VietNamNet Bridge – Providing quality pre-school and primary school education and increasing enrolments at these levels will be a major focus of Viet Nam’s education development strategy from now until 2020.

Under the plan, every ward in the country will have kindergartens by 2020.

Under the plan, every ward in the country will have kindergartens by 2020.

The plan also targets 90 per cent of all five-year-old children to meet standard growth milestones by 2020, and for the number of malnourished children to decrease below ten per cent.

The number of primary school students who meet the national standard for reading and comprehension will reach 60 per cent by 2010 and 75 per cent by 2015.

By 2020, 70 per cent of third graders will start to learn English.

Nguyen Viet Thinh, head of the Ha Noi Teachers’ Training University, said Viet Nam needs to focus on pre-school and primary school education levels so that the students’ talents and skills can be spotted rearly and developed to the maximum.

The country also aims to have 70 per cent of students graduate from secondary schools by 2010 and 100 percent by 2020.

By 2020, 80 per cent of Vietnamese youth will have a high school education, the plan envisages.

The ministry will raise the ratio of students attending the university to 200 for every 10,000 students by 2010, 300 by 2015 and 450 by 2020.

By 2020, the number of students studying in private universities will account for 40 per cent.

The ministry also plans to have five universities ranked among the top 100 in the ASEAN region, and two among the top 200 in the world.

According to the plan, Viet Nam will have 85 per cent of graduates possessing skills and qualifications for direct employment by 2020 and five per cent of students achieving academic excellence that matches those at the best universities in the ASEAN region.

(Source: Viet Nam News)