Even though students in Vietnamese schools in are allowed to choose among five foreign languages, English has attracted the majority of learners at the expense of other languages.

English classes at Danang College of Foreign Languages

However, the situation is said to have come from a lack of consistent regulations, qualified teachers, textbooks and learners as well.

Under current regulations issued by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), five foreign languages, English, French, Japanese, Russian and Chinese, are offered in the national educational system. Schools are allowed to choose a language for compulsory classes.

In recent years, Vietnam has made considerable progress in English proficiency. A recent survey by  English First, including 60 countries this year, found that Vietnam jumped to 28th position in English skills, ahead China, Russia, Italy and Thailand.

“English seems to be the first choice of parents and their children, attracting as much as 98% of learners across the country,” said Dr. Vu Thi Tu Anh, from the National Foreign Languages Project’s management board.

In primary education, English is introduced to students of grades 3 and above, attracting nearly 500,000 learners. The number of English students at the secondary and high school levels has reached over seven million, said Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Secondary Education.

Statistics issued by the department showed that the number those studying other languages in the period between the 2012 snd 2013 school years was modest, with about 800,000 studying French, 5,200 Japanese and a few thousand taking German and Chinese.

He also said that MoET is facing difficulties in maintaining Russian in the educational system due to the lack of teachers, as many Russian teachers have quit their jobs or switched to teach other languages. Now, only 14 high schools nationwide provide Russian.

Some education professionals have blamed this on the lack of qualified teachers in other languages.

“The lack of qualified teachers has been the greatest barrier for ensuring the quality of foreign language education. Even though English is a major foreign language, less than 30% of teachers are qualified to teach it,” said Doan Thi Minh Cong, Deputy Director of Hai Duong provincial Department of Education and Training.

Statistics from 42 cities and provinces across the country showed that nearly 70% of English teachers at primary schools do not meet requirements for, and the figure jumps to 90% for high schools.

Nguyen Hoai Chuong, Deputy Director of HCM City municipal Department of Education and Training blamed the unsuccessfullness of foreign language teaching programme on a lack of proper policies. He emphasised the necessity to define which foreign languages should be taught at which education levels.

Many experts agree that the country needs to attach its foreign language education policies to strategies for comprehensive educational reform.