Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung answered questions from National Assembly deputies about students not really taking vocational training seriously.

On the morning of June 6, at the question and answer session of the 5th Session of the 15th National Assembly, delegate Huynh Thi Anh Suong (Deputy Head of the Quang Ngai Delegation) asked Minister of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung to provide a plan for developing vocational education. "What are those policies, when will they be implemented, when will vocational education become a level of national education?", the female delegate questioned.

Responding to questions from delegates, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung said that the National Assembly has passed the Law on Higher Education, the Law on Education and the Law on Vocational Training. The current vocational training enrollment scale is about 2 million students, while 5 years ago, an average of 500,000 students were recruited each year. Of these 2 million students, about 25% are intermediate level students, 26% are college level students (in previous years, college level students accounted for only 5-10%).

However, vocational education is not large in scale and its quality needs to be improved; the system of policies and laws that provide incentives and encouragement for students to enter vocational schools is not extensive. The majority of vocational school students do not or have difficulty in pursuing higher education; their family circumstances are difficult.

Currently, ethnic minority students are exempted from vocational training fees and given priority in finding jobs; advanced students are provided with free high-quality training; and businesses are connected to find jobs.

"The number of students who study vocational courses according to their wishes is not large. Meanwhile, the majority of vocational students after graduation have stable jobs, up to 85%, this is very encouraging," said Mr. Dung.

Also related to the issue of vocational human resource training, delegate Nguyen Thi Ha (Bac Ninh delegation) pointed out the current situation of low labor quality in Vietnam compared to other countries in the region and the world.

"How does the Minister assess the development of the labor market and when will the quality of Vietnam's human resources approach that of other countries in the region?", Ms. Ha asked.

Responding to this content, Minister Dao Ngoc Dung said that by the first quarter, the number of people participating in the labor market from the age of 15 was 51.4 million. However, the number of skilled workers is still low. The number of trained workers is more than 70%, but the number of people with degrees and certificates is only 26.4%. This rate is low compared to developed countries.

According to Mr. Dung, when investors come to Vietnam, they often ask about infrastructure and high-quality human resources. Infrastructure is the whole development process, but they are concerned about high-quality human resources, especially in priority industries.

Therefore, the Government has issued Resolution 06 on developing the labor market in a modern, flexible, effective and sustainable direction to integrate with the general trend. This Resolution outlines 9 groups of basic solutions from awareness, policy development, and implementation.

Ha Cuong