VietNamNet Bridge – The number of students entering vocational schools has been decreasing dramatically. Half of vocational schools’ students drop out.

VietNamNet Bridge – The number of students entering vocational schools has been decreasing dramatically. Half of vocational schools’ students drop out. Administrators say it is very difficult to manage students, as they claim vocational students are not really interested in studying. Vocational schools are facing so many difficulties that some headmasters say they may have to shut down the schools.

Students of Khoi Viet Tourism School

Ha Kim Vong, Headmaster of Khoi Viet Tourism Vocational School based in HCM City, said that in the last three years, the number of students entering the school has been decreasing steadily. In 2008, the school enrolled 615 students, while the number decreased to 390 in 2009 and by April 2010, the school was enrolling just 68 students. Vong said no students want to follow the school’s course of study, which teaches youth how to become tour guides.

Similarly, the number of students admitted to Saigon Tourism Vocational School has also been decreasing over the last few years. In 2008, the school accepted 1504 students, while the number of students dropped to 1030 in 2009.

Other vocational schools have been facing the same dilemma. Representatives from a school said the school has been trying to give career advice to students and persuade them to choose vocational schools. However, the number of students still has been decreasing.

“With such a low number of students, we may have to close the school because we do not have enough money to run the school,” Vong complained.

It is difficult not only to enroll new students, but also to retain students. Many students decide to drop out even when they finish one or two years of studying at the schools.

According to officials at Ton Duc Thang School, the percentage of students dropping out is very high, presently at 50-60 percent. The figure is 30 percent for Nhan Dao School.

Ngo Thi Quynh Xuan, Headmaster of the Saigon Tourism Vocational School, said many students go to vocational schools not because they like studying there, but because they fail the university entrance exams and do not want to do their military service.

One of the reasons that keeps some students away from vocational schools, according to the schools, is that students at such schools cannot transfer credits to continue studying at the university level. Currently, students at vocational schools (2 year training) can only transfer credits to continue studying at junior colleges (3 year training), while they cannot continue studying at universities after finishing vocational schools. Therefore, vocational schools remain unattractive in the eyes of many students.

According to Nguyen Thi Hong Bich, Deputy Head of the Training Division under the Nhan Dao Vocational School, students who graduate vocational schools who want to continue studying at the university level only have one choice of studying at the HCM City University of Technique Education. However, there are only a few study branches and only a small percentage of students are accepted.

Xuan has also proposed allowing vocational school graduates to continue studying at universities, considering this the best solution to make vocational schools become more attractive to students.

Source: Tuoi tre