VietNamNet Bridge – The decree No. 73 prohibiting foreign invested schools
receive Vietnamese children aged below 5 has raised the strong opposition from
well-off parents, who say because of which their children would lose the
opportunities to study in a high quality environment.
About ¼ of the polled parents said they want to send their children to
international schools, according to Nhip cau dau tu newspaper.
A report of the Ministry of Planning and Investment showed that by February
2013, Vietnam had received 170 foreign direct investment projects in the
educational sector with the total investment capital of $468 million.
Most of the projects have small scale, capitalized at $2.8 million for each.
With the modest number of projects, 170 out of the 14,100 projects registered so
far, educational sector ranks the 17th out of the 18 sectors Vietnam has
attracted foreign investment to.
However, the Ministry of Education and Training still has set up limitations on
the FDI in the educational sector.
The decree No. 73 stipulates that the children at the ages of below must not go
to international schools. Meanwhile, the number of Vietnamese students at
foreign invested primary and secondary schools must not be higher than 10
percent of the total students of the schools. The proportion is 20 percent for
foreign invested high schools.
In the Vietnamese mind, international schools are understood as the schools for
foreigners with modest percentages of Vietnamese students.
However, in fact, the operation of many international schools has been depending
on Vietnamese students. Some of the schools have very high proportions of
Vietnamese students, such as Renaissance International School Saigon, where 40
percent of students are Vietnamese, ABC International School 53 percent,
KinderWorld and FOSCO International School both at 70 percent.
Therefore, it is foreseeable that the limitation on the number of Vietnamese
students at international schools would have big impacts on the foreign invested
education establishments. Some of the schools have reportedly thought of cutting
down the numbers of students and narrowed the operation scale.
However, analysts have pointed out that not all international schools are the
subjects to be covered by the decree 73.
These include the international schools set up by the state owned units in
cooperation with foreign institutions.
One of the schools is SIC, which is the “product” of the HCM City Education and
Training Department and the Government of Western Australia’s Department of
Education. The students finishing the school will have the high school diploma
certifying that they finish the Vietnamese curriculums and the diploma to be
granted by the Australia education department.
SIC, which has been invested and put under the direct management by a state
agency, is beyond the coverage of the decree 73.
The schools not covered by the decree, are the ones set up by private investors
in cooperation with foreign education organizations.
However, the representatives of the schools have also expressed their worry
about the impacts of the new decree.
Trinh Quang Dong from Canada International School said the decree would make it
more difficult for Vietnamese investors to call for foreign investments in the
educational sector in Vietnam.
He went on to say that the restriction will not bring any benefits to the
Vietnamese education, and it will keep the foreign investors away from Vietnam,
where the FDI capital in the educational sector remains modest.
NCDT