PM Dung emphasized this at the second ASEM Education Ministerial Meeting held in Hanoi on May 15 with the participation of more than 150 delegates from 38 countries and international organizations.

Delegates will focus their discussions on the quality of training and the mutual recognition of credits within ASEM member countries as well as developing a sustainable human resource for ASEM in future.

Addressing the conference, PM Nguyen Tan Dung affirmed that Vietnam has always considered education as its top national policy in its development strategies as well as an important factor to eradicate hunger and reduce poverty. Vietnam has spent 20 percent of its national budget on its education sector, which has made significant progress over the past years. The national educational system and the quality of education have been improved while the scale of education, especially at university levels and in terms of vocational training, has increased sharply. 

Major tasks to develop Vietnam’s education sector

To fulfill the set targets, Vietnam will attach importance to improving the quality of education, expanding the scale of education, boosting the use of the English language and computers at schools, and building additional universities, colleges, high schools and vocational training schools meeting regional and international standards.

In addition, the country aims to build a staff of teachers and managers who can meet future requirements in terms of both quality and quantity, in an effort to train 20,000 PhD holders for universities.

The State should focus on investing in disadvantaged areas, particularly inhabited by ethnic minority groups.

PM Dung said Vietnam wants to increase cooperation with countries in Asia and Europe in the education field and it will do its best for the sake of prosperity, peace, stability, and development of the two regions and the world.