Vietnam has not paid due attention to providing vocational training for school students and this should be addressed immediately without waiting for the planned revision of primary, secondary and high school syllabi, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training Tran Xuan Nhi tells Vietweek. The revision will have vocational training elements embedded in the syllabi for career orientation from an early age. This aims to encourage more students to take the vocational route rather than inclining to the academic route.

Commentary from the British Council Vietnam:

Vietnamese parents, by tradition, prefer for their children to follow the academic route. This has led to the fact that the majority of high school graduates choose to take a higher education at a university at any cost. On the other hand, students currently do not receive career orientation at school. Meanwhile there is a serious lack of quality workers in the labour market. In respond to this need, Vietnam has recently started to enhance the renovation of its vocational training system with priorities given to curriculum design and staff training. International collaboration is one of the key measures for this plan.