Several young people in Vietnam have opted to take a gap year to take part in social activities or discover the world despite facing strong objections from their parents.

Huyen Chip on Andes Mountain

While taking a gap year has been a popular movement among students in several developed countries, this is still a fledgling trend in Vietnam, having begun only a few years ago.

Now more young Vietnamese people are showing sufficient bravery to delay their tertiary education, despite being qualified for university, or halt their studies at university to take one or two gap years to help improve their knowledge of worldly matters.

Such people all find it worthwhile to do so as it helps them not only discover the big wide world, but also to understand more about themselves i.e. find a better direction for their lives or  find more opportunities to gain success.

Nguyen Thanh Trung, a former student at Phan Boi Chau High School in Nghe An Province, has just come first in this year’s university entrance exam at Hanoi University of Technology.

Trung surprised many people when he revealed that last year he was qualified for Hanoi University of Education’s Math Faculty but decided to take a gap year two months after entering the school.

“I decided to stop studying and stay at home to prepare for this year’s exam as I realised that the environment there was not suitable for me and that I don’t really want to be a teacher.” Trung said.

Gia Ngoc, who is currently a second-year student at HCM City University of Foreign Trade, also had the same choice as Trung. She took two gap years before resuming her education.

In 2010 Ngoc decided to stop studying at the university two months after entering the school.

“At the time I was wondering whether I was suitable for the banking sector, or not, and what my real passion was. I realised that I still lacked life experience and that the only place to learn more about life is outside school, in the real world.” Ngoc said.

During her break, she took part in several social activities such as joining VietAbroader Club, acting as a judge at VietAbroader 2011 and 2012 contests and joining South East Asian Student Network (SEA-NET), teaching and selling greeting cards.

“Apart from social activities, I tried to improve myself by reading books from different sectors, like economics, psychology and philosophy. I realised that I’m suited to working in education and in the information and technology industries,” she added.

Currently, Gia Ngoc works as an administrator for VApedia website, which was set up by VietAbroader in order to provide information about overseas study in the US.

Gia Ngoc (second from the left) and her friends at VietAbroader

Nguyen Thi Khanh Huyen, nicknamed “Huyen Chip”, a former student at Hanoi Natural Science High School for Gifted Students, decided to skip her tertiary education despite having quailed for a university place. She has traveled to 25 countries in the world on only USD700.

“At first I just simply wanted to discover the world but my journeys have helped me to understand more about myself as well. I do think that life teaches you more lessons than school,” Huyen said.

Huyen has worked as an Online Marketer for Youth Asia, a company that hosted the YES 2009 Conference that attracted the participation of 500 young people in South East Asia.

Now Huyen runs Chip 2.0, an information and technology blog and administrators of several fanpages like Xach ba-lo len va di, Travel and Write. She is currently finishing her book, “Xach ba-lo len va di” or Pick up your Backpack and Go, and is writing another book “Du Lich Ba Lo” or Backpack Travelling.

In order to realise their dreams, all these people had to overcome strong objection from their families, friends and teachers.

Sharing in a forum about gap years, Nguyen Thanh Trung said, “When I decided to take a gap year at home, my parents were greatly shocked and told me off. My friends objected harshly to my plan and claimed I was an “abnormal” person.”

He said that over one month later his parents gradually understood his choice when seeing him  studying conscientiously and helping with the housework during his free time instead of being idle, which was their initial fear.

In order to have her gap years, Ngoc was compelled to tell a lie to her family. She had to pretend as if she was still studying at university but instead she was going out and taking part in social activities.

“I intended to take three gap years but had to resume my studies after two, when my parents uncovered the truth,” she added.