Local youngsters and students join a meeting to mark National Day on Drug Prevention (June 26) in Binh Duong Province. A healthy school environment where students can participate in social activities is believed to help in the fight against drugs. — VNA/VNS Photo Quach Lam THAI NGUYEN (VNS)— The 2013 month of action against drugs was launched yesterday by the Ministry of Education and Training at northern Thai Nguyen Province's Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry. Speaking at the launching ceremony, Deputy Minister Tran Quang Quy said that preventing the abuse of drugs by students was a vital task that helped to protect the nation's future. Students also played an important role in the fight against drugs, he said. Although work on ensuring schools nation-wide are drug-free had seen progress, abuse of part drugs such as ecstasy by students was still a complicated situation, he said. Not enough attention on the problem from parents and teachers was to blame, … [Read more...]
ASEAN criteria needed to boost higher education
VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training on July 26 encouraged universities to try to meet the ASEAN University Network-Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) criteria for quality assessment. The AUN-QA criteria is necessary to improve the quality of higher education in the country, according to Dr Pham Xuan Thanh, deputy head of the General Department for Educational Testing and Accreditation under the Ministry of Education and Training. Thanh spoke at a conference on the AUN-QA system held in HCM City by Viet Nam National University-HCM City. These criteria act as a benchmark against regional and global standards, Thanh said. He said that the AUN-QA criteria used must be relevant to the universities in the country. Thanh asked two national universities in HCM City and Ha Noi to open more training courses on the AUN-QA system to help schools nationwide better understand the criteria. Viet Nam National University-HCM City has also been training assessors who will help … [Read more...]
PM expects education renovation
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung g called for a comprehensive restructure of Viet Nam's education system to make it more regionally competitive by 2030.—VNA/VNS Photo HA NOI (VNS)— In a separate event yesterday, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung called for a comprehensive restructure of Viet Nam's education system to make it more regionally competitive by 2030. Dung outlined expectations during a meeting of the National Committee on Education and Human Resources Development 2011-15, held at the Government Office. A raft of new measures was discussed, with the committee being determined to transform the national education system so that it meets the country's demands of industrialisation and international integration in the time to come. The country wants education to be at the heart of its continued sustainable development. Dung said that the draft project must clearly identify the current shortcomings of the system so that education can be improved for generations to come. … [Read more...]
Education needed to highlight drawbacks of sugary soft drinks
Next week Should traffic police open fire on the streets? While a not-guilty verdict was returned on George Zimmerman, the defendant who faced a Florida jury in the US earlier this week for shooting and killing a 17-year-old youth in February, didn't end the debate over the boy's death, the public half way round the world in Viet Nam is also divided over police officers using their side arms during operations. While in Zimmerman's case, his lawyer argued that he was defending himself as he had ‘feared for his own life', the case in Viet Nam is totally the opposite. On Tuesday, two men on a motorbike in the central province of Thanh Hoa's Quang Trung Street were shot at by traffic police. The pillion passenger was hit in the left eye by a rubber bullet while the driver was shot in the shoulder. They were both taken to hospital immediately. Witnesses later sent video clips to the local authorities and the media showing that the driver had deliberately broken the traffic laws by … [Read more...]
Young adults need more sex education
Young people also need to be encouraged to participate in policy dialogue and take part in the drawing up of sexual reproductive health programmes.—VNA/VNS Photo HA NOI (VNS)— More than a third of young Vietnamese people have no access to contraceptives, which contributes to the high rate of unwanted pregnancies and backstreet abortions in this age group. About 20 per cent of all abortions in the country are carried out on adolescent girls, according to the United Nations Population Fund. The figures suggest that the nation needs to immediately provide young people and adolescents with sexual health education and user-friendly services, as health officials gathered in the city yesterday for a meeting to mark World Population Day, which falls today. Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Viet Tien said that more than 35 per cent of the 15-19 age group need contraceptives as well as 34 per cent of those between 20 and 24. People who are not married have double the need of … [Read more...]
Central Highlands launches education plan
The Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and the Central Highlands Steering Committee on Wednesday began the implementation of Prime Minister's Decision No1951 on education and training development in the region for the 2011-15 period. Under the decision, 12-15 per cent of children under three years old will be sent to nursery schools by 2015. Ninety-eight per cent of children will go to primary schools and 90 per cent of children will be sent to junior high school by 2015. Most ethnic-minority children under five years old will learn Vietnamese before they join first-grade classes. Nhan Dan (The People) Births expected to rise in Dragon Year The number of newborn babies is likely to increase this year because Vietnamese people believe that the year of the dragon is a good year for giving birth, according to Tran Thien Vinh Quan, deputy director of Hung Vuong Hospital in HCM City. The hospital is overloaded with 600-700 pregnant … [Read more...]
Education Ministry stops collecting higher tuition fee
In its dispatch to people’s committees across the country, the Ministry of Education and Training ordered to put an end to collecting enrollment fees in excess of standard levels set by the government. Education Ministry stops collecting higher tuition fee As per the document, the Ministry proposed enhancing supervision on educational facilities on the collection of tuition fee. Schools must strictly follow the Ministry’s guidance of tuition fee collection.Especially, the Ministry asked schools to stop using the name of parent representative group to collect “voluntary contribution”.Schools must obey the Ministry’s instruction on parent representative group’s activities issued in 2011 which says clearly that parent group are not allowed to collect any “voluntary contributions” for schools’ facilities, transportation means, classroom hygiene, advanced teaching equipment in the classrooms or construction work.Additionally, the … [Read more...]
Avoid previous education reform errors: NA
VietNamNet Bridge – Take more than a year if needed, but get good advice and avoid previous education reform mistakes, NA deputies told the Government on Thursday.Responding to a proposal by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) to delay planned educational reforms by a year, a majority of the 14th National Assembly deputies advised caution.They said education was a top national priority and the reforms must be carefully designed and executed even if it takes longer than a year.The deputies also urged the ministry to consult with education experts, both national and international, to avoid making the same mistakes as in previous reforms.The ministry had proposed the reform of the system, including textbook content, be pushed back from the 2018-19 academic year dictated in the 13th NA’s Decision No 88 issued in 2014.Deputies asked the ministry to present a more detailed implementation process with solutions to ongoing issues and contingency plans.They suggested that … [Read more...]
Physical education viewed as unimportant by students
VietNamNet Bridge - The majority of Vietnamese students say they are not enthusiastic about the physical education lessons at school because of poor facilities and boring practice. Emphasizing the importance of physical education, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has placed the subject on the official curriculums at preschool and general school. However, students do not think this is an important subject and teachers admit that the majority of students find physical practice lessons too boring. They just try to be present at roll call and don’t strive for high achievements in the subject. They spend most of their time on science subjects, because the scores in the subjects will determine if they can enter university. Do Thi Dung, a chemistry teacher of the Hoai Duc Secondary School in Hanoi, said Vietnam wants to creates a comprehensive educational environment, in which physical education has the same importance as other science subjects. … [Read more...]
Education minister expresses sympathy at low teacher salaries
Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha has admitted that many teachers in Vietnam receive salary levels which are not commensurate with their efforts. Nha was interviewed on the sidelines of the National Assembly’s meeting on October 30 about the case of an old teacher in Ha Tinh Province who receives a pension of just VND1.3 million (USD59) per month. Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha (left) speaks on the sidelines of the National Assembly’s meeting on October 30 Truong Thi Lan who worked for 37 years as a nursery school teacher, but was recognised as a full-time teacher for just 22 years. She recently retired and was really shocked to receive the pension of just VND1.3 million. According to the minister, Lan’s pension is totally in line with the social insurance regulations. He, however, admitted this was too low compared to her devotion to her job. “How is she supposed to live with such a modest pension? … [Read more...]