Education in Vietnam, a long tradition

Chinese rulers opened public schools, mainly to train their children to become civil servants for the ruling class and structure... Throughout Chinese domination, the education system

Education In Vietnam

A long tradition

Information from Vietnam’s Education—

The Current Position and Future Prospects Pham Minh Hac, The Gioi Publishers, Hanoi,

1998

Resource—Lesson 4

Centuries of Chinese domination—over 1,000 years

Chinese domination—

111 B.C to 938 A.D.

Chinese rulers opened public schools, mainly to train their children to

become civil servants for the ruling

class and structure

Chinese Rule

Children of nobles were sent to

school to study to a certain level without any examination and then appointed to the position of

mandarin, a public official in the

Chinese Empire.

Chinese Rule

Statues of mandarins—

public officials in the Chinese

Empire

The appointment system was

abolished late in the Chinese

domination and replaced with a

system of examinations for a

doctorate degree.

Outstanding Vietnamese students

were sent to China for examinations.

Throughout Chinese domination, the education system may be called one of

examinations.

Stelae with names, places of birth and achievements of men who received doctorates by examination

Stelae at the Temple of Literature

Chinese Rule

Later, a number of upper class

Vietnamese children were allowed to attend these Chinese schools.

Confucius—in the Temple of Literature

Hanoi

After independence in 938 A.D.,

education was carried out at private and pagoda (temple) schools, but

education was not well-developed

The country was ruled by the King

from Hue—the capital city

1 Private schools managed by the

people themselves at the village and communal level, and

Children of common people were

admitted to two kinds of schools…

2 under the King’s direct

management in the capital city—Hue, and a few at the district level and

provincial level.

“ One-pillar” Pagoda

French Rule (1859-1954)

In mid-19th century, the French

colonialists kept the feudal Confucian education of the previous dynasty.

After 1919, Chinese-like schools and examinations were abolished.

The French Governor's Home in Hanoi

French Rule

The French developed education

“horizontally” by opening elementary schools with the first three grades of primary, not “vertically”.

Schools were modeled after the French

system of education—

Primary schools with only a few grades

were opened in some communes

Primary schools with six grades were

opened in a number of towns

French Rule

Junior secondary schools with four grades were opened in some big

cities.

Senior secondary schools were

opened in Hanoi, Hue and Saigon.

Higher Education began in the 1900s.

In 1908, a number of schools were

merged together to form what was called “universite”.

In 1919, the first preparatory college courses were created to teach

physics, chemistry, and biology.

Also, at the beginning of the 20 th

century…

The French colonial administration

developed a number of specialized

schools.

Most of them were for training of

workers or medium-level technicians.

French Rule

In 1923, a training course for

medical doctors began.

In 1939-40, Indochinese University consisted of schools for law and

agronomy (soil management), and had 582 students

As a result…

especially women and ethnic minority people.

neglected in the curricula.

neglected in the curricula.

—but spoke only of the five countries in French Indochina.

Ho Chi Minh Led The Communist Party In Vietnam

 During 1926-1935, the Vietnam

Association of Youth Revolutionary

Comrades opened courses on

national language.

 In 1930, the Indochinese Communist Party urged “education for the whole people” and condemned the policy of

“horizontal” education (several years only) for laborers and youth.

The spread of the national language and literacy learning was combined with the development of the struggle for independence Slogans were…

 “School for everybody!”

 “Fight against illiteracy!”

 “Spread education!”

In 1945, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam put for forward two pressing

tasks in education…

 To fight against the French educational

policy of enslavement, assimilation of the Vietnamese people, and illiteracy;

 To educate the people against the habits

and customs inherited from the old

regime and turn the Vietnamese into a

valiant, patriotic, labor-loving nation,

worthy of independence.

The Communist Party Headquarters

in Hanoi

The politbureau, the executive committee, met under Ho’s home

Ho Chi Minh’s simple home

The promotion of education became

an integrated part of the

revolutionary cause.

“An ignorant nation is a weak

one Therefore, I propose that a campaign against illiteracy be launched.”

President Ho Chi Minh

On October 4, 1945, Ho appealed to:

 the entire people to fight against the

lack of education;

 the illiterates to regard learning as a

right and obligation;

 the literates to teach illiterates as a

duty;

 the youth to march in this work.

There was a nationwide campaign

against illiteracy in Vietnam.

 From September 8, 1945-August 8, 1946 75,000 classes were opened with 96,000 teachers and over 2.5 million pupils

 From 1946 to 1954

10 million people learned to read and write

Children are still reminded today that Ho Chi Minh encouraged

learning…

The work did not stop at learning to read and write.

After 1945, the government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam continued to develop general education, secondary

vocational education and

higher education

On April 30, 1975, the Vietnam

People’s Army liberated Saigon and

unified the country.

 The demarcation line at the 17th parallel had divided South Vietnam and North

Vietnam in 1954 and had created two

educational systems.

Following Reunification of North and

1975