Vietnam
In Viet Nam, the Ministry of Education and Training is the lead line ministry to coordinate all ECCD services. In implementation, public preschools for children 3-5 years old are linked to other service sectors, including health, nutrition, social protection. Child protection, for instance, has linkages with sectors of health, nutrition, and education.
Early Learning Development Standards is available to children of age 5 and over 95% of ECCE teachers are trained. There is also a concerted effort via a national ECCD project 2006-2015 to enhance support to disadvantaged children, including construction of kindergartens in difficult areas and ethnic-minority areas.
Improvements in health and nutrition indicators have been made, including DPT3 vaccination coverage and stunting rates, through combined early nutrition supplementation and preschool multi-stage interventions. However, gaps remain as children are less likely to have birth registrations if they reside in remote mountainous areas. Children in rural areas also have higher under-5 mortality rates than those in urban areas.
Challenges
- Coordination among ECD stakeholders.
- Ethnic and disability inequities.
- Emergent ECD in the industrial zones.
Priorities
- Coordination and integration among ECD stakeholders.
- Reduce ethnic, poverty and disability inequities.
- Emergent ECD in the industrial zones, especially for children below three years old.
Ministries in charge
Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) oversees the coordination of ECD programs across ministries. Other ministries implementing ECD include the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), Ministry of Health, Committee for Population, Family and Children responsible for overall child-focused policy, and the Viet Nam Women’s Union which is responsible for parent education.
Key Policies
- Education Law 2005
- Law on Protection, Care and Education for children 2004, Article 5
National ECD Network
National Representative
Ms. Hanh Le Thi Bich
Hanh.lethibich@plan-international.org
Ms. Ly Tran Thi Kim
Ly.ttk@vvob.be
Noteworthy Practices
1. Action research on mother-tongue based bilingual education (MTBBE) for ethnic minority children
Noteworthy aspects:
- Implementation of MTBBE action research in provinces of Viet Nam with three ethnic minority languages. This approach helps ethnic minority children overcome the language barrier by enabling them to first read and write in their mother tongue before learning Vietnamese.
- Achievements: Students are expected to develop bilingualism and bi-literacy by the end of Grade 5 while meeting standards of the national curriculum.
2. Parenting education through Community Learning Centres (CLCs)
Noteworthy aspects:
- An approach to reach disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of young children by enhancing communities’ capacity to promote comprehensive ECCE.
- Achievements: Improving knowledge and skills of parents and caregivers through guides and handbooks raising awareness of communities and policymakers on the importance of ECCD.
3. Pilot project to impact ethnic poor in remote communities
Noteworthy practices:
- Project focuses on 3 poorest provinces in Viet Nam in which 90% of the population was socially and economically disadvantaged ethnic minorities. Project prioritizes expansion of supply and demand for preschool education and services for ethnic poor in rural Viet Nam.
- Achievements: Since 2009, the government has universalized preschool education for all children aged 5. In addition to behavior change in policy and decision makers, the project changed mindsets and practices of villagers through awareness-raising on ECCD’s importance.
Latest Resources
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aliquam at porttitor sem. Aliquam erat volutpat. Donec placerat nisl magna, et faucibus arcu condimentum sed.
