A national consultation on transforming education was held in Hanoi on Wednesday by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) to develop a shared vision, commitment, and alignment of action across constituencies to reform the educational system in the country according to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The event had support from UNICEF and UNESCO as well as the participation of key stakeholders including relevant ministries, universities, schools, and organizations of people with disabilities, the two UN agencies said in a press release the same day.

The outcomes of this consultation will contribute to the Transforming Education Global Summit in September, as convened by António Guterres, United Nations Secretary General.

The Global Summit seeks to mobilize political ambition, action, solutions, and solidarity to transform education to take stock of efforts to recover pandemic-related learning losses; to reimagine education systems for the world of today and tomorrow; and to revitalize national and global efforts to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG4) on inclusive and equitable quality education.

“With SDG4 in mind, to ensure that all children and young people complete equitable and quality education, an education that leads to relevant and effective learning outcomes by 2030, it is time for a revamp,” said Pauline Tamesis, United Nations resident coordinator to Vietnam.

“We need to prioritize the issues in the education sector that will help Vietnam achieve the education-related SDG targets: issues such as inequity in access, learning loss, digital divide, gender gaps, education financing gaps, and specific needs of education for particular groups of children and young people.

“I encourage us all to make space, to hear the voices of those most affected – the children and young people themselves.

“As a part of this national consultation and the global summit, the United Nations is consulting young people; listening to their experience, as well as the solutions that they want to contribute; and recognizing them as important partners at the table in the transformation of education.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused the most massive disruption in learning in recorded history.

Statistics from the SDG Indicators on Children and Women Survey conducted by the General Statistics Office of Vietnam in 2020-21 confirmed the wide digital divide and the lack of good ICT skills among girls and boys, which both limit their access to distance learning.

Data showed that the divide has broadened between ethnic groups, rural and urban areas, and the richest and poorest segments of the population.

It also spotlighted worrying trends, including the gender disparity, with a mere 51.4 percent of boys completing upper secondary school compared with 65 percent of girls.

This makes it much harder for children to acquire the technical and higher-order skills needed to thrive in increasingly demanding labor markets.

A recent study supported by UNICEF showed that there has been a significant increase in the number of upper secondary school children facing mental health challenges, which requires urgent action across sectors – education, child protection, healthcare, and social protection.

“Innovative approaches are needed to serve as levers for game-changing transformations of education policy and practice in the medium and longer-term,” Rana Flowers, UNICEF representative, said as she wrapped up the national consultation.

“Therefore, active involvement and support of different government ministries, such as health, labor, environment, social development, finance, information and telecommunications, and youth, are essential to ensure the commitments are turned into action, with an investment to reform.”

Christian Manhart, UNESCO country representative, said, “This meeting comes at a critically important time, as Vietnam rethinks and reaffirms its approaches to the achievement of SDG4. 

“UNESCO is actively supporting education systems all over the world to engage in a global debate on how knowledge, education, and learning need to be reimagined in a world of increasing complexity, uncertainty, and precarity and the results of this discussion will be important contributions.” 

Participants in the national consultation were expected to shine a light on crucial steps to address key challenges faced by the educational system with the objective of ensuring the right investment to tackle the learning loss; to guarantee children and young people learn in safe, healthy schools; to skill children for the world of work today and in the future; and to ensure that SDG4 is brought back on track.

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