Viet Nam: Progress made in reducing out of school children. Yet, more effort needed to accelerate education for these children

According to this study, the percentage of ethnic minority children who have never attended school or who dropped out (out of school children) in 2014 was significantly less than in 2009. The Khmer and the Mong made significant progress over the five-year period, but they still had the highest out-of-school rates of all the ethnic minority groups. The study also showed a large disparity in the out-of-school rates for the poorest and the richest households, and the difference increased with the level of education. For the 5-year-olds, the percentage of out-of-school children from the poorest households was 3 times higher than those from the richest households. This difference increased to 5.5 times higher for the children of primary school age and 10 times higher for the children of lower secondary school age. Children of primary and lower secondary school age in rural areas were more disadvantaged than those in urban areas in all the regions, especially the children in the rural parts of the mountainous Northern Midlands and the Central Highlands. Migrant groups consistently perform worse than non-migrant groups and the difference also increases with age. Migrant families have a higher rate of out of school children aged 5 than that of non-migrant families, specifically at 1.2 times at the age of 5, 1.6 times at primary school age and 1.7 times at lower secondary age.

The 2016 Report on Out-of-school Children: Viet Nam country study" is the updated version of "the Report on Out-of-school Children: Viet Nam country study 2013" published by Ministry of Education and Training. Following the guidance of the Out-of-School Children Conceptual and Methodological Framework (CMF) initiated by UNICEF and UNESCO Institute for Statistics, the "Out of School Children: Viet Nam's Study" has been carried out by the Ministry of Education and Training with technical support from UNICEF Viet Nam. The study looks at the situation of out-of-school between the age of 5 and 14 years old, and the children attending primary and lower secondary school but at risk of dropping out. It analyzes barriers and bottlenecks from both the demand side – children and their parents and the supply side including education system as well as other related agencies at all levels. Demand side economic barriers are associated with poverty which restricts their affordability of educational costs. Supply side barriers concern bottlenecks related to infrastructure and resources, teachers, education management and other systemic issues such as learning programme, data system, governance, capacity and financing mechanism. It also proposes recommendations to remove those barriers.

"Viet Nam has made significant progress in universalisation of primary and lower secondary education and has achieved MDGs in education. The country has commited to the Sustainable Development Goals in Education. In this context, this report provides evidence that help improve policy, legistlation and education managment to overcome the barriers and ensure that the right to education is realized for all children", said Ms. Nguyen Thi Nghia Vice Minister of Educaiton and Training.

"Given the disparities that remain, I strongly encourage the Ministry of Education and Training, provincial Departments of Education and Training, related ministries and development partners to make the best use of this valuable dataset and to translate the analysis into critical policy revisions, targeted management actions and improved practices in public finance management in education to reduce education costs and address other barriers in order to accelerate access to inclusive education for those disadvantaged groups of children who lag behind as evidenced in the study report", said Yoshimi Nishino, UNICEF Viet Nam Acting Deputy Representative.

The report utilizes the data from the Intercensal Popululation and Housing Survey 2014 as the single source of data. Out-of-school children in this report are analyzed by different characteristics, including age, gender, ethnicity, urban/rural residence, regions, income quintiles and migration and also multiple variables. The report provide a national analysis with more in-depth analysis of OOSC profile for 6 provinces including Lao Cai, Ninh Thuan, Kon Tum, Ho Chi Minh City, Dong Thap and An Giang

For further information, please contact

• Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, UNICEF Viet Nam, 84-24-38500225; +84-904154678; ntthuong@unicef.org
• Đỗ Thị Vân, Bộ Giáo dục và Đào tạo, 84-24-38694075; +84 979707716, dtvan@moet.gov.vn