Contributions of the private sector to the development of education in viet nam history and future expectations

Contributions of the Private Sector to the Development of Education in Viet Nam - History and Future Expectations A Research in the Framework of Asia-Pacific Education Policy Research I

Contributions of the Private Sector to the Development of Education in Viet Nam - History and Future

Expectations

A Research in the Framework of Asia-Pacific Education Policy Research

Initiative/Korean Education Development Institute

Contents

Final Report i

Contributions of the Private Sector to the Development of Education in Viet Nam - History and Future Expectations i

Contents ii

List of tables vi

List of figures viii

Abbreviations ix

Acknowledgement x

Abstract xi

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Socio-economic Background of Education in Viet Nam 3

1.1.1 Brief Overview 3

1.1.2 Governmental System 4

1.1.3 Economic System after Doi moi 6

1.1.4 Geographical Characteristics 7

1.1.5 Economic and Social Indicators 8

1.2 Education System 11

1.3 Rational for Studying of Non-public Education in Viet Nam 14

1.4 Objective 16

1.5 Methodology 16

1.6 Terminology 19

2 Findings 21

2.1 Brief History of Vietnamese Education and the Role of Private Education in Different Periods 21

2.1.1 Folk Education 21

2.1.2 Education in the Period of Chinese Domination (111 BC to 938 AD) 22

2.1.3 Education in the Period of Feudal Independence (938 to 1884) 24

2.1.4 Education in the Period of French Domination (1884-1945) 26

2.1.5 Education in the Period of the Revolution and the War (1945-1975) 27

2.1.6 Education in Vietnam at Present Time (1975 onwards) 28

2.1.7 Conclusions from the Study on the History of Private Education in Viet Nam30 2.2 Current Status of Non-public Education in Viet Nam 33

2.2.1 Philosophy of the Development of Non-public Sector in Education 33

2.2.2 General legislative framework 34

2.2.3 Classification of non-public education 37

2.2.4 Development 45

2.2.5 Staffing 52

2.2.6 Public Control 53

2.2.7 Finance 54

2.2.9 An Alternative Chance for Learning 56

2.2.10 Contribution of Non-public Schools to the Development of the Education System 59

2.2.11 Current Difficulties of the Non-public Eeducation 60

2.2.12 Support for Non-public Education by the Government 63

2.2.13 Conclusions from the survey 68

2.3 Expectation for Future Development of Non-public Education in Viet Nam 69

2.4 International comparison in non-public/private education 70

2.4.1 General Information 70

2.4.2 The European Union 73

2.4.3 Repubic of Korea 79

2.4.4 Non-public Education in Russian Federation 90

2.4.5 China's Non- public Education 102

2.4.6 Lessons learned from other countries 110

3 Conclusions/Recommendation 111

4 Major References 113

5 Annexes 117

Annex 1 History of Vietnamese Education and the Role of Private Education in Different Periods 116

Annex 2 Questionnaires for the Survey 143

Annex 4 Non-public Education in China ( Report of the Study Tour to China) 218 Annex 5 Main Activities of the Project 241

List of tables

Table 1 Brief Overview of the Nation 3

Table 2 GDP per Capita of ASEAN Countries 10

Table 3 Indicators of Education Development 12

Table 4 The Role of Private Education in Different Periods 32

Table 5 Major Changes in Education System with the Renovation of Education Policy 35

Table 6 Comparison of Current Categories of Non-public Higher Education Institutions 41

Table 7 Changes in Legal Regulation Concerning Ownership of Educational Institutions 42

Table 8 Number of Primary Schools 46

Table 9 Share of Non-public Primary Education in School Year 2004-2005 46

Table 10 Number of Lower Secondary Schools 47

Table 11 Share of Non-public Lower Secondary Education in School Year 2004-2005 47

Table 12 Number of Upper Secondary Schools 48

Table 13 Share of Non-public Lower Secondary Education in School Year 2004-2005 48

Table 14 Enrollment in Public and Non-Public Universities and Colleges 50

Table 15 Characteristics of Teachers in Non-public Institutions 52

Table 16 Five Most Important Factors Affecting School Choice by Group of Respondents 58

Table 17 The Most Siginificant Contributions of Non-public Schools to the

Development of the Education System by Group of Respondents 60

Table 18 Current Difficulties of the Non-public Education by Group of Respondents 61

Table 19 Problems Faced in Teaching by Teachers 62

Table 20 Difficulties in Sending Children to Non-public Schools by Family Living Standards 63

Table 21 Support for Non-public Education from the Government by Group of Respondents 63

Table 22 Expected Support in the Future by Group of Respondents 65

Table 23 Number of Schools by Sectors 80

Table 24 Number of Teachers and Faculty Members by Sectors 81

Table 25 Number of Students by Sectors 83

Table 26 The Revenue of Private Schools, 2002 87

Table 27 The Expenditures of Private Schools, 2002 88

List of figures

Figure 1 Governmental Structure of Viet Nam 5

Figure 2 Types of Local Governments 6

Figure 3 Map of Viet Nam by Regions 7

Figure 4 Real GDP Growth Rate 8

Figure 5 Foreign Investment 9

Figure 6 Current Education System in Viet Nam 12

Figure 7 Changes in Number of Public and Non-public HEIs in Viet Nam 50

Figure 8 Enrollment in Non-public Institutions as Percentage of Total Higher Education Enrolment 51

Figure 9 Age of Teacher Non-public Institutions by Different Education Level 53

Figure 10 The Spectrum of Education Institutions 70

Figure 11 Distribution of Primary and Lower Secondary Level Pupils (ISCED 1-2) as a Percentage, According to the Type of Institutions They Attend, 1997/98 75

Abbreviations

ASEAN Association of South East Asian Nations

DoET Department of Education and Training

HEI Higher education institution

JBIC Japan Bank for International Cooperation

MOET Ministry of Education and Training

MOST Ministry of Science and Technology

PROPHE Program for Research On Private Higher Education, University of

Albany, USA RIHED Regional Center for Higher Education and Development

SEAMEO Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation

SRV Socialist Republic of Vietnam

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNESCO United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization

UNESCO

PROAP

UNESCO Principal Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

VNHEAFS Vietnam Higher Education Academic and Finance Survey

VNLSS Vietnam Living Standards Surveys

Acknowledgement

In the middle of January, 2005 Dr Dang Ba Lam, the former Director General of the National Institute for Education Development (NIED), Viet Nam, now senior researcher of the National Institute for Education Strategies and Curriculum (NIESAC), received from the Korean Education Development Institute (KEDI) the announcement that the deadline for the research proposal for the second annual regional research competition funded by World Bank/GDN is extended to January 31, 2005 After consulting with some colleagues, the research team headed by Dr Dang Ba Lam and including Dr Nguyen Ba Thai and Mr Le Dong Phuong sent to KEDI the research proposal with the title "Contributions of the Private Sector to the Development of Education in Vietnam, History and Future Expectations " The research team received the valuable comments to improve the first draft proposal The revised proposal had been selected by AP-EPRI/KEDI for providing the grant to implement it

The research team would like to express the sincere appreciation

- to World Bank/GDN for funding;

- to KEDI for approval the Project and monitoring its implementation;

- to the reviewers for valuable comments;

- to Prof Dr Nguyen Loc, the Deputy Director G of NIESAC for the guidance

- to Vietnamese colleagues from NIESAC: Phan Thi Ngoc Anh, Trinh Thi Anh Hoa, Dinh Thi Bich Loan, Hoang Van Thinh, Bui Thanh Tu and staffs of various

institutions for their help in different activities along the duration of the Project implementation

Abstract

From 1986 Viet Nam began transforming from the command economy system to the market one In pace with the economic innovation the education system is undergoing radical changes; one of them is the reopening and developing of the non-public sector in education

In Vietnam private education played an important role for a long time from the prehistoric period with educating activities in folklore During the period of Chinese domination (111 BC to (938 AD) and the time of Feudal Independence (938-1884) the expansion of Buddhism and Confucianism in Viet Nam the education systems based on this ideology and religion began to come in the social life These systems of education basically were private ones During the time of French Colonialism (1884-1945) and after the country reunification in 1975, the public sector in education was dominated Only after the Renovation (1986) in Viet Nam the non- public education is reopened and began to develop

During less than 20 years (1998-2006), private education sector is developing strongly and contributing a lot to the national education The statistical data and the survey conducted

by the Project can show the achievement of this sector

At present time the Vietnamese education policy makers intend to expand more the non-public sector in education considering its contributions and effectiveness To facilitate this process it is recommended:

- Viet Nam should continue to improve the awareness of the society, to lay the philosophical base, to complete the legislative framework and the policies of non-public education, to make non-public education sector equal to the public one in the eyes of social communities and state managers

- The Vietnamese Government should provide more support for the non-public education sector in deferent aspects: land, funding from public budget for education, training of the staff and in international cooperation and so on

1 Introduction

In accordance with the purpose of the grant is to stimulate more education research in developing and transition countries, to utilize local analytical capacity, and to increase the research knowledge of the educational policymakers, and to response the practical requirement of education development of Viet Nam at present time and in future the research team consider the development of private sector in education as very important

In the past Viet Nam was a country under a command socio-economic system In almost all fields of socio-economic activities, the state component was dominated When Viet Nam began to transfer to market economy, the non-state components appeared in different fields including education In this context Viet Nam education faces many issues, which require the solution, one of which is the issues of market in education There is still much discussion about what is the optimal relation between the state, education institutions and the market, what is the role of the state in the investment of education in order to ensure the human resources for the country's development and the social equality, to what extent the private sector in education must be developed and so on

These problems became more urgent with the recent accession into WO by Viet Nam late 2006

Internationally education is a very critical area for all countries In the recent wave of development most of the developing countries are paying attention to education as the mean for the development However, there was limited attention to the role of private education in the overall mix of educational institutions in these countries The government and international organizations tend to speak either about the whole education sector as one or just about the public part of it But investment into education is limited due to the issues the

sectors Even international funding organizations have also become aware of the potential to participate in private sector education investments, a way to reduce the burden on the public coffered However, there was little information on the trends in private education in developing countries, let alone information on how best to evaluate private education development Many countries around the world have had various experiences in dealing with the private sector involvement in the education system The gathering and analyzing of these experiences would be useful for the policy makers in the countries where education is going

to be financed from the private budget

In this line many studies have been done on

- the regulatory environment in developing countries, culminating in the development of an Education Freedom Index, to compare countries and look for correlation between freedom and outcomes

- the conceptual, empirical and historical investigation of market versus state qualifications and accreditation

- further research exploring the nature, extent and effectiveness of private schools for the poor in India and Africa

- the exploration of a potential commercial model for using the Internet to reach the poor in India, and beyond; and

- the study of quality control and market-based management systems in the education industry

1.1 Socio-economic Background of Education in Viet Nam

1.1.1 Brief Overview

The Socialist Republic of Viet Nam was founded in 1976 following the re-unification

of the North and South Viet Nam Today, the country has a population of approximately

83.119.900, the second largest among 10 countries of ASEAN Although about 90% of the

population belongs to the majority group, know as the Kinh, Viet Nam includes nearly 53

ethnic minority groups as well

Viet Nam adopted the policy of Doi Moi (renovation) in 1986 to reform the country

and integrate the domestic market into the global market In 1994, after the economic

embargo by the USA was lifted, there has been an investment boom in Vietnam Despite the

fact that Viet Nam was not safe from the 1997 economic crisis in Asia, the quick recovery of

the economy proved the high economic growth potential of the country

Today, Vietnam follows a policy of “omni-directional diplomacy” and is open to the

rest of the world In 1995, Viet Nam joined the ASEAN With its liberalized policies and

rapid economic growth, Viet Nam ’s stature vis-à-vis the rest of the world is being

transformed Table 1 provides a number of key indicators on the nation

Table 1 Brief Overview of the Nation

Population Density 2005 252 p/km2

Capital Hanoi

Major Ethnic groups Kinh (90% of population), 53 ethnic minorities

Legislative Unicameral National Assembly,498 members

Major industries Agriculture, Forestry, Fishery, Mining

1.1.2 Governmental System

National Government The Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam

(adopted in 1992) designates the governmental structure as shown in figure 1 below

According to the Constitution, the National Assembly is the highest representative body, and members of this legislative branch are elected every five years in accordance with the principles of a universal, equal, direct and secret ballot The National Assembly elects a Chairman and members of a Standing Committee The full body is convened by the Standing Committee at least twice a year

The National Assembly elects the President of the State, the Prime Minister, the Chief Procurator of the Supreme People's Court and the Chief Procurator of the Supreme People's Office of Supervision and Control The President serves not only as Head of State but also as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, representing Viet Nam in both domestic and foreign affairs The Prime Minister heads the Cabinet, the executive branch that oversees the running of the Government

Localities elect People's Councils at different levels – province, district, ward, and commune – in accordance with universal suffrage The People's Councils appoint local executive bodies There are also People's Courts and People's Prosecutors at provincial and district levels

National Assembly

President of the State People’s CourtSupreme

Supreme People’s Office of Supervision and Control People’s

Army of Vietnam

Government (the Council of Ministries)

The Communist Party

of Vietnam The National Congress

Central Committee

Vietnam

Fatherland Front

(localities) People’s Council

People’s Committees

Local People’s Court

Local People’s Procuracy

Local level of

Fatherland Front

Civilian Party Committees

The Local Congress

of Delegates

Figure 1 Governmental Structure of Viet Nam

Local Government Local administration has three levels (layers) described in Figure

2 below The first layer is the Province (and 5 large cities under central authority: Ha Noi,

Ho Chi Minh, Hai Phong, Da Nang and Can Tho are treated equally as provinces) The second layer is the District (and smaller cities and townships are treated as districts)

Administrative units sometimes merge together or are divided into smaller areas and hence, the total number of administrative unit changes accordingly At present time there are

64 provinces and more than 10,000 districts in Viet Nam

Central Authority

City Under

Figure 2 Types of Local Governments

1.1.3 Economic System after Doi moi

Since the adoption of Doi Moi policy, Viet Nam introduced the socialist-oriented market economy system and integrated its economy into the global one Price control was abolished and liberalized Foreign Direct Investment Law was promulgated and foreign trade

by private sector was also approved

As it will be stated later, Viet Nam attracted many investments from foreign countries and foreign companies are playing an important role in the economic development of the country, by introducing market-oriented management and new technology, creating new jobs and exporting goods

1.1.4 Geographical Characteristics

The country of Viet Nam is stretching from the north to south The land is mostly hilly and densely forested mountainous Flat land accounts for less than 20 percent, mountains account for 40 percent and midland are 40 percent

The country can be divided into 8 geographic regions (See figure 3) The North consists of highlands (North East, North West, and North Central Coastal) and the Red River Delta The South could be classified into coastal lowlands (South Central Coastal), Central Highlands, South East, and Mekong River Delta

Climate is that of tropical and monsoon; humidity averages 84 percent throughout year Annual rainfall ranges from 120 to 300 centimeters, and annual temperatures vary between 5°C and 37°C

Mekong Delta 8

South East 7

Central Highland 6

South Central Coastal 5

North Central Coastal 4

Red River Delta 3

North West 2

North East 1

Regions No.

Mekong Delta 8

South East 7

Central Highland 6

South Central Coastal 5

North Central Coastal 4

Red River Delta 3

North West 2

North East 1

Regions No.

Source: Viet Nam Economic Research Institute, “Updated Statistical Indicators of Vietnam” (2002)

1.1.5 Economic and Social Indicators

Viet Nam has maintained high level of real GDP growth rate in past 20 years

However, during 1980s, the country suffered from hyperinflation problem After 1986, Viet Nam introduced socialist-oriented market economy system and tried to integrate its market into the global market As a result, economic operation became more stable and the country experienced high rate of growth with modest inflation rate

The financial crisis in Asia (set in with rapid depreciation of Indonesian Rupiah in 1997) has affected Vietnamese economy in 1998 and 1999 Nevertheless, the economy is recovering afterward

Fig 3: Real GDP Growth rate (%)

0.3 3.6

6.0 4.7 5.15.8

8.7 8.1 8.8

9.5 9.3 8.2

5.8 4.8 6.8 6.8 7.0 7.24

After promulgation of the first Foreign Direct Investment Law, Viet Nam attracted a large amount of investment from about 70 countries and territories of the world Especially after the lifting of embargo by the USA, there was a boom for investments in Viet Nam The aftermath of currency and economic crisis in Asia can be also seen in the decrease of the amount of FDIs for 1999 However, since the year 2000, it turned into increasing trend again

According to the Viet Nam Trade Office, these investments created about 600,000 jobs directly associated with investments as well as hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs In

2001, the FDI sector accounted for about 14% of GDP, 34% of industrial output and 22% of export revenue (excluding crude oil export)

341.7 525.5 735

1291.5 2208.5 3037.4 4188.4 6937.2 10164.1

5590.7 5099.9

2565.42838.93142.82998.83191.2

4547.6 6839.8

Source: General Statistical Office of Viet Nam MPI, SCCI

Figure 5 Foreign Investment

In Viet Nam, rapid economic growth resulted in the amelioration of GDP per capita level In past 5 years, the indicator increased from 350 US dollar to 430 US dollar while some

other ASEAN countries lowered the level However, the level of GDP per capita is still low compared to other countries

Table 2 GDP per Capita of ASEAN Countries

(Atlas method, current USD)

1.2 Education System

The general education system of Viet Nam consists of 5 years (primary), 4 years (lower secondary), 3 years (upper secondary) and 4-6 years (higher education) systems, and compulsory education starts at the age of 6 years, and it continues for 9 years (primary and lower secondary school education stage which will be universalized in 2010 throughout the whole country) The table below shows the schooling population of Viet Nam

A school fiscal year starts in September and finishes in May Although official language of instruction is the Vietnamese language, the government adopts the teaching methods (Lingua Franca Education) from the grades of primary school education so that it allows the language of instruction peculiar to other 53 ethnic minority groups in addition to the Kinh ethnic group

Grade Age

Secondary Technical Training School

Technical Worker Training School

University College

Upper Secondary School

Figure 6 Current Education System in Viet Nam

Source: General Statistical Office of Viet Nam, “Statistical Yearbook 2002”

Upper Secondary Education

Source: Ministry of Education and Training

1.3 Rational for Studying of Non-public Education in Viet Nam

The development of Non-public or Private sector in education has been addressed by

many international scholars In many countries, the non-public (i.e private sector) has a firm,

large proportion of private education institutions In some countries the balance between public and private providers is maintained over the time Nowadays Vietnamese non-public education could be described as a peripheral system using Geiger’s classification of private education, where the public sector is assuming the major role in delivering education

In many developing countries the private sector involvement in education has been initiated by the church or other religious organizations Though the religious organization might have a less important role in the determination of the education institutions the impacts

of these religious affiliation is still clear to be observed The religious orientation of the public education institutions has helped to develop the not-for-profit education institutions But in the modern day there are many education institutions being established for the purpose

non-of prnon-ofit making The survival non-of the for-prnon-ofits institutions is indicating a shift in people’s ideas about the purposes of education and benefits from education This is happening in Vietnam over the last 5 years as well There are studies, though limited in number, scope and time frame, which indicated that non-public education in Viet Nam is adopting both not-for-profit and for-profit models However there has been no comprehensive study about the non-public education in Viet Nam Given this fact, any critics or praise on the non-public education in Viet Nam is primarily based on the direct evidence only, lacking a philosophical framework of analysis

This study will be one of the first attempts to study in-depth about the development of non-public education in Viet Nam and the role of private sector in this development The knowledge and understanding gained from this study will be beneficial for many people in their jobs:

- Government agencies in guiding the non-public education institutions

- Public in understanding the dynamics of the education system

- International research community in more information on the education system in Viet Nam

1.4 Objective

The private sector in Viet Nam has been involved very much in the deliveries of education services but their role is over-shadowed by the public sector and developmental policies and little acknowledged This study will review the contribution of the private sector

to the development of education through the modern history and draw lessons for a further development of this sector in delivery education services to the population in response to the new context and challenges

The research questions for this study are:

1 What were the contributions of non-public education to the current

development of education in Viet Nam?

2 What are expectations of non-public education in the coming future?

Despite the general belief about the negative aspects of the non-public sectors this study will try to prove that the non-public involvement in delivering education services has indeed produced good outcomes, in some extent even more than what the public sector could have done

1.5 Methodology

This study has employed both literature review and surveys For the desk research the members of the research team have collected documents related to the development of non-public education in Viet Nam from various sources and analyzed them in relation to the

development of education in current Viet Nam the team had prepared a survey of non-public education institutions throughout Viet Nam The survey covered

- nearly all levels of education, namely: Secondary Education; Technical and Vocational Education (VTE schools); Institutions of Higher Education (HEIs) Before

2000 there was no non-public primary schools in Vietnam because the Vietnamese Government decided to use the public resources for the completing the universalization of primary education in the whole country and for the delivering of basic education to all children Only in recent years with the advent of the changes there are some private primary schools in big cities, catering to the needs of a limited group of children from better-off families Therefore the research team had decided to exclude these private primary schools in this survey

- all types of non-public ownership: semi-public, people-founded, private Though there have been some foreign-owned schools in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, but they were mainly serving children of foreigners living in Vietnam and they do not have to comply with the education administration like the mainstream schools the team has decided to not including them in this survey as well

- various regions of the country: Ha Noi; Quang Ninh (Northc East); Hai Phong (Red River Delta), Da Nang (South Central Coastal); Ho Chi Minh City (South East); Kien Giang (Mekong Delta) (See Figure 3)

The survey employed questionnaires and in-depth interviews The questionnaires, targeting at collecting qualitative and quantitative information from:

1 Administrators of non-public education institutions;

2 Officers working in the provincial DoETs;

4 Students studying in the non-public education institutions;

5 Parents of students in non-public secondary schools

The questionnaires have been design to collect information concerning factors

affecting the school choice by students/parents, the role of the non-public schools in the

overall education development, difficulties non-public schools are facing, support given to

them from the government, and their expectation for the support from government in the

future The questions have been formulated in consistent manner across the various groups

of respondents in order to ensure the consistent and comparable answers to different aspects

Details of the questionnaires could be seen in Annex 3

Along with the questionnaires in-depth interviews have been conducted aiming at

scholars, educators and other stakeholders with interest to education development These

interviews had helped to gather information and expert judgment about the formation,

establishment, operations as well as future expectations of these institutions Information on

the interaction between non-public institutions and the public administration system is also

collected through interviews with education administrators, managers of institutions which

will help to gain more insight on the effects of public administration on the non-public

institutions

The data and information collected were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively to

present the status of the non-public education in Vietnam over the recent years

The number of collected questionnaires is as follows:

Group Questionnaires Administrators 56

Before 2005 there was no official definition of public education Generally it was

agreed that public educational institutions (including higher education institutions) are those

owned, operated, and funded (to larger part) by public authorities This authority could be

the Ministry of Education and Training - MOET or line ministries, local governments or

public entities/corporations The institutions are financed from the public budget, especially

when it comes to development or capital costs, and traditionally they were seen as serving the

needs of the supervising authorities (line ministries or local governments)

According to the new Education Law (National Assembly of Viet Nam, 2005, Article

48), a public education institution is an institution established by a public authority and

having capital investment and at least some part of recurrent expenses covered from the state

budget

Semi-public

Semi-public institutions are those that have been established from once-public

institutions, but in which the physical infrastructure has been turned over to the institutions,

in which autonomy is given to the institutions to mobilize financial resources, and in which

support from the public budget (Education Law 1998) The assets and accumulated savings

of semi-public institutions remain under public ownership This type of ownership will be phased out with the stipulations of the new Education Law (2005)

People-founded

People founded institutions are a new type of education institution in Viet Nam People-founded refers to those institutions that have been established by professional, social and economic organizations (the “sponsoring organization”), funded from non-governmental sources (funds from the organization’s budget or investments from individuals), and operated according to Viet Nam Education Law 1998 Public properties and funds are not to be used directly for the operation of people-founded institutions Though people-founded institutions could be considered as legal autonomous entities, the sponsoring organization has responsibility and accountability for the outcomes of the institution’s operations Assets and savings of people-founded institutions belong to the collective group founding, managing and administering the institution In Education Law 2005 the people-founded education institutions is defined as institutions established, invested and current expenditure provided

by the community

Private

Private education institutions are institutions founded and operated by private persons

in line with governmental regulations All operating funds are covered from private investments or contributions, tuition fees and income from research and service activities (Education Law 2005) Assets and savings of private higher education institutions belong to the investors (i.e owners)

Non-public

Non-public is the common term describing those educational institutions not categorized as public In this study, non-public education refers to semi-public, people-founded and private institutions In many instances this is equivalent to private

The body of education is family

The goal of education is “to teach children to become better persons” or “to learn to be”

The content of education includes production experience and interpersonal relationship in the community (e.g moral feelings respect and thanks to parents, love to native land, communicating experiences, knowledge about the homeland and the nature, etc.)

The method of education is to implement the education in every part of living such as game playing of children, production activities of adults and cultural activities of the community

Folk education is private education

2.1.2 Education in the Period of Chinese Domination (111 BC to 938 AD)

Confucianism-Based Education

Legend has it that the first state of the Vietnamese nation, named Van Lang, was formed in the Bronze Period of the Metal Age under the Dong Son (Thanh Hoa) Culture The Hung Kings ruled the state for tens of cultures Following the Hung Kings period, by the third century BC, a state known as Au Lac was formed At the time, the society of Au Lac began to

be divided into social classes However, the little country was struggling in wars against the feudal rulers coming from the North In the year 111 BC, Au Lac lost to Qing dynasty, beginning a ruling period that prolonged for more than one thousand years until 938 AD There was no written evidence about the education implemented in Viet Nam during this period The main policy of Qing dynasty was to rule by laws and to boycott Confucianism After the Han defeated the Qing, the emperor Gao (Liu Bang) decided that Confucianism was the official state ideology and education During this period, the feudal rulers from the North carried out educational activities in Viet Nam in order to disseminate Confucianism Consequently, Viet Nam became a Confucius state

Confucianism is a moral-political doctrine whose contents have been developed and modified through different periods by different authors The doctrine was first developed in order to rescue the Chou dynasty, which was declining at the time due to the fights for power among the vassal states The idea behind Confucianism was to point out the right order and routine of different types of relationship in the feudal society Gradually, it became the sole tool of the government used for maintaining and reinforcing the society as well as for training state officials (mandarins)

The Northern feudal rulers accompanied the spread of Confucianism into Viet Nam

The Vietnamese feudal class also took advantage of Confucianism in order to maintain the social ranking order with a characteristic specific to Viet Nam that was to fight for the existence of an independent country adjacent to the larger China When entered Viet Nam, Confucianism was also adapted selectively to suit with traditional Vietnamese values such as integrating the loyalty to the king and the love to the country (patriotism)

Confucianism has helped pushing the establishment and survival of the centralized feudal government as well as maintains the independent Viet Nam against the foreign invasions

On the other hand, it does have some weak points in its contents, such as the lack of humanity and practicality In addition, the methods proposed in Confucianism are rather apelike and dogmatic, limiting creativity and development These weak points resulted in the dragging slowness in development of societies that follow Confucianism The bad vestiges of Confucianism still exist nowadays

In Confucianism based system of education the government focused only on the examinations to select mandarins Except the royal school, most schools were organized and funded by people People at local communities took care for teacher recruitment and

supporting their life, school arrangements and so on So that education in these times was in

fact private education

Buddhism-Based Education

Buddhism is a great and long-standing religion in the world, profoundly influencing many Asian countries It is spiritual and has a high level of humanity It entered Viet Nam by different routes, including two main schools, Hinayana and Mahayana, and was accepted in such a selective way that suited with Vietnamese culture and customs A system of temples

were constructed everywhere in Vietnam for the purpose of dissemination of Buddhism and its teachings

Buddhism helped contribute to the education in morality and spirituality for Vietnamese people

Educational activities of Buddhism have been taken place mainly in Buddhist temples and public places of communities Most of the Buddhist temples in Viet Nam were constructed by the private people’s contributions and labor on a voluntarily basis Therefore, Buddhism has a close relationship with the people, and in turn, it helps contribute to the educational system of Vietnam through every different period of the history

The above mentioned contributions of Buddhism to Vietnamese culture and education were significant However these contributions have not been evaluated in an appropriate and

complete manner

The goal of Buddhism is to disseminate its philosophical doctrine to people in order to educate them: “practice in temple, practice at home and practice in the heart” The principal thought underlying Buddhism is to abandon ambition, which is the root of evil, and to understand the equality between human being and other living creatures The principle of living and acting is that “mild behavior leads to good luck “

Buddhism based education was private education

2.1.3 Education in the Period of Feudal Independence (938 to 1884)

From the victory headed by Ngo Quyen on the Bach Dang River, which defeated the Southern Han army in the year 938, Viet Nam started the period of independence

Having gained independence, Vietnamese feudal governments realized that Confucianism suited with the regulation of the power-centralized feudal system

Consequently, they considered Confucianism as the national ideology and implemented the Confucianism-based education for the whole population

However, while Buddhist teachings have a greater influence on the working-class people due to its values in humanity and careness for them, Confucianism on the other hand mainly focused upper groups and scorned working-class people

The second characteristic is that the government mainly managed examinations and

opened schools only for students who came from upper groups, while the real learning

process was organized by the people in private schools

The third characteristic is that the government associated the appointment of the feudal mandarins with examination results In this way, the society gave too much of prominence to learning and exam-passing for becoming a mandarin, while it made little concern about broadening intellectual standards of the people and about applying knowledge

to practice This characteristic effects today society wherein some people set promotion as the goal for their education

From the limited number of remaining historical documents, it is indicated that the goal of education of this period was to diffuse the dogmas of the feudal system and to produce a class of feudal intellectuals and mandarins who would then serve for the system

Being conscious for building an independent country, the Vietnamese feudal class focused on developing education and respecting talented people for recruitment However, public schools were only for children of royal members or mandarins because of the limited

resources of the country School organization and teaching activities were mainly taken care

by the people. The government organized and managed closely the system of examinations for selecting mandarins The desire to become a mandarin then stimulated the whole

population, regardless of the young or the old, to invest into education, and hence, it created a tradition of the eagerness for learning and careness for examination of the Vietnamese

Especially, the feudal government implemented a policy for education that education was open to everyone regardless of the young or the old, and that everyone can participate the examinations Nonetheless, there were limitations such as women or children of actresses/singers had no position in learning or being appointed as governmental officials

2.1.4 Education in the Period of French Domination (1884-1945)

While the feudal system was declining and becoming helpless in defending and developing the country, the French invaded Viet Nam and step-by-step took over Viet Nam

Their colonial mission was to exploit and plunder To implement this mission, they needed to develop a French-like system of education in Viet Nam and other countries of Indochina For developing a full educational system, the French system had to compete with the system of Confucianism based education that had been with the Vietnamese society for more than one thousand years The backward and conservative Confucianism-based education system was then terminated

The French system of education in Vietnam was established, developed and accomplished from primary education to higher education with the orientation on science and profession, that motivated the education of Viet Nam to follow the common trend of global development

Together with the French domination in Viet Nam, a new writing system of Vietnamese language based on Latin alphabet gradually replaced the old one based on Chinese characters The new system was created by western missionaries more than some hundreds years before and has many advantages in disseminating culture and education

The policy of French administration was to control education system to serve their

colonial mission So they did not encourage the developing of private schools The

characteristic of this period was the domination of public education The private sector was

poorly developed and in most cases it was considered by the French rulers as illegal. For example in the late 19th century and the early 20th century, in Japan and China, large educational renovations had been implemented which directly influenced Viet Nam In Viet Nam, a trend of illegal moving to Japan and China to study and find ways to rescue the country was strongly risen up The famous patriot and revolutionary activist Phan Boi Chau and his supporters initiated “Dong Du” ( Go to the East ) movement and established Dong Kinh Nghia Thuc ( Private School Tokyo ) to train young people preliminary before sending them to Japan

2.1.5 Education in the Period of the Revolution and the War (1945-1975)

Revolutionary education presents a period of significant development in the history of education in Viet Nam During this period education gained new motivation and following new directions for the development

The main characteristics of education in this period are:

- Inherited from the French educational system, which contains high scientific,

technical and academic nature

- Supported by many socialist countries from various aspects, such as educational

contents, curricula, or off-shore studies

- A unified system under the direction of the Vietnamese Communist Party

- In close connection with socio-economic and political directions of Viet Nam

Revolutionary education includes (i) education in the socialist North of Viet Nam, and

(ii) education in the liberated zones of Viet Nam during war time

The goal of education was changing from time to time depending on the revolutionary tasks Generally this goal was to educate young people to be citizens loyal to the new political regime and to have the ability to serve liberation war and to build the country after that

The policies were to provide mass education, firstly illiteracy eradication and basic education; to ensure the equality in education; to link schooling with practical activities; to promote social participation to education

Under the new regime, the education was build on the principle “of people, by people and for people” In accordance with this principle, people contributed to education development in a large scale and in various forms Usually they helped build schools and to support the living of teachers and housing for students

During this period in the North and in liberated zones the education was dominated

by the public institutions But in occupied zones and in the South there was parallelism of public and private education

2.1.6 Education in Vietnam at Present Time (1975 onwards)

In 1975 the Liberation War in the South of Viet Nam had come to a successful end and not long after that Viet Nam was unified The government decided to build socialism in the whole country From 1975 to 1986 Viet Nam followed the Soviet model of socialism and suffered the crisis in economic development To overcome this crisis in 1986 Viet Nam began to transfer from centrally planned, command and subsidized system to the market economy and to implement open policy in foreign relation Thank to this innovation for the