The Survey Assessment of Vietnamese Youth (SAVY 2) which was conducted by the Ministry of Health, General Statistics Office, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) showed that Vietnamese youths expect more investments in education. The survey covers teenagers aged between 14 and 25 years old in 63 provinces and cities, the online www.tienphong.vn [1] newspaper reported June 2. Up to 71% of surveyed people indicate the high hope for educational investments to have better life and work, the newspaper quoted Doctor Vu Manh Loi from the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) as saying. The survey shows a number of young people meet numerous difficulties in finding good jobs or get low-income jobs due to their superficial learning, Loi said, adding that high tuition fees prevented them from further study. Many poor children must drop out to earn living by themselves because of not bearing the high tuition fee, Loi noted, emphasizing this means that no opportunities for them to get stable jobs in the future.
He also blamed the unequal investments in education between urban and rural areas, plain and mountainous regions for the high drop-out in the Northwestern and Mekong delta regions. The number of drop-outs in the Mekong delta region ranged from 2,000 to 9,000 per province annually while that in the Northwest was about 1,500 each, local media reported. The low education is among factors leading to the increases of social evils and crimes among youths. The SAVY 2 indicated that 35% of juvenile crimes repeated their wrongdoings and up to 80% of young people once drove in drunk. The SAVY 1 was made in 2003.
