Speaking at the ceremony, MOLISA Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan emphasised that the vocational training system has ironed out snags and made great strides in developing a network of vocational schools across the country.

From just 30 schools at the beginning, the network has expanded to all provinces and cities with 367 vocational colleges and schools, 864 vocational centres and over 1,000 other vocational establishments. About 1 to 1.5 million workers receive training every year, increasing the total number of trained people to 26 percent. About 70 percent of trainees can find jobs with stable incomes after they finish courses.

There are now various training models such as high-level training and training for farmers, young people, ethnic people, discharged soldiers, exported guest workers and disadvantaged people. They have helped accelerate economic restructuring, generate jobs and maintain social stability.

The Minister, however, noted that vocational training has not yet met the increasing hi-tech labour demands of the country’s socio-economic development and global integration. She asked the department to improve the quality of vocational training, reform curricula and teaching methods, increase investment in vocational schools, and expand the training scale to supply high-quality workforce for industrial parks, key economic regions, and for export.

Nguyen Tien Dung, head of the General Department of Vocational Training pointed out challenges Vietnam will face in the coming years, and stressed that human resource training is one of the decisive factors in developing agriculture-based Vietnam into an industrial nation by 2020.

To meet the target, he said the vocational training sector will have to train at least 60-65 percent of the workforce.

At the ceremony, Minister Ngan handed out certificates of merit to 40 individuals in recognition of their contributions to the country’s vocational education.