Enrollment of the first grade, extra teaching and learning and unofficial fees were the main issues disscussed at a conference on preventing corruptions in the education sector in Hanoi on October 11.
Parents must spend extra fees for their children to learn at schools located at areas where they do not register permanent residence in
The event, titled “Policies and anti-corruption measures in Vietnam’s education sector”, was co-chaired by the Resource Centre of Anti-corruption and the United Nations Children\'s Fund (UNICEF).
The conference highlighted three top corruption issues in the sector, namely enrollment of the first grade, extra teaching and learning as well as unofficial fees which all were included in a survey conducted by T&C Consulting in May 2010, under the instruction of the Government Inspectorate.
The survey, based on interviews with 200 parents in Hanoi, 205 parents in Da Nang City and 200 in Ho Chi Minh City, indicated that around 20% of pupils in Vietnam learn at schools located in areas where they do not register permanent residence in. The rate is 30% in Hanoi, 15%-22% in Da Nang and 10%-15% in Ho Chi Minh City.
Many parents asked said schools situated in areas where they do not register their permanent residence in were often near their houses, had suitable expenditures and some of them had good teaching quality. Over 60% of parents in the survey revealed that they had ever asked for help to have their children attend these schools and 33% of teachers disclosed that they had helped their relatives and friends on this.
All parents in the survey said that they had to pay many other fees, both official and unofficial items, such as for building school, school funds and giving to teachers.
Up to 70% of the interviewees said that paying extra fees to have their children study at a good-quality school is normal and their relatives also often do so.
Regarding the teaching and learning outside the school time, teachers earn an average income of VND1.9 million/month from three extra teaching times/week against their average salary of VND2.5 million/month. Parents admitted learning outside the school schedule as a normal thing and up to 82%-85% of them send their children to such classes.
The Government Inspectorate said at the conference that many parents still think highly of their children’s tip of study results and put all their belief in famous schools, which is among major causes of corruptions in education. Besides, many teachers bear income pressures, thus, they have to try to join extra teaching.
Additionally, the Vietnamese system of policies and laws on education is insufficient and inconsistent while inspections and supervision in this sector remain limited.
The Ministry of Education and Training has issued a number of measures to deal with corruptions in education, focusing on revising and promulgating documents on anti-corruption in fields which face a high risk of corruptions such as entrance exams, recruitment of teachers and managers and particularly management on extra learning and teaching. Stricter punishments on the violations should be imposed.
At a dialogue on anti-corruption with donors held late May, Swedish Ambassador to Vietnam, Rolf Bergman said, ”Corruptions account for between 1% and 2% of Vietnam’s GDP annually. Vietnam has made remarkable progresses in building a legal system, particularly laws on anti-corruption, but the country should do more to turn pledges on paper into actions.”