IBM Viet Nam announced the rolling out of its nationwide KIDSMART early learning sponsor programme for Vietnamese pre-school education this week.

Thirty four schools from 22 provinces will benefit from 35 “Young Explorer” complexes. The mountainous northern provinces of Son La, Bac Can, Dien Bien, Lai Chau, Ha Giang and Cao Bang are among those selected.

The two hundred guests included educators, civil servants, representatives of Provincial Departments of Education and Training and the school heads attended the ceremony.

The six northern provinces are the last to join the IBM nationwide KIDSMART programme. Under the guidance of the Department of Pre-school Education, IBM has rolled out the KIDSMART model nationwide, supporting the ongoing renewal of education in pre-school education establishments located in areas of varying cultural and socio-economic conditions.

Over the last seven years, the KIDSMART early education programme has had a positive impact on educational reforms. Up to present, the programme has sponsored 196 pre-school units with 282 “Young Explorer” complexes in 64 cities and provinces in the country, conducted workshops for 1,200 educational managers at department level and pre-school teachers, and organised contests to for young teachers improve abilities.

Viet Nam IBM General Director, Lee Puay Eng said, “Through co-operation with the Ministry of Education and Training we have supported teachers in pre-school units in developing course content and teaching methods to facilitate the learning process for seven years now. The programme has met a warm response from children, teachers, and parents throughout the country.”

As the extension of “creative teaching aids” project, KIDSMART is a globally sponsored programme providing children and teachers with hi-tech teaching aids.

Viet Nam is one of 15 Asian-Pacific countries which have implemented the programme.

VietNamNet/VNS