subject there was little opportunity for teachers to combine the teaching of several subjects
such as science education-or to integrate separate subjects into a new single subject such as
social science [6]. In those areas where teachers are hard to recruit or in short supply, the
absence of a subject specialist results in that subject not being offered. Student exposure to
subject matter within this system was limited and resulted in poor problem solving skills and
an overly academic appreciation of subject matter leading the Director of the Secondary
Education Department to conclude that 'students usually only learn what will be in their
examinations' (MOET, 1997b, p. 100).
Beginning in 1994, when the Communist Party itself was expressing concern over the
relevance of both the academic (general) and vocational streams of education programmes,
within MOET reviews of the curriculum were already underway. These reforms were tied in
with economic development policies and plans:

The Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam is carrying out research so as

to renovate aims, curricula [and] teaching methods in Lower Secondary Education
to meet the requirements of socio-economic development. (MOET, 1995, p. 50)

The National Institute for Educational Science (NIES), MOET's key body for curricu-
lum review and development, was examining ways to reduce the number of subjects as a
precursor for strengthening school education and for making the curriculum more relevant to
Viet Nam's drive for modernization. Its Research Center for Curriculum Development and
Teaching Methodology had commissioned a series of academic papers on approaches to
learning and teaching strategies that would enable a more effective delivery of instructional
programmes. A series of publications was released by NIES where arguments for reforming
the curriculum were presented. Pivotal to hypotheses on what a reformed lower secondary
school curriculum would look like were arguments (in Viet Nam opinions) on the overall
objectives of school education. As education was regarded as a corner stone of support for the
government and the Party, these opinions were expressed tentatively. The case was succinctly
presented in a key article prepared for a NIES publication in 1997. In a paper titled 'On
education goals of lower secondary education' the author argued:

The shift of the socio-economic system and the general education system demands
a renovation of education goals in lower general education. The strengths and

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206 S. Duggan

constraints of the present goals should be revised against the demands of the
socio-economic system and those of learners. This way, the principles governing the
renovation can be set forth, with the prevailing goals of the general education system
of Asian-Pacific countries taken into consideration, on which basis to draw up
tentative goals of lower secondary education. (NIES, 1997, p. 3)

Having set the agenda for robust education reform by means of national curriculum
reform, clearly the next steps would be taken cautiously. If the goals of education for instance
are based on theories of education then any revision of education would need to be based on
a sound theoretical framework. Accordingly, whilst the government was installing the necess-
ary legislative framework to enable policies to be drawn up as decrees and regulations (which
in turn enabled public servants to act upon proposed changes) MOET put in place
procedures to enable leading officials and academics to determine the theoretical and
conceptual basis for justifying the changes. In 1997 a series of workshops, seminars and
conferences were held to tackle the theoretical and conceptual issues. In Viet Nam such
deliberations are classified as major orientations for as one leading academic claimed 'it is
impossible to set about improving curricula and syllabuses when general education is not
defined' (NIES, 1997, p. 32).
A key publication canvassing various orientations for education was released by MOET
in August 1997 under the cover of Trung Hoc Co So Trong He Thong Giao Duc Pho Thong
(Lower Secondary Education in the General Education System of Viet Nam, Hanoi) (MOET,
1997a). In order to effect education reform in Viet Nam, the publication suggested that the
following key issues must be considered:

Through the identification of objectives for lower secondary education, some issues
for secondary education and schools are apparent:

"* the need for reviewing and expanding minimum lower secondary education
knowledge
"* the need to be rid of the past focus on theoretical education towards education for
life

"* the need to strengthen human culture education and reduce the focus on science
and technology
"* the need to pay more attention to the results of education in respect to practical
skills to help learners acquaint themselves with working life and work related to
the new technology
"* school should be linked with reality and changing life
"* students should be trained to adapt to the new economy. (Dung, 1997, pp. 5-6)

These and other issues were attended throughout 1997 and 1998 and resulted in a series
of major publications where the case for revising education objectives was made and
strategies for achieving the reforms were canvassed. Key to many discussions was the
theoretical basis for reducing the number of subjects studied including the theoretical basis
for integrating single subjects into new teaching units and the theoretical basis for the
renovation of general education as it relates to reforms in teacher training. MOET stated:

Compared to the existing curriculum applied since 1986, the 1997 draft curriculum
incorporates remarkable changes in terms of objectives, teaching arrangements,
knowledge content and teaching methodology... The revised lower secondary edu-

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 Educational Reform in Viet Nam 207

TABLE IV. The organizational structure of the revised lower

secondary school curriculum

Vietnamese language literature Science

History Arts
Geography Physical education
Civics education Foreign languages
Mathematics Technology

Source: MOET (1998).

cation curriculum will be first piloted in designated provinces and perfected and
afterwards will be implemented nation-wide. (MOET, 1998, p. 1)
By mid-1999, the new directions for lower secondary education had been determined
through the development of a new curriculum framework that explained the scope, coverage
and content of lower secondary education. A revised lower secondary curriculum framework
now consisted of 10 core subjects. To affect this, Vietnamese language and literature were
integrated into a single subject, as was painting and music (art). Another significant change
involved integrating the three separate science subjects into one for Years 6 and 7 (see Table
IV). The different models for a simplified curriculum framework had originally been can-
vassed in late 1997 (Dung, 1997, pp. 51-65). The next step will be to transfer these changes
into new textbooks with those for Year 6 planned for development over the 1999-2000
academic year with nation-wide introduction planned for the 2002-2003 academic year. In
keeping within the Minister's schedule of reform, the process for reviewing the curriculum
and planning necessary changes occurred within the 1996 to 2000 period and the process for
implementing the reforms by means of a staged design and development of new textbooks
will commence in 2000 and be finalized (for Year 9) by 2005.
The next 5 years will establish the range and impact of education reform and the
Communist Party's determination to link successfully a strengthened education system to a
vibrant market economy. The function of this paper so far has been to demonstrate the
process that had to be undertaken for Viet Nam to contemplate the reform process and to
canvas and consider revised national objectives for education and strategies and indicative
curriculum frameworks that would assist central authorities determine the most appropriate
prescription for tabling the in principle outcomes of the reform agenda. In many respects, and
certainly by international standards, the reform process from concept to practice has been
very rapid. National curriculum reform in any country is a huge enterprise; in Viet Nam it has
occurred rapidly, if not in a slick manner, given the numerous minefields that await educa-
tional planners attempting to anticipate functions of education in a transitional economy [7].
But as in any reform process, not the complete picture is provided for justifying necessary
reforms and pinning down the actual beneficiaries. After steering its way towards a stronger
curriculum by 1999 the beneficiaries for the universalization of lower secondary education
had been narrowed to 'big cities, industrial zones and other areas where possible' with
universalization for lower secondary education for all by 2010 (MOET, 1997c, p. 2). In the
light of this progressive engagement of students with the new curriculum framework over 15
years, one expert in MOET argued:
The development of the revised curriculum on the basis of [subject] integration
should be based on the specific socio-economic situation in Viet Nam. The level of
development in various areas is quite different, i.e. development in urban, rural,
mountainous, remote, areas ... It is necessary to take into account the long tradition
of education in Viet Nam with its distinctive characteristics. (MOET, 1997c, p. 28)

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208 S. Duggan

Clearly, national curriculum reform in Viet Nam will occur on a select basis and will
parallel the government's plans for economic development on a large city, priority economic
zone, delta region model. One of the key criteria for delimiting coverage is the curriculum
itself.

The Curriculum as Textbooks

As noted earlier, the curriculum in Viet Nam is not based on a prescribed s

out such criteria as student learning objectives and outcomes, approache
teaching strategies and scope and sequence frameworks setting out a pla
content, skills and problem solving tasks. Rather, the curriculum is based o
teachers working their way through a large number of textbooks in a lock
of lessons (which are numbered to coincide with each section of the textboo
the structure, sequence and content of a textbook provide the content and fl
for each subject. Students in Teacher Training Colleges are also trained to d
tional programmes based on the content of textbooks. To this end, students
both the academic (content) aspects of a subject and also the particular
delivering the subject. The textbooks bind teachers to a rigid pattern o
lesson, this in itself reducing flexibility in teaching and restricting studen
activities as problem solving and integrated learning. Under these circumst
being trained to teach science will be trained in a separate methodology for
of the three streams of science: biology, physics and chemistry which in e
taught how to deliver textbook content in the prescribed sequence.
As a result of this approach both students and teachers find the curriculum overly
academic and theoretical. The approach also makes the national curriculum very congested
in terms of the number of subjects and range of content that has to be covered. Given the
large numbers of subjects, the curriculum becomes fragmented and congested and driven by
end of year examinations that determine or reflect how well the textbook is being taught. The
overall textbook/examination system is therefore gridlocked and rigid. Teachers are locked
into the practice where the textbook provides the subject content and this cannot be varied
owing to the tight test and examination regime put in place for each grade. This system
results in Viet Nam having a very strong academic school system but it also creates significant
inequities. These inequities are experienced in classrooms where students can struggle with
a highly academic programme and throughout provinces where provisions for education are
neither uniform nor adequate.
The decision of various Congresses to improve the quality of education is driven by the
rhetoric of making education more relevant to day-to-day life, labour market requirements
and the overall agenda for modernization and industrialization. It also reflects concern about
access to basic education. Viet Nam presents some striking contrasts throughout provinces in
relation to student access to basic education. Various studies identify very high levels of
participation by girls in education (ADB, 1997a, b, c, 1999). Some 90% of teachers are
women and around 90% of students in Teacher Training Colleges are women (ADB, 1999,
pp. 31-32). Yet the completion rate of secondary education by rural women is 5.4%. So, as
with many countries throughout Southeast Asia, there are evidently significant differences in
participation rates between urban and rural areas. In this respect, baseline data can be
misleading. In 1992, there were 2,678,350 students enrolled in lower secondary schools. Five
years later this had increased by over 100% to 4,860,709. Schools responded to this dramatic
increase in enrolments by introducing two shifts to enable each school to cater for one group
of students in the morning and another in the afternoon. But the number of subjects has not

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 Educational Reform in Viet Nam 209

altered nor has the need to access textbooks to pass examinations. Both factors impact
significantly on student participation, retention and, importantly, achievement.
At the start of the 1997/98 academic year, larger student numbers, a static curriculum
and the need to access textbooks to enable effective school participation grew to crisis
proportions. Viet Nam's main English tabloid, the Viet Nam News, reported in August 1997
that a textbook rush was imminent with parents anxious to purchase sets of textbooks before
supplies ran out. It claimed: 'Scenes from a "textbook rush" in 1994-when parents across
the country rushed to buy textbooks for their children-are still fresh in the minds of many
across Viet Nam'. Rural areas were particularly affected with both the supply and cost of
textbooks an issue. Many students were unable to purchase textbooks and vendors, anxious
to make profits, were reluctant to travel to districts and provinces where there was no
guarantee that textbooks would be purchased. As textbook writing and publication had been
largely privatized in 1994, there was little need for the government to ensure equitable
distribution. Families in the larger cities eagerly purchased the full supply. The Viet Nam
News also reported in August 1997:

The biggest problem in the rural book market is the price. The prices for a set of
textbooks sold in rural areas are considerably higher than in urban areas, while the
average per capita income in the countryside is much lower ... Eighty per cent of
Viet Nam's population live in the rural areas, working as farmers, and the price of
a book, even at city prices, represents a significant percentage of their income.
Whenever a school year comes, farmers always have to sell a lot of rice to buy
textbooks and other supplies for their children ... In fact, many farmer families have
taken their children out of school to avoid the expense of buying the books and
supplies.

In support of this, a key study by the ADB found:

A core problem is that too many different textbooks are required, reflecting the
overly complicated and ambitious curriculum. In addition, the physical quality of
the textbooks is poor, with few being capable of being used again after one year, this
increases the overall cost of providing textbooks to students ... only 20 percent of
lower secondary students have access to the full prescribed set [of textbooks].
(1997b, p. 7)

So, although the reform agenda for secondary school education is geared towards strengthen-
ing the curriculum and making it more relevant, there exists throughout Viet Nam a situation
where the actual infrastructure for the reform is very poor. If parents and in particular rural
families cannot buy textbooks, then the reform process may only benefit urban families and
those in Viet Nam's economic priority zones. Compounding the supply issue is the significant
variation in the capacity of each province to provide an adequate system of education. In
the province of Kon Tum, within Viet Nam's central highlands, provisions for education are
very poor:

Kon Tum is a mountainous province and it is still fraught with many

difficulties ... the academic standard of the people is low (especially in the ethnic
minority areas). The capacity to enroll students in Teacher Training College
limited. So to develop teacher training to deal with the shortage of teachers over
many years, Kon Tum province has had to resort to many flexible and diversifie
methods of [teacher] training and to draw students from many provinces and lo
the entrance standard to have enough students [in training]. This exercises a gre
influence over the quality of teaching staff in lower secondary schools ... [

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210 S. Duggan

structure for] education is not rational due to a previous education plan and poor
reviewing, there is no teacher training college for lower secondary education in the
province, so education has been implemented in a patchy and spontaneous way.
(MOET, 1997b, pp. 136-137)

The situation in Kon Tum, can be compared to Can Tho in southern Viet Nam:

Annually, tens of billions of dong [8] are funded by Can Tho province to build new
schools, to eliminate schools made of bamboo, to eliminate 3-shift classes, to
upgrade and restore schools, to provide more technical and material basis, to
prepare teaching and learning equipment, to train thousands of teachers at all levels.
(MOET, 1997b, p. 139)

Can Tho, which runs along the southern arm of the Mekong Delta, is one of Viet Nam's
economic priority zones (DFAT, 1995, pp. 25-26). In Bac Can to the north of Hanoi,
another extreme is encountered:

Nam Mau, a remote village in the poorest province in the north, Bac Can, has on
one school and can only teach to the primary level. There are 260 students and 12
teachers. To deal with the shortage of teachers and textbooks, classes for differe
grades have to be held at the same time in the same classroom. Those who want t
attend high school have to go to Bac Be District. There were two blackboards and
two rows of students-one for the first grade students and the other for the sec
grade, and one teacher. She and the textbooks looked like they were in different
places at the same time, constantly moving from one row to the other. One row w
reading and the other writing. Almost all the students do not know the V
language. They must be taught in their own language and then introduce Viet bit b
bit. Such difficult communication issues added to the poor living standards of th
local people have made the teacher's duties heavier ... The village had 2,869 pe
from five different ethnic minority groups with the majority made up of the Tay
Nung people. More than 500 people here are illiterate. (ADB, 1999, p. 11)
These three examples, taken from 1997, illustrate the wide variations in provis
education throughout Viet Nam and the constraints that must be overcome to ensure t
planned national curriculum reform benefits the whole population. The concern
current reform agenda is that those in greatest need of a quality improvement in ed
including greater access to classrooms, teachers and textbooks, may not benefit unti
sions for curriculum reform are fully in place in more developed areas. This has the p
to widen the gap in transition and completion rates between urban and rural
particularly if rural populations experience poor access to the new range of textbook
reform process described in this paper aims at an overall quality improvement and s
ening of education by means of improved targeting. Yet, it is clear that despite com
tary data on overall enrolment and participation, the national education syste
characterized by significant anomalies that may become larger as the system mo
Internal efficiencies throughout the system remain low and whilst access to textbooks
problematic an overall quality improvement may be difficult and certainly uneven.
Ongoing study of the reform process in education in Viet Nam will need to take
of how successfully curriculum reform has penetrated into rural schools and to wha
the revised curriculum framework, consisting of fewer subjects, is free of constraints
surrounding the supply, cost and distribution of textbooks. Future studies will need to
examine carefully if the targeting of ethnic minorities as an area of reform has actually
occurred and if participation rates of girls from rural and remote areas have increased. This

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 Educational Reform in Viet Nam 211

study has traced the genesis of a process of national education reform. What needs to be
completed still is a comparative study that tackles the situation of education before 1996,
when the reform process was formally sanctioned, and post 2000 when the reforms for
primary and lower secondary education are meant to be in place.

NOTES

[1] In Viet Nam, a 5 + 4 + 3 model of school education is in place based on 5 years of pr

lower secondary school and 3 years of upper secondary school. It is important to note thr
the first or key indicator for measuring adult literacy in Viet Nam is having completed suc
of primary school. Accordingly, Viet Nam estimated the national literacy rate at 93% in
29% of the population had completed formal school education (Hac, 1998, p. 47).
[2] In official literature this was described as follows: 'to serve more actively the renovat
development, the government of Vietnam has decided to gradually shift the present Upp
to specialized secondary education ... It bears the following characteristics: improving the
characteristics; intensifying practice, technical education and working skills; renovati
methods; [and] compulsory and optional studies in specialized upper secondary educati
are] in three groups: natural science, science and engineering and social science' (MOE
Reform in upper secondary school curriculum appears to have preceded the reform pr
primary and lower secondary school education (or basic education). As the reforms have a
and around 1,000,000 students (in 1997/98), this may provide an explanation. A more l
policy changes affecting upper secondary school impact upon a much smaller number of
lower investment. There is also evidence that the upper secondary school system is be
privatized and/or deregulated to make the content of schooling more responsive to unive
tions.

[3] As noted, lower secondary school education during this time was highly fragmented with students pursuing one
of several streams: academic, vocational and technical.
[4] A key document from MOET the same year stated that the objective was to 'implement universalization of lower
secondary education in advantaged areas, urban and developed areas' (MOET, 1995, p. 49).
[5] For the purposes of this paper basic education covers the first 6 years of primary school and the 3 years of lower
or junior secondary school. The term basic education is generally not used in official government and MOET
papers and literature.
[6] In Teacher Training Colleges, students are trained to teach two subjects in terms of a major and minor study.
Under this strategy, a student is taught to teach history as a major study and geography as a minor. On
graduation, the teacher must deliver history for at least 5 years before being eligible to teach geography. Beginning
in the 1996/97 academic year, a number of Teacher Training Colleges commenced training preservice students
in two related disciplines as majors to enable graduates to teach both subjects on graduation. At the time of
preparing this paper the first graduates had not entered the system.
[7] One area that proved to be difficult to research during the preparation of this paper was private provision for
school education. Field studies and interviews established that private schools were expanding in number
throughout Hanoi with annual fees in the order of US$2000 per annum. Of interest was the fact that these schools
had already adopted a more streamlined curriculum framework based on the core subjects of Vietnamese
language, mathematics, the sciences, English and history-geography. Parents interviewed felt that the curriculum
was more relevant to emerging labour market demands, was easier for students to master, and, importantly, made
preparation for university entrance examinations less complicated. The private schools also ran on a Western
model of a 6-7-hour teaching day.
[8] In the 1997/98 financial year the US dollar was worth around 13,000 Vietnamese dong.

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