Universal education coverage provided for 5-year-olds
Vietnam has provided universal early and pre-school education coverage according to Vice Minister of Education and Training, Nguyen Thi Nghia.
Speaking at the International Conference on Early Childhood Education held on Monday morning in Hanoi, Nghia said that a national campaign had ensured the provision of education for 5-year-old children.
“Development of the campaign and enhanced school readiness for children are significant factors in the development of better qualified people Vietnam,” Nghia added.
The Ministry of Education and Training in partnership with the World Bank and UNICEF organised the International Conference on Early Childhood Education on June 12-13.
The conference attracted 290 participants from 11 countries, including education officials, international academics, researchers and programme leaders together with senior leaders of the World Bank and UNICEF, and representatives from various NGOs.
Speaking at the conference, Minister Phung Xuan Nha emphasised the campaign had played an important role and laid the first bricks for childhood development.
Minister of Education and Training, Phung Xuan Nha speaks at the ECE Conference on June 12.
Minister Nha highly appreciated the support from the World Bank, UNICEF, UNESCO and other NGOs. He also requested continued support from the World Bank and UNICEF as well as other international organisations in the future.
Country Director of the World Bank in Vietnam, Ousmane Dionne, said “Vietnam is strongly committed to education development. Through the universal early childhood education programme for 5-year-old children, Vietnam has ensured the right to at least one year pre-primary education for children and continue to primary and secondary education. However, we need to be more ambitious and should state that the right to education, just simply by sitting in the classrooms, is not enough. Education should be high quality to ensure that children can really learn.”
Representative of UNICEF in Vietnam, Youssouf Abdel-Jelil, stressed that investing early education is one of the most cost effective investments to ensure Vietnam’s sustainable development.
“Early interventions for young children help them achieve more success when they reach primary school and it improves their health and over all development,” he said. “As adults, they will have better employment and higher earnings, better health, and they are less likely to depend on welfare.”
The conference is a forum for information sharing and exchange to catch up with global and regional trends in early childhood care and development, particularly in South East Asia. During event, senior guest speakers are expected to share experiences and discuss key issues of early childhood education in the world and the region such as early childhood development and education policies and programmes, quality assurance conditions and inter-agency coordination in early childhood care, education and development.
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