INTRODUCTORY The first course of the new school year which started two weeks ago brought eagernees and happiness for every students After finishing the first year , we have grown up in both life and study English exercises helped us to raise English skills So we got good result in last course In this course , we were charged an interesting exercise about social and economic problem These are practical problems which needs concernedness of every one in social On the occasion of new school year , we want to dicuss about education subject ,one of the most realistic problems in social Though in the past few year the education sector has gianed some initial successes in raising the quality of teaching and learning standars , we stiil see qite a lot of problems across the sector.So,we searched and gathered much informations about education problem We worked in group of four member Each person searched her own subject and wrote her own summary about that subject.After that , we worked togerther to dicuss about the realistic problem It was a really interesting exercise Our group include four girl members We hope that our assignment wiilbe got good participation.We are: SUMMARIES 1.The Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Education builed the campaign to help pupils in disadvantaged areas The campaign attracted teacher and students’ participation by collecting in dispensable things for study It will last till Octorber, 2008 2.At ethnic minorities ,writing and speaking Vietnamese are too difficult for ethnic children to learn The Ministry of Education and Training encouraged one method that teachs Vietnamese to ethnic children at kindergarten school Childern can understand Vietnamese better after training course 3.A new campaign which called “Friendly school , active students” was built to reduce to the smallest possible number of drop-outs Besides, to concern oneself with the student’s living condition will help them to have chance of studying 4.Can newly-graduating engineers work as experience staffs? While business complain that graduates are only good in theory , universities against that business don’t welcome students to assigned them practical work However , one realistic sollution isn’t found by both business and universities 5.At “The School Year of Information and Technology Application”, delegates include experts , educators and officials dicussed about using ICT in education The number of internet users have increased in few near years Applying ICT in education will bring better educational environment for students around the country 6.More and more universities are founded and many problems are appearing.Universities lacks of good lucturers and facilities Deputy of Ministy MOET said that qualification of lecturers must be up graded Besides increasing the number of universities,rasing the education quality is also urgent problem 7.Doctor Pham Thi Kim Anh , from Hanoi University recounted the bad attitude of students which is from poor education and upbringing.She gave the solution that needs co-ordination of teachers and parents in teaching life skills and fostering personalities.However,to improve the quality of teachers is also one more important problem 8.Books are so necessary for teachers and students But now teachers and students use Internet to search information and time Because school library is not enough to server people about quality, quantity and disversity , government should invest both books and skills of librarian.One more thing is that infrastructure in library need to modernise 9.High tuition fee is a big problem with majority of students However , to increase tuition fee is unavoidable Opinions of some students showed that they can’t effort to pay such as high tuition fee .So, the government should have solutions to control this staus Universities also should find other financial sources to reduce the fee 10.In this new school year , the Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan introduced four new projects : kindergaten , system school , teacher’s quality and new structure.he also hoped that the number of student drop-outs will minimising.Besides, the ministry also encouraged teacher to change the method of teaching - SUPPORTING STUDENTS IN DISADVANTAGED AREAS The Ministry of Education an Training and the Vietnam Education Trade Union have called for support from the whole education sector to help pupils in mountainous , remote and poor areas, especially those in provinces hit by the recent floods The campaign aims at to collect clothes , books , textbooks , learning tools and raise money to help the students in those areas Currently, students in muontainous , remote and undeveloped areas , face many difficuties Some students in those regions lack warm clothes , books, textbooks and necessary learning tools In particular, the floods at the beginning of August caused great human suffering and property damage in several Northern Mountainous Provinces According to a report by Education Trade Union in Lao Cai , Yen Bai , Ha Giang , Phu Tho and Quang Ninh provinces , one teacher and 19 pupils dided or went missing in the flood , several houses belonging to teachers were destroyed , 89 teacher’s houses were heavily damaged , many classrooms were destroyed , hundreds of pupils lost clothes , books , textbooks and learning tools.All right before the new school year To help pupils in disavantaged regions , especially in flood-hit areas, the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Education Trade Union have called for all teacher s , educational workers , student in economically advantaged areas , organizations , businesses and individuals to respone the campaign The campaign will create better conditions for students in these regions in their material and spiritual lives and help them in their studies , said Nguyen Thien Nhan , Deputy Mininster and Minister of Education and Training.The campaign will be carried out from the beginning of this new school year till Octorber , 2008 2- BID TO BOOST ETHNIC PUPILS ‘ LITERACY The move is expected to facilitate ethnic minority children’s learning as many of them still cannot read and write Vietnamese fluently after completing the first grade, despite the Ethnic children at a Ministry of Education and Training’s efforts at primary school in A Pu improving education in rural areas Sung Commune, Bat Xat District, in the northern mountainous province of Lao Cai, learn Vietnamese For the school year 2007-08, 40 rural provinces recorded low rates of learning the Vietnamese language after the first grade, according to a report released at a recent conference held by the ministry Nearly 22 per cent of students who had completed the first grade in northern Ha Giang Province could not read or write Vietnamese, with 17 per cent in Dac Nong Province, 16.8 per cent in Gia Lai Province in the Central Highlands and 15.3 per cent in central Ninh Thuan.Nguyen Vinh Hien, deputy education minister, said textbooks, which are all in Vietnamese, and teaching methods were unsuited to ethnic minority students.Some academic content of the textbooks are too difficult, he said.Vietnam has 53 ethnic minorities with a population of 11 million About 70 per cent of ethnic children cannot understand and speak Vietnamese before they attend primary school The Ministry of Education and Training has told provinces and cities to use ethnic languages to teach Vietnamese to five-year old ethnic children at kindergarten schools or offer a two – to three-month Vietnamese training course for ethnic children before they enter the first grade.Using students’ ethnic languages to teach them in the first grade and both languages at primary school is one method encouraged by the ministry Hoang Thu Huong, an official from the ministry’s pre-school education department, said the method of teaching Vietnamese to ethnic children in kindergarten had been successful in Gia Lai Province."Ethnic children who learn Vietnamese in kindergarten can follow the teaching curriculum of the first grade," Huong said.But many of the children did not attend school, she said Mong Ky Slay, head of the ministry’s ethnic minority education department, said there was a shortage of teachers who can master their students’ ethnic languages Using both languages had not been successful in general because classes can contain children from three to five ethnic minorities.The ministry would decide on one approach after surveying results in various provinces Nguyen Van Dong, head of the Gia Lai Province’s primary education, said provincial teacher training colleges should offer ethnic minority languages to teachers Only five per cent of primary teachers nationwide are ethnic minorities Tran Thi Tham, deputy director of the Lao Cai Province’s department of education and training, said teachers needed to learn the ethnic languages of their students.Lao Cai Province had also sent its teachers to Tay Bac University to learn the H’mong language, she said.Vietnam has only four universities – Tay Bac, Tay Nguyen, Quy Nhon and Can Tho – that teach ethnic minority languages (Source: Viet Nam News) 3- SCHOOLS BRACE FOR AN EARLY START While students nationwide are waiting for the first drum beat that officially starts the new school year, the education and training sector has set out new targets to improve schooling Students and their parents look for necessary textbooks and stationaries for the new coming school year The new targets aim to eliminate manipulation of exam results, and to keep students in school, reducing the number of drop-outs Minister of Education and Training, Nguyen Thien Nhan, said the education sector should focus society's attention on the benefit of learning, to provide a favourable learning environment for students across the country "I once visited Tra Vinh Province, and local authorities told me that poor families could not produce enough to eat without the help of their children, if we could provide them 10 kilos of rice a month, the children would not have to farm work and could attend school," said Nhan, adding, "Some children have to travel great distances to go to school, we should provide transport to help them." "We must help students in accordance with their own situation and local conditions," he said In the 2008-09 school year, Nhan said the Ministry of Education and Training would launch a new campaign; "Friendly school, active students" The new campaign aims to develop clean and green schools, and will help teachers develop a creative curriculum where students can enjoy healthy activities in conjunction with school work "Through the campaign, we believe that the number of students dropping out of schools will reduce next year," Nhan said He noted that the Ministry would continue the fight against cheating in examinations by publishing information on localities where cheating is widespread.According to Nhan, 2008-09 school year will be a break-through year in terms of applying IT (Source: Viet Nam News) 4- BUSINESSES THINK LITTLE OF TRAINING QUALITY According to the Ministry of Education and Training, 45-62% of students can get jobs within three months after they graduate from university or college, and 90-100% of students can get jobs within two years Vietnamese students are very good in theory and bad in practice Only 60% of polled students said that they could find jobs related to the branch in which were trained, while 30% said that their jobs are not closely related to their specialty field, and the remaining 10% said they worked in completely different fields Businesses complain that graduates lack a lot of skills necessary for work, like foreign language skills, informatics and soft skills They said that students of the modern age prove to be dynamic and eager to learn, but they still have a lot of shortcomings Especially, they lack professional skills and get confused when applying knowledge in practice According to Phan Tri Dung, Chairman of Petech Company, MOET believes that Vietnamese students are very good in theory and bad in practice However, Dung said that he does not agree with the viewpoint It is true that Vietnamese graduates are not good in practice, but they are even worse in theory, Dung said A lot of companies which employ new graduates have to retrain students so they can carry out their jobs According to statistics, only 20% of newly-graduating engineers can absorb such training programmes because their theoretic knowledge is far from sufficient Currently, at universities, students learn only to pass tests and write graduate theses Dung also said that graduates lack creativeness In order to prove this, he cited an example Vietnamese students always get high prizes at international competitions, but the number of inventions of Vietnamese students is 100 times lower than those of foreign students 5- ONLINE CONFERENCE URGES EDUCATION REFORM WITH ICT Participants discussed issues related to strengthening the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) on education and administration management as part of Decree 64, which was issued by the 10 Government last year Candidates attend the National Non-professional Information Technology (IT) Competition in the southern province of Can Tho The Government wants stronger IT usage in education and administration management Representatives from foreign companies and international organisations shared the experiences from other parts of the world.Delegates from education agencies nationwide reported on their progress, methods of incorporating ICT into the pedagogy, and proposed changes to the project How to use open source software for educational purposes was also a hot topic Following recent instructions from the ministry, educational agencies 11 and departments will be equipped with ADSL so video conferences, web conferences and audio conference systems can be used to host online events for educators The ministry also called on its sub-divisions to provide email addresses with the domain name of their particular departments to facilitate management and training This academic year, priority will go to seniors to be assigned email addresses with the department’s domain name to get graduation updates and vocational guidance Other ways to use open sources in education and elearning were also brought up The application of new ways of thinking about education in universities in HCM City and Ha Noi kickstarted a new vitality for education reform around the country One expert noted the concept of e-learning is by now familiar with Vietnamese educators Using ICT in education now is fortuitous as the country’s number of internet users has shot up Some 15 million people are on line this year, according to a report from Vu Minh Tri, head of Yahoo! Southeast Asia’s representative office In two years, that number will double Students account for 37 per cent of internet users in the country.The conference was transmitted to education and training departments across the country so that attendees would not need to host other meetings to disseminate information to their staff, said Quach Tuan Ngoc, head of the Department of Information and Technology under 12 the Ministry of Education and Training The development and application of ICT was an essential part of reforming the national education system, he said.The Government wiould foot the bill to train 30,000 principals and teachers to use ICT Meetings and trainings via satellite TV would also save money, he added This year, the Ministry of Education and Training will organise contests for educators applying ICT to their teaching methodologies to encourage familiarisation with the new technology (Source: VNS) 6- MORE UNIVERSTIES , MORE TRAINING PROBLEMS According to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), the galloping increase in the number of universities has led to low training quality at many universities MOET, for the first time, held a conference for newly opened universities and colleges several days ago Problems exist 13 According to the University and Post-university Department under MOET, as of August 2008, Vietnam had 160 universities and 209 junior colleges, gathering 1.6mil students, which meant 188 students per every 10,000 people In the period from 1998-2004, Vietnam only saw three new non-state universities and three junior colleges During that time, 25 colleges were upgraded into universities, while 15 vocational schools were upgraded into colleges Meanwhile, in the short period from 2005-2008, Vietnam saw 20 new universities established, one state-owned and 19 private-run ones Since 2005, MOET has upgraded 28 colleges into universities and 86 vocational schools into colleges According to Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan, the network of universities and colleges has been developing too rapidly while Vietnam still does not have extensive resources Meanwhile, Tran Ba Giao, Deputy Chief Inspector of MOET, said that a lot of problems were found in universities during recent inspections Lecturers are seriously lacking in newly upgraded universities Phu Yen and Pham Van Dong universities only have two lecturers with doctorates The numbers of permanent lecturers at universities in reality prove to be much lower than reported numbers Van Xuan Technology College reported 14 that it had 20 doctors, 105 MAs, but the payroll only showed one doctor and MAs Phu Xuan University enrolls students for finance and banking but it has only one lecturer in this field – with a bachelor’s degree Quality the big problem According to MOET, Vietnam will need 386 universities and junior colleges by 2010 and 410 by 2015 The figure will be 600 by 2020: 225 universities and 375 colleges As of August 2008, Vietnam had 369 universities and colleges, which means that Vietnam needs to expand the university network and upgrade training capacity by three-fold in order to ensure enough room for 4.5mil students Deputy Minister of MOET Banh Tien Long said that the ministry is now focusing on upgrading training quality by settling the problem of lack of lecturers Long said that every year, MOET will send 3% of lecturers at junior colleges to doctoral training courses, 20% of lecturers to master’s training courses The figures will be 10% and 15%, respectively, for universities Deputy Prime Minister Nhan said that the establishment of new universities and colleges will be slowed down, while new universities will not be set up in urban areas to avoid land-related problems 15 He added that the state will promulgate policies to support newly set up universities For example, in the first five years of operation, universities will not have to pay tax, while they will pay 5% in tax in the 6-9 th years, while the full tax of 10% will be imposed as of the 10th year of operation MOET will promulgate regulations about the qualifications of lecturers Those who cannot meet the requirements set in the regulations will not be able to teach at universities (Source: TBKTV 7- POOR EDUCATION BLAMED FOR HIGH CHEATING RATE 16 Many teachers had not placed much importance on improving the bad attitude of students, Kim Anh told the conference which attracted many domestic The survey revealed that education experts and teachers nationwide 85 per cent of students did not study and in stead copied from other students, 36 per cent tried to bribe teachers to get higher marks and 21 per cent broke exam rules by helping their friends However, Kim Anh said the first mistake concerning the problem was made by families, many of whom gave their children a poor upbringing."Many parents, after finishing work, simply turn on the television set or computer for their children in stead of talking to them or playing with them." Kim Anh said this had led to many children being detached from the real world, opting for thrills from violent games, leading to the fact that they don’t all their studies.The doctor also blamed the problem on a lack of education on morality from primary to university level and less attention to teaching life skills and fostering good personalities among students A poor education system and a lack of discipline have been blamed for the high rate of students cheating during examinations, said Kim Anh, 17 highlighting a survey made by Education and Training Ministry inspectors that included 1,830 students in 2006 The survey revealed that 85 per cent of students did not study and in stead copied from other students, 36 per cent tried to bribe teachers to get higher marks and 21 per cent broke exam rules by helping their friends.Principal of Dinh Tien Hoang Private Senior Secondary School in Hanoi, Nguyen Tung Lam, said students should actually be observed more by teachers rather than educated en masse by imposing and filling their heads with boring and hard lessons To make lessons on morality, civil education and law effective, Director of Dong Nai Education and Training Department Le Minh Hoang suggested teachers put practical examples on the issue in lessons and pose ethical and moral problems for students to solve themselves This would help them learn about the value of honesty and orient their behaviour in a better way (Source: Viet Nam News) 8- BARE SHELVES HAUNT SCHOOL LIBARIES Participants at a conference on promoting school library operations in anticipation of the up-coming school year said they looked more and more like deserted book warehouses According to Le Duc Ke, deputy director of the HCM City Book and School Equipment Co., the number of people using libraries is diminishing, even though studying there improves teaching quality and students’ selfeducation 18 A lack of books and poor facilities are to blame for low turnout from both students and teachers.The annual budget for a school library’s book collection, newspapers and equipment was only VND6-10 million (US$364606), said Nguyen Thi Kim Nhung, an officer at the City’s District Education and Training Office Conference participants said such a small budget cannot support many library activities, let alone upgrade infrastructure.According to Ke, the service at libraries is poor as most librarians are simply bookkeepers, untrained in the skills and knowledge needed to help people find what they are looking for Moreover, people now just access the internet for information to save time and effort.Several ways to improve libraries and turnout were discussed at the conference.Nhung advocated for boosting the quantity, quality and diversity of books to bring people in Increased Government funding for libraries is badly needed to modernise infrastructure and train library workers For their part, libraries should make finding information easier by having book titles and locations readily available.Schools in Cu Chi and Thu Duc districts reported more foot traffic when they applied those measures (Source: Viet Nam News) 19 9- NON – STATE UNION BURDENED BY HIGHER TUITION FEES The HCM city Technical and Technology People – founded University has released an anouncement about tutionfor the first se mes ter of the 20082009 academic year , according to which , the lowest rate is VND4mil/semester, while the rates for ‘hot’ study branches like interior design and fashion design are VND.25mil/semester, an increase of VND1mil over last year A studen of the Information Technology Faculty of the university related that three years ago , when he entered the university, he had to pay VND 1.9 mil/semester The tuition has been increasing steadily since then , and now he has to pay VND 4.1mil/ semester Hong Bang People – founded University on August 22 posted a notice about new fees Students of technology study branches have to pay VND 6.98 mil/ year , while those whole study multimedia communications have to pay VND 8.98 mil/ year Hung Vuong , Van Hieu , Ton Duc Thang people – founded universities all have announced considerable increases in tuition fees However , the above increases are insignificant compared with the tuition increases announced by the HCM City Finance Economics University A lot of students were shocked when they heared that the tuition for the first year would be $ 2,500 / year , and would increase by 20 $100/year Moreover ,an official from the Training Division of the university said that students have to pay $2000 for learning English during four years of studying As such ,students have to pay $3000 a year on average , or VND 50 mil, for their studies at the university Explaining about the required VND 10 mil/year tuition , Dang Kim Nhung , Deputy Headmaster of Thang Long University , said that the level is not high if noting that students can study in very good conditions Nhung said that from this academic year , Students will study in a new building with good material facilities Hoang, a third- year student at the HCM City Technique and Technology People – founded University , has to rush the cafộ near the university every afternoon after lessons.Hoang receives VND 50,000 after working at the cafe from pm to 10 pm Hoever ,he said , the money is not enough for him to pay his tuition , which has increased by VND 1mil per semester 10- HIGH HOPES FOR NEW SCHOOL YEAR 21 Four new projects will be implemented this school year The first will bring all five-year-old children into kindergarten During the project’s duration, until 2010, the focus will be on improving school facilities, teacher quality and In this school year, the children’s meals Ministry of Education and Training will introduce new measures in an effort to reduce the number of student dropouts The second will be to create a system of specialised kindergartens and a system of boarding schools for ethnic students The third is to organise refreshment courses for 10,000 school head masters and to increase the number of qualified teachers across the nation And finally, the fifth project will reform the existing financial structure of the sector, including tuition fees to make them more in line with reality In this school year, the Ministry of Education and Training will introduce new measures in an effort to reduce the number of student dropouts Last school year, the number of dropouts was lower than that of the previous school year But for this school year, the measures will be varied from one locality to another, in order to meet their individual needs For example, if they don’t have rice to eat, we shall provide them with rice If 22 they live far away from the school, we call provide them with bicycles For students in the mountainous regions who cannot ride bikes to school, we should build classes closer to their homes In the long run, we should create a healthy study environment for the students and good facilities for them Also this school year, the ministry will continue campaigning against examination cheats If untoward behaviour is found in any locality, the cheaters will be publicised nationwide In addition, we’ll encourage teachers to apply the student-centred teaching methodology This new approach should make students more active in their studies Source: Vietnamnet.bridge DICUSSION In our assignment, we brought 10 education news.Each new showed one educational problem which is needed to sovle.All of news are interesting and realistic but we choosed the most important piece of news to dicuss.It’s “Poor education blamed for high chesting rate” new In this new ,we were known about doctor Kim Anh’s opinon.She is from Hanoi Teachers’ Training University.At a recent conference titled Moral Education for students , she gave her opinion about bad attitude of students It is the most important so it influnces on each students’ life.He can become a good person or not ,which depens on his skill life However , many parents don’t concern enough to their children One happy meal is 23 better than sum of money which children can get from their parent Besides ,Educayion in school also plays important role in developing a person’s characteristic But poor education isn’t effective With boring and hard lessons , students are future of the country and they need concernedness of both government and family We are agree with Kim Anh’s opinion and hope that there will have solutions to improve educational qualify Now, country’s development is estimated by educational development.Through that new, we hope that we showed important problem of education.When the education has concernedness of all members in social , our country will develop all-sidedly and firmly / 24 CONCLUSION Education quality is one of the decisive factors for the advancement and development of the society.So,student need have healthy life , including building a healthy education environment in every school and tightening coordination among families , local authorities , schools In our assignment ,we showed many education problems must be solved.With the assignment , we improved skills like analysing, synthetizing, working in group When we were researching this detail, we knew much more information about the education and social.Government need to have real education reform in order to improve educational quality at all levels , from kindergarten to tertiary schooling 25 ... VNS) 6- MORE UNIVERSTIES , MORE TRAINING PROBLEMS According to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), the galloping increase in the number of universities has led to low training quality. .. teacher’s quality and new structure.he also hoped that the number of student drop-outs will minimising .Besides, the ministry also encouraged teacher to change the method of teaching - SUPPORTING STUDENTS. .. THINK LITTLE OF TRAINING QUALITY According to the Ministry of Education and Training, 4 5-6 2% of students can get jobs within three months after they graduate from university or college, and 9 0-1 00%