Education in Vietnam
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Vietnam's education system is divided into 5 categories: pre-primary, primary, intermediate, secondary, and higher education. The normal starting time of schools in VietNam is at 7 o'clock or 7:30. The finish time depends on the levels and usually at 4 o'clock, which means a longer hours of studying than other countries. Vietnam is a country where education is a top priority. VietNam is a developing country and the government is trying to improve the education in all cities in VietNam. But mostly, people come to the main citys to learn, like Ho Chi Minh city or Ha Noi the capital city. Many vietnamese cannot afford to pay for their child to go to schools thats why the government provides free education to yr 5.
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[edit] Pre-primary education
Public kindergartens usually admit children of ages of 18 months to 5 years. Sometimes, four-or-five-year-old children are taught the alphabet and basic maths. This level of education is popular only in major cities (Ha Noi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong, Can Tho, Vung Tau etc.).
[edit] Primary education
Children normally start primary education at the age of six. Education at this level lasts for 5 years and is compulsory for all children, which is why Viet Nam, albeit still a developing country, has a very high literacy proportion, over 90% on average.[1]
[edit] Intermediate education
Junior high schools teach students from grade 6 to 9. To graduate, they have to pass the Intermediate Graduation Examination presented by the local Department of Education and Training (which was abolished in 2006)[citation needed]. This educational level is generalized throughout most of the country—except in very remote provinces, which expect to popularize and standardize middle education fully within the next few years. Intermediate is also a non compulsory schooling form in Vietnam.
[edit] Secondary education
Most students manage to pass the IGE. High school, which consists of grades 10, 11 and 12 is standardized in all major urban regions, but is not uniform in rural provinces. At the end of grade 12, all students are required to write a leaving examination held by Province's education service. The examination tests students of 6 subjects including Mathematics, Vietnamese Literature, Foreign Language (mostly English), and other 3 subjects determined by the Educational Board of Viet Nam. The Educational Board of Viet Nam is planning to merge this examination with the university entrance exam in 2009.
[edit] Higher education
University Entrance Examination is very important in Vietnamese students' lives. High school graduates have to take it after the SGE and get high results to be admitted to universities. The pressure on the candidates remains very high despite the measures that have been taken to reduce the heat around these exams, since securing a place in a public university is considered a major step towards a successful career for young people, especially those from rural areas or disadvantaged families . In the year 2004, it was estimated that nearly 1 million Vietnamese students took the UEE, but on average only 1 out of 5 candidates succeeded. Normally, candidates take 3 exams, each lasts 180 minutes for the fixed group of subjects they choose. There are 4 fixed groups of subjects:
- Group A: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry;
- Group B: Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry;
- Group C: Literature, History, Geography;
- Group D: Literature, Foreign Language, Mathematics;
Besides, there are also groups: H, M, N, R, T, V.
See List of universities in Vietnam. Most of Vietnam's universities also offer Master (2 years) and Doctor (4 years) degrees.
In addition to universities, there are community colleges, art and technology institutes, professional secondary schools, and vocational schools which offers degrees/certificates from a-few-month to 2-year courses.
[edit] Private universities
According to Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training, there are currently 23 non-public universities, accounting for 11% of the total number of universities. These non-public universities are currently training 119,464 students, or 11.7% of the total number of students. The government is planning to increase the number of non-public universities to 30% by 2011.
Foreign educational institutions are increasingly open in Vietnam. Most of their fields are English language and business, such as RMIT, and The University of Hawaii. As the second country after China with sustained economic growth during the first years of the 21st century, Vietnam is currently revisiting its education system. It recognized the increasing role of English as the language of business and the importance of international cooperation to help adapt the education system, notoriously slow in change management, to the rapid pace of its economy.
Running a foreign education system in Vietnam is relatively challenging. Quality control and affordability are key issues, let alone the challenges related to dealing with a bureaucracy that is still figuring how to deal with the forces of change due to globalization.
[edit] Teaching Quality Issues
The entire higher education system is facing several crises such as out-of-date course curricula, a lecturer-centered method of teaching and learning, research activities separated from teaching activities, a big gap between theory and practice that leads to a large number of graduates being unable to find a job, and the fact that degrees from Vietnamese universities are not recognized worldwide. There is, therefore, a huge demand for quality educational services.
Teaching methods delivered in the public school system are very teacher-oriented. You will find that the students are quite studious and very disciplined in the classroom. The more successful students are those who can absorb the given material and transfer the knowledge to their notebooks as in class debate is not entirely welcome in every class. This is a sharp contrast to western classroom settings where participation and challenging of materials has a greater focus.
Students are arranged by class number and do not move from classroom to classroom between classes. They also stay together as a small group for their entire elementary, junior-high, or high-school levels in one location per grade. The teachers are the ones who float from classroom to classroom making it difficult for the Vietnamese teacher to establish a room of their own. This is where western students develops much needed social skills, whereas the Vietnamese students develop a stronger group bond. The end result though, is the severe shyness in many Vietnamese when introduced to a new group of people and the need to interact. It becomes even more apparent at the university level. By invitation only, foreign teachers have begun to enter the public school sector (usually language education) and are also having a large impact on helping to introduce western teaching methods from the inside.
Currently, only public schooling costs for students from grades 1-5 are subsidized by the government at 50% of the total tuition. All other schooling costs for students (100%) past grade 6 is at the parents' expense. The drop-out rate after grade five only increases as the student reaches university age due to lack of family funding. The average monthly salary of local Vietnamese public teachers is between 60USD to 100USD and many supplement their income by working hours in the private language sector or home schooling in their off hours. Public schools are under-funded, but have made great strides in attempting to improve their facilities in the larger cities.
Private language centers for English language education is in high demand in the larger cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Students have flooded these schools with the expectation of greater marketability in the job market. These classes are usually taught by foreign expats and generally carry a salary between 10USD-20USD per hour depending on both the qualifications of the teacher and the quality of the school. Lower educational standards in some of the lower paying schools have resulted in less than qualified teachers (known to the local community as backpacker teachers) to fill their ranks.
[edit] Plagiarism
Teachers have been criticized for ignoring students and colleague's plagiarism. Some believe that the allowance of plagiarism stifles learning and creativity in many Asian countries.
In Vietnam, all colleges are free for students passing the leaving examination. Although if you don't pass but you still wish to get into college, you just retake the final exam. You have a total of four chances to pass the test.
