VietNamNet Bridge – School equitisation will help create a driving force for education, according to Dr Nguyen Duc Thanh, Director of the Centre for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR).

Dr Nguyen Duc Thanh

However, the characteristic of education is that it not only benefits the recipients of education, but also all of society as well. And the role of the state is to increase the benefits every educated individual can bring to society.

Therefore, education should be seen as a kind of commodity which needs support from the state. However, this does not mean that only the state can provide educational services. If people could well understand the viewpoint, they would see that school equitisation is a suitable step in the development of Vietnam’s education system.

How will do you think the equitisation of state training establishments will impact Vietnam’s education system?

School equitisation will help increase output, the number of services and improve quality as there will be competition among educational organisations.

The equitisation will allow university ownership to be defined clearly. Shareholders will know what they can get and they will refuse shares when they find something disadvantageous about them.

But I don’t think that we need to equitise all training establishments. There will be organisations which follow the state’s will, and they will stay public schools.

As such, private schools, equitised schools and public schools will exist together and compete with each other. I think that every type of ownership fits certain groups.

How do you think the school equitisation process should go?

As for university education, not every university will be equitised, only training and scientific research units with the highest application levels.

The units which can be the driving force for equitisation will develop strongly, helping ‘untie’ Vietnam’s science and education.

As for general education, the most ideal scheme is the state’s subsidisation. At least, we have to subsidise primary education.

The equitisation of general schools should be carried out in big cities first. In rural areas, where there are only one or two secondary schools, if the schools are equitised and become private-owned, the schools’ owners may set sky high tuition levels, which will keep poor students out of schools.

Do you think that the state should hold stakes in equitised schools?

The state should not do business. It should get its money back and make way for other investors.

Lan Huong