Green light for vocational schools in large enterprises

Hanoi (VNA) - The Government has allowed the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affair (MoLISA) to establish vocational training colleges at businesses with more than 10,000 workers.

It is also allowing MoLISA to set up similar schools at lower levels at businesses with less than 5,000 workers. All training facilities under the new agreement are required to have an exclusive department to study demands of businesses in order to develop relevant training programmes.

Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan has asked MoLISA to cooperate with the Ministry of Education and Training and other agencies to build a labour forecasting centre and a website on the country's education and training sector.

There are currently around 2,200 vocational training facilities around the country, including 70 vocational training colleges, which have reportedly so far failed to meet the real demands of employers.

The country at present has more than 240,000 businesses employing 9 million workers. The number of businesses is expected to increase to 500,000 by 2010 and is hoped to generate jobs for another 2.7 million people.

MoLISA Deputy Minister Dam Huu Dac has warned of a serious shortage of high-skilled workers when a survey conducted in 2007 showed that trained workers accounted for just 35.4 percent of the country's workforce.