The Ministry of Education and Training is mobilising official development assistance (ODA) capital for a mass of education projects ranging from primary to university levels.

The first project, which uses part of the ODA fund for paying teachers’ salary, is to be launched this year. Relevant agencies plan to negotiate loans for it in the third quarter of this year.

The US$180 million project includes a US$100 million loan from the World Bank, a non-refundable aid worth US$35 million from the UK Ministy for International Development and the Belgian Technical Cooperation Department and the rest corresponding capital of Vietnam.

The aim is to help primary pupils in 35 poor provinces and pay proper salary to teachers to gradually stabilise their life.

At the tertiary education level, a US$150 million credit of the WB has been approved and an agreement to this effect is expected to be signed in April.

The sum will be directly handed over to the State budget for education to relevant departments, without going through any separate management unit for it.

The WB and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) also plans to sign an agreement next year to finance US$500 million to build four new- model universities in Vietnam.

At the junior secondary level, the MoET is making a plan to borrow US$65-70 million from the ADB for a US$85 million project.

In an effort to call for more ODA capital in education, the Ministry has co-oganised with 21 international donors to establish an Education Sector Group (ESG) to connect information on ODA-seeking projects.

Since 2006 the MoET has launched 10 ODA-funded projects worth US$809 million. These projects have helped to improve education quality and equality in the country.

VietNamNet/VOV