Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has allowed the removal of an education reform project from programs to be submitted to the National Assembly in the upcoming session this month due to public discontent. The decision was made following a proposal by the Ministry of Education and Training after the ministry’s VND34.3 trillion ($1.64 billion) project caught strong protest by lawmakers and public opinion for extravagancy and unfeasibility. The project on improving textbooks and curriculum by 2023 is said to be unable to solve problems of the country’s education, which tends to be theoretical and burdensome for students. Vietnam’s education sector is criticized for neglecting practical applications and soft skills but focusing mostly on propaganda contents. It is said that between 50% and 90% of university graduates need to be retrained to meet the recruiters’ requirements. (Thanh Nien – Young People April 15 p8, Giaoduc.net.vn April 15)
