Students in Vietnam are still not interested in vocational training, but in higher education, though their learning capability is not good enough, said the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). In fact, the country does not lack schools for secondary school graduates, but it faces the shortage of adequate career guidance for students, the VietNamNet online newspaper reported June 24. All provinces and cities have vocational guidance centers and vocational training bases. However, the percentage of secondary school grads who attend vocational schools is very low. In 2006-2007, only 3.1% of students went to vocational training centers and 1.4% went to intermediate vocational schools, while the figures were 2.5% and 1.8% for the 2007-2008 academic year. “In countries with developed education systems, career guidance is implemented well. During their secondary school years, students already know where they will go, universities or vocational schools,” said Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Vinh Hien. The MOET has submitted a plan to restructure the national education system to establish technical and vocational high schools and community colleges. The ministry has also asked the government to reserve capital for developing vocational education in Vietnam. Vietnam now has 102 vocational training colleges, 265 vocational training schools and more than 1,860 vocational training centers. The figure triples that of 2008. Annually, vocational training schools train more than 1.5 million laborers.
