Vietnam to Speed up Private Investment in Education
Semi-private high schools and universities in Vietnam are to become private as part of efforts to boost investment in education, a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City heard.
The issue had been discussed at several earlier workshops, with many educationists suggesting abolition of the semi-private system.
At the seminar in HCMC, August 22-23, to encourage private investment in various sectors, including education, health care, culture and sports, Deputy Prime Minister Pham Gia Khiem called for effecting the move by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education and Training has launched plans to boost private investment in education in 2005-2010, to develop private institutions at all levels.
The move to increase privatization of the educational system envisages remodeling many public high schools into institutions with their own budgetary and administrative control and converting many semi-private schools into private ones. If successful, it will see the number of high school students in non-public institutions reach 40 per cent by 2010.
It seeks to make a number of universities self-managed, with total or partial financial autonomy, and convert semi-public universities and colleges into private ones.
Speaking at the seminar, principal of the city’s Industry University, Ta Xuan Te, said the institution used to be a poorly-equipped vocational school 10 years ago.
Thanks to effective private investment, after being upgraded into a university, the school had reaped encouraging results, with the number of students rising from 750 to 30,000, majors from 4 to 25, and total infrastructure investment to 280 bil VND (US$18 million), Te said.
Obstacles encountered
Most provincial education authorities at the seminar however pointed out problems in this regard.
Abolishing semi-private schools without others sources of funds might see poor families, unable to afford private schools, left out, Nguyen Van Hien, director of the central Binh Thuan’s province Department of Education and Training, said.
Hien’s counterpart from the central Highland province of Dak Lak, Tran Ngoc Son, said raising fees would not be easy considering opportunities needed to be provided for ethnic minorities.
However, most delegates agreed that the policy was appropriate, providing a huge opportunity for sustainable development and solving problems encountered in the past.
Concluding the seminar, Khiem requested agencies involved to draft specific action programs and appropriate mechanisms to achieve the makeover efficiently.
Reported by Nhut Quang – Translated by Ngoc Hanh.
Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 24 August, 2005, 21:57:19 (GMT+7)
Copyright Thanh Nien News
