LookAtVietnam – Experts say Vietnam ought to guide more teenagers toward blue collar skills training, rather than see them waste years failing to gain admission to college.

MOET reports that some 70 percent of students finishing 8^th grade (junior high school) continue studying at high schools, 4.5 percent of students continue at vocational schools and technical assistance schools and 7.5 percent go on to “continuing education” classes at night in hopes of passing high school entrance exams later.

This means that the remaining 18 percent of students do not follow any type of training.

Most of students graduating from high schools take university entrance exams. Students who fail the exams either repeat the exams the next year, attend vocational schools or do not pursue any type of training.

Statistics show that 44 of every 100 high school graduates continue their studies at universities or two year colleges, while 30 enter intermediate professional training programs. The rest become apprentices or stop studying altogether.

Hoang Ngoc Vinh, Director of the Professional Training Department under MOET, says that if the 400,000 students who leave high school each year without a diploma were speedly guided into vocational programs, there would be a big gain in economic efficiency.

Analyzing the results of university entrance exams over the last eight years, Director of the MOET’s Information Technology Department Quach Tuan Ngoc cited figures that demonstrate bad career guidance is a real waste for society.

According to Ngoc, Hanoi is the only place where 50 percent of university applicants get average marks or higher; in other places, the majority receive below-average marks, sometimes way below average.

The figures show that a large number of students “are sitting in the wrong places,” i.e. instead of going on to spend three years in high school after junior high, young people with limited learning capacity should be shunted to vocational education. “That would avoid wasting their time and money and society’s” Ngoc explained.

Pham Ngoc Thanh, Deputy Director of the HCM City Education and Training Department, agreed. “Many students do not know what they will do after they finish high school and still register to take university entrance exams even when they know that they will fail. Meanwhile, many students cannot find jobs after graduating from universities or they accept jobs for which they are not trained.”

What’s the best way to give career guidance?

According to Cao Van Sam, Deputy General Director of the Vocational Training Department, the structure of 85-90/10-15 percent is the best in every labor market. That means 85-90 percent are production workers, while the other 10-15 percent are office workers.

“Though our industrial management is more and more modern, the supply of trained craftsmen is less and less adequate. If it continues, we won’t meet the human resources requirements of society.”

Sam described career guidance in developed countries as very effective. “In the US, for instance, an electrician can earn $25 per hour, or $40-45,000 for 1,800 annual working hours after he attends a 2 year vocational school. Those pursuing a university and post-university education will have to study for eight years. With a doctorate, a graduate will find it more difficult to obtain a job than an electrician and will earn $45,000 a year only.

“Salary levels are one of the most important policies that affect students’ decisions about what to study,” Sam concluded.

Thanh, the HCM official, said that the Government ought to set up a steering committee on career guidance which assigns concrete responsibilities for career guidance to local authorities.

He said that local authorities need to have lists of young people in their area and know how many of them go to school, how many of them finish school and what they do after finishing high school, and from that data develop programs to advise students to attend suitable training institutions.

VietNamNet/TP