Hanoi (VNA)♌ – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has called on the Party, State and the whole society to join hands with the education sector to improve education quality, which he described as key for the country’s sustainable development.

During a national online conference on August 5 to review the 2015-2016 academic year and launch tasks for 2016-2017 year term, the PM said investing in education is development investment, which should be prioritised in all socio-economic development plans and programme. He mentioned the Party Central Committee’s resolution on basic and comprehensive reform of education and training. He lauded the efforts of the education sector so far in enhancing the quality of both teaching and studying, which has helped ease student’s study overload and improved the education infrastructure system, especially in mountainous and remote areas. However, he also pointed out a number of problems in the sector, including the ineffectiveness in foreign language teaching, which is leading to poor English proficiency among high school students amidst the country’s strong internaltional integration. Schools have yet to focus on equipping students with social skills and good personality and lifestyles, resulting in many regretful violations in schools, he noted. The PM also pointed to the limited efficiency of vocational and tertiary training, which has not matched the needs of the labour market, leading to large numbers of unemployed university graduates and a lack of highly-qualified workers in many enterprises. According to initial statistics, Vietnam has to spend 3 billion USD to send students to study abroad, he noted. Post-graduate education still has various problems in quality resulting from students’ race to achieve a diploma at all costs, foregoing a sound education, which should be immediately tackled, he stressed, attributing the situation to slow reform of the financial mechanism for education, poor performance of education management and ineffective supervision and inspection. Noting that the infrastructure in many schools has been in bad condition, he asked the government at all levels and all sectors to end the situation that children study in temporary classrooms with a dilapidated toilet or even no toilet. At the same time, it is also crucial to speed up the construction of schools in industrial parks, he requested. The Government leader also assigned the education sector to help in forming good personnalities for Vietnamese students during this industrialisation and modernisation period. “Schools should teach students to comprehend and love the country’s history and tradition of safeguarding and constructing the nation, to love their fellows, to respect other people and uphold social responsibility,” he asked. He also highlighted that universities’ self-reliance in finance should go along with better social responsibility. Speaking at the conference, Deputy PM Vu Duc Dam held that communications is a weakness of the education sector, which should be improved to mobilise the support and supervision of the society. According to a report by the sector, despite economic difficulties, investment to education and training in 2016 still accounts for 20 percent of total State budget spending. The report also highlighted the positive adjustments in the national final examination for high school students, which meet the requirements for enrolling in college and university.-VNA