Vietnam Education

In 2000, according to estimates, 92% of all children were enrolled in education. However, only two thirds completed five years of education. Especially in the countryside, many children leave school early, but the reasons include the cost of tuition, books and uniforms and the need for money for the family upkeep.

Regionally there are huge differences in some rural areas, only 10 to 15% of children go to school for longer than three years, while in Ho Chi Minh City, 96% of students finish primary school. Only 62.5% of children start school.

About 6% of the population over 15 years are illiterate, illiteracy affects 4.2% of men and 7.7% of women. In Vietnam, there is no compulsory education. Since the training must be paid for and some families do not have enough money, therefore they do not send their children to school.

The primary school goes to 5th Class, the middle school to the 9th, then you have to pass a test to get into the high school for the 10th, 11th and 12th grades. If they fail, they will then sit it again and again. This applies to high school and junior high school (assuming you do not break the training down).

There are state and private universities, the most famous of which are the State University of Ha Noi and the National University of Ho Chi Minh City. To study there you must pass the entry test. By far the most popular foreign language in Vietnam is English.

For reasons that are related to the country’s history and involvement in the former Eastern Bloc, one often meets with people who are French, Russian or German speaking (about 100,000 Vietnamese studied in Germany). Increasingly, they have learned Japanese and Chinese.