Hanoi (VNA) – The vocational training sector plans to continue rearra๊nging its school network to enhance their effectiveness and relevance to labour market demands with the aim of training 2.15 million workers in 2016.

At a press briefing in December 24, the General Department of Vocational Training (GDVT) said the restructuring in 2016 will go along the direction of reducing the number of schools while expanding training scale and improve quality. At the same time, new training institutions will be established in disadvantaged areas, particularly in the Northwest, the Central Highlands and the Southwest. The private sector will be welcome to open vocational schools, and the system of public schools will be reshuffled, with more financial autonomy to be given to them. International cooperation will be boosted in accordance with the plan for international cooperation in education and vocational training to 2020. In 2015, vocational schools across the country enrolled nearly two million students, meeting 92.1 percent of the yearly target, of whom more than 1.7 million joined short-term courses of less than 3 months. As of June 30, 2015, there wre 1,467 vocational training institutions across the nation, including 190 colleges, 280 schools and 977 training centres. GDVT Director General Duong Duc Lan said Vietnam is one of the leading countries in the region in terms of occupational skills, noting that the country came first three times at the ASEAN Skills Competition. He also called for more active communication work to help enhance the awareness of vocational training among the community.-VNA