(Photo: economist.com)

The latest data from the World Bank show that, on aggregate learning scores, Vietnamese students outperform not only their counterparts in Malaysia and Thailand but also those in Britain and Canada, countries more than six times richer. Even in Vietnam itself, student scores do not exhibit the scale of inequality so common elsewhere between the genders and different regions.

The article mentions a study in 2020 by Abhijeet Singh of the Stockholm School of Economics who gauged the greater productivity of Vietnam’s schools by examining data from identical tests taken by students in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam. He showed that between the ages of five and eight Vietnamese children race ahead. Vietnamese schools, unlike those in other poor countries, have improved over time. Vietnam’s teachers do their job well because they are well-managed. They receive frequent training and are given the freedom to make classes more engaging.

According to the article, the Communist Party of Vietnam pays such close and relentless attention also ensures that policies are adjusted to update curriculums and teaching standards. Provinces are required to spend 20% of their budgets on education, which has helped regional equity.   Society at large shares the fixation. Vietnam’s families are committed to education because of its ingrained Confucianism.