Several organizations in Vietnam and the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will launch for the first time a ‘Week for Lifelong Learning’ program in October, to promote and encourage literacy in the country. The programs aims at encouraging people to adopt a lifetime practice of learning in order to improve society. Literacy is also a unique and powerful tool to eradicate poverty and a strong means to improving and bringing about changes in communities. The program’s co-organizers are the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training, the Vietnam Study Encouragement Association, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and UNESCO Vietnam. Vietnam has to concentrate much more to bring in literacy to its people, especially those above 15 years of age, women and to ethnic minority groups living in the mountainous and disadvantaged regions. As of now, only 4% of Vietnamese children are not attending primary schools, statistics from the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training showed. The ministry plans to work with the UN on programs to encourage more attendance in schools. (www.hanoitimes.com.vn [1] Sept 19)
