Call to reform job training

Hanoi (VNA) - Vietnam must create a national standard for vocational training to fit in with the regional framework, Nguyen Tien Dung, director general of the General Department of Vocational Training, said on April 13.

Dung was speaking in Hanoi on the first day of a training course that is part of
a project to develop national qualification and certification in ASEAN.

During the five-day course, 25 department specialists, representatives of vocational
schools and enterprises will work with international experts from GTZ, Inwent, a
capacity-building company.

"They will be vital to building a future framework for Vietnam ," said Dung.

He said there was a lack of planning and conceptual thinking in both individual
ASEAN countries and in ASEAN as a bloc. As a result, the National Qualification
Framework would be a prerequisite for developing a trans-national or even regional
labour market.

The project, organised by the Ministry of Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs
and Inwent, will strengthen ASEAN integration.

With similar projects in Laos and Indonesia , the three countries could take
the lead in creating a regional framework, said Joe Wagner, Inwent senior
consultant.

He said there were many kinds of qualifications for vocational training in Vietnam
, but they were contradictory.

The new framework could act as skills recognition and certification for Vietnam
since there was no national qualification, said Wagner.

According to a World Bank survey, 60 percent of graduates from vocational schools in
Vietnam must be retrained on the job.

Most enterprises retrained graduates because they lack practical knowledge, said
Nguyen Duc Tri from the Vietnam Institute of Science and Education.

Tri said the small budget for vocational training was the main cause of low quality
vocational education and workers in Vietnam .
Vietnam has built 48 vocational standards for 48 occupations, but there was
still a long way to go as there were 300 occupations in Vietnam , said
Tri.-Enditem