Vietnam will have about 3,000 vocational teachers who meet the quality standards set by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) by 2015, a Government meeting heard on Wednesday.

A student studies electronics at the Thai Binh Vocational School

The discussion, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan, was attended by representatives from the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA), the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Transport and the Government Office.

According to MoLISA's report, the General Department of Vocational Training will increase its co-operation with Japan, Germany, Malaysia and South Korea.

The latter two have reached formal agreements with Vietnam which allow the country to use their training programmes to improve the worker capacity in certain trades. In return, Malaysia and South Korea will accept certain training certificates as proof of qualification.

The department has so far completed the translation of eight vocational training programmes offered by Malaysia that cover varied trades including seafood processing and preservation, reception management, ship navigation and cooking.

MoLISA said that by 2014 the transfer of training programmes and resources for 49 trades will be completed, offering workers the chance to learn these skills to the standards regulated by ASEAN. Programmes for 26 trades will be ready to help workers gain other internationally accepted qualifications.

Nguyen Khac Dinh, deputy head of the Government Office, suggested the ministry seek another partner in vocational training besides Malaysia to give itself a more diverse range of options.

Deputy PM Nguyen Thien Nhan requested MoLISA to focus its efforts on training teachers of vocational skills at 26 key training schools throughout the country.

Nhan said the transfer of the eight Malaysian training programmes needed to be thoroughly implemented, from the application of the curricula to the use of equipment and tools.

He also requested MoLISA to develop a plan for training vocational teachers overseas and submit it to the Prime Minister for approval upon completion.

He reminded the ministry to develop a detailed financial plan for training for 2013 and asked them to make a review report by October and prepare its financial plan for 2014.

According to MoLISA's long-term plan, Vietnam will have 26 vocational training schools of high quality by 2015 and about 40 by 2020.

During 2016-20, Vietnam will train about 2.9 million graduates from vocational colleges and schools, of which 10 percent will meet the national, ASEAN and international standards.