THE PRIME MINISTER

DECIDES:

Article 1.- To approve the national target program on education and training till 2005 with the following principal contents:

1. The program’s objectives:

To implement a number of key projects, aiming to:

- Create a substantial improvement in education quality, take our country’s education out of the state of being lagged behind as compared with the developed countries in the region, to approach the advanced level of the world and suit Vietnam’s realty in practical service of the socio-economic development of the country as well as each region and each locality.

- Renovate education objectives, contents, methods and programs at all educational grades and levels as well as training qualifications; develop the contingent of teachers meeting the requirements of expanding education quantitatively, qualitatively and efficiently.

- Improve the quality of human resource training, with special importance attached to scientific-technological personnel of high qualifications, fully capable managerial and business officials as well as skilled technical workers, thus directly contributing to raising the competitiveness of the economy; and step up the tempo of junior-secondary education universalization.

2. The program’s contents:

The program includes the following 7 projects:

Project 1: To consolidate and promote the results of primary education universalization and illiteracy eradication, and implement junior-secondary education universalization. This project focuses on the following contents:

a/ Accomplishment of illiteracy eradication and primary education universalization for 235 communes and 18 districts, which are still below the prescribed standards;

b/ Accomplishment of primary education universalization at the prescribed age groups in 40 provinces and centrally-run cities;

c/ Standardization of the junior-secondary education universalization in 30 provinces and centrally-run cities.

Project 2: To renovate curricula and textbooks’ contents. This project focuses on the following contents:

a/ Renovation of pre-school and general education’s curricula and textbook contents;

b/ Compilation of assorted books on Vietnamese and ethnic minorities’ languages for ethnic minority children. Continuing to implement the project on teaching Vietnamese and ethnic minorities’ languages;

c/ Renovation of education and training objectives and programs and reform of enrolment of students into universities, colleges and intermediate vocational schools to meet the requirements of human resource development in service of the national industrialization and modernization.

Project 3: To train informatics officials and introduce informatics into schools, and step up the teaching of foreign languages in the national education system. This project focuses on the following contents:

a/ Training information technological personnel; stepping up the teaching of informatics and the application of information technology to universities, colleges and intermediate vocational and job-training schools;

b/ Teaching informatics and step by step applying information technology to teaching and learning in general schools;

c/ Stepping up the teaching of foreign languages in general education schools, job-training schools as well as universities and colleges.

Project 4: To train and foster teachers, and enhance material bases of teachers’ training schools. This project includes the following principal contents:

a/ Renovation of the pedagogic-training system and build the contingent of teachers with adequate quantity, who have good morality and professional capabilities, meeting the requirements of renovation of education objectives, contents and methods at all educational grades and levels;

b/ Enhancing the material bases and equipment for teachers’ training schools to meet the requirements of raising the teacher training quality.

Project 5: To support education in mountainous areas, regions inhabited by ethnic minority people and regions meeting with numerous difficulties. The project’s principal contents are:

a/ Consolidation and perfection of material bases of the system of boarding schools for ethnic minority pupils and pre-entrance tertiary education schools;

b/ Construction and consolidation of the system of semi-boarding schools in commune clusters and communes as well as integrated classes in hamlets and villages for firmly realizing the primary education universalization and illiteracy eradication;

c/ Enhancing the work of vocational guidance education-job training, especially for ethnic minority pupils of boarding general education schools, aiming to create the source of officials for localities in mountainous areas and regions inhabited by ethnic minority people;

d/ Providing essential school stationery for poor pupils, pupils in difficult circumstances and pupils of mountainous localities, regions inhabited by ethnic minority people and regions meeting with special socio-economic difficulties.

Project 6: To enhance material bases for schools and general technical-vocational guidance centers; and to build a number of key universities and intermediate vocational schools. This project, together with the program on solidification of schools and a number of relevant projects, aims to step by step improve material and technical bases of the school system; build a number of standard-school models in terms of material bases, a number of establishments strong in human resource training of the national education system in order to attract and efficiently exploit investment resources and build material and technical bases of schools.

Project 7: To enhance the job-training capacity. This project focuses on enhancing investment in material bases and equipment; renovating curricula and textbooks; training and fostering the contingent of teachers in the selected job-training schools and centers in order to step by step formulate key job-training schools and centers with training quality equivalent to that of job-training schools of the regional countries.

3. Fund sources for the implementation of projects:

a/ The State budget;

b/ Voluntary support of domestic and foreign organizations under law provisions;

c/ Other lawful funding sources.

4. Management of projects:

a/ The Ministry of Education and Training shall manage, administer and sum up the general situation of implementation of the national target program on education and training; assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches as well as localities in organizing the implementation of projects 1, 2 ,3, 4, 5 and 6;

b/ The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shall assume the prime responsibility and coordinate with the concerned ministries and branches as well as localities in organizing the implementation of project 7.

Article 2.- Basing themselves on the contents of the projects mentioned in Clause 2, Article 1 of this Decision as well as relevant programs and projects of their respective branches, the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shall coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Finance as well as relevant ministries and branches in devising implementation plans, drawing up annual plans, organizing, guiding, inspecting and supervising the implementation thereof; and annually report on the implementation tempo and results to the Prime Minister.

Article 3.- This Decision takes implementation effect 15 days after its publication on the Official Gazette.

Article 4.- The ministers, the heads of the ministerial-level agencies, the heads of the agencies attached to the Government, and the presidents of the People’s Committees of the provinces and centrally-run cities shall have to implement this Decision.

For the Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister
PHAM GIA KHIEM