ADB to back Vietnam’s secondary education reform with loan
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has offered a loan of US$34 million to help Vietnam achieve universal quality secondary education and further inclusive social development.
An agreement on the loan for the Upper Secondary and Professional Teacher Development Project (USPTDP) was signed between the ADB and the State Bank of Vietnam in Hanoi Monday.
Under the agreement, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training will use the loan to upgrade in-service and pre-service teacher training to be more relevant and responsive to the demands from the growing market economy.
The project will also improve physical facilities of selected teacher training institutes in ethnic minority areas to expand access to the disadvantaged groups.
Management and planning capacity for teacher development will be strengthened by establishment of new quality assurance frameworks.
Under the project, 31 teacher training institutes (TTIs) will benefit from the curriculum development and training, 12 TTIs will be better equipped, and 5 TTIs will be developed as lead universities as core pedagogical resource centers.
The project, with reciprocal capital of $9.2 million from the Vietnamese government, is due for completion in June 2012.
WTO-era challenges
In Vietnam, education is regarded a paramount investment option for the country’s long term economic growth and equitable social development.
The country’s accession to the World Trade Organization early this year necessitated Vietnam to accelerate strengthening of secondary education in developing human resources required for greater integration in the global economy.
ADB has long been supporting the Government’s commitment to universal secondary education with quality, efficiency, and sustainability.
With the increase in the enrolment rate to over 90 percent, lower secondary education has made great progress but expansion of upper secondary and professional secondary education and improvement of their quality remain to be key challenges for Vietnam’s education system.
“For Vietnam’s sustainable growth in the globalizing economic context, rapid expansion and quality improvement of upper secondary and professional secondary education are essential” said Ayumi Konishi, ADB’s Country Director for Vietnam.
“In order to compete and seize opportunities to be created by globalization, Viet Nam needs to foster a competitive labor force, and upper and professional secondary education has an important role to play.”
Source: ADB