Ethnic Minority Children’s and Adults’ Perceptions and Experiences of Schooling in Vietnam: A Case Study of the Cham H’Roi

Abstract

As part of the Confucian world, the Vietnamese people have a tradition of valuing education and intellectuals highly. This tradition continues to shape the nation’s culture, making education the highest priority of families and individuals. These traditional values have been supported by the Government of Vietnam, as highlighted in its various plans and policy statements. Over the past 50 years, Vietnam has achieved great successes in education: in 1945 more than 95 per cent of the adult population was illiterate; this had been reversed by 2000, with nearly 91 per cent of the adult population literate (World Bank 2009: 23–4). Vietnam has also made significant progress in achieving universal primary education: in 2009, net enrolment in primary school was 97 per cent, and 88.5 per cent of children who entered primary school completed five years of primary education. Of these, 83 per cent continued to lower secondary education (Socialist Republic of Vietnam 2010). To reinforce these successes, The National Strategy for Education Development 2011–2020, issued on 13 June 2012 by Decision 711, has set targets for 99 per cent of children of primary school age and 95 per cent of those of lower secondary age to be in school, and 80 per cent of adolescents to have upper secondary education by 2020.