Education
Vietnamese students have trouble finding career paths
  • By Hong Hanh | dtinews.vn | May 08, 2014 08:49 AM

A recent survey showed that thousands of students do not know what to do or how to find jobs after failing high school graduation exams and university entrance exams.

 

 Students at a vocational school

According to the survey, around 350,000 students drop out of high school or fail the graduation exams each year. In the 2010-2011 school year, around 185,000 students passed the high school graduation exams but failed to get into universities or vocational schools. This number in the next school year was 290,000.

Spokespersons from the Professional Education Bureau under the Ministry of Education and Training said the reason is that people prefer university degrees, have little information about vocational education and the job market as well as a lack of jobs due to a slow economy. They also admitted that there is a lack of career consultancy services and support for vocational schools.

Pham Van Khanh, from Psychological and Educational Scientific Association in Tien Giang Province, said a survey at four provinces in the northern Mekong Delta showed that most students wanted easy, high-ranking jobs rather than ones more appropriate to their abilities and 98% decided to take university entrance exams and ignore vocational schools.

Le Dong Phuong from the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences also said students have been choosing universities without considering their abilities. He said, "About two-thirds of 10th grade students applied to study in the fields of math, physics and chemistry even though I think many of them will have had better chances in other directions."

Representatives from the Can Tho Department of Education and Training said that they were in need of a master plan for training and human resources. Students must be aware that no matter what field of work they are in, if they have experience, skills and devotion then they will be respected, they emphasised. Many have proposed financial support for students who choose vocational schools, especially in rural and disadvantaged areas.

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