Experts call for more sex education in schools

VietNamNet Bridge – The survey conducted at two high schools in HCM Cit, Gia Dinh and Nguyen Hue, gave surprisingresults: many pupils said that they know babies are born from… armpit.

A group of students from the HCM City University for Social Sciences and Humanity has released the result of the survey on sex education and reproductive health in schools.
The survey was conducted on 76 schoolboys (43.9%), and 96 schoolgirls (55.5%), all are aged 17-18. 94.2% of the polled pupils are living with their families

Among the questions raised to the polled pupils, there was a simple one: “How can women give birth to babies?”

40 pupils (23.1%) of the two schools, thought that babies were born from the anus, 17 pupils (9.8%) said they did not know about that. Meanwhile, one of the pupils (0.6%) said that babies were born from belly-buttons.

When asked why they think that women give birth through anus, one of the 23.1% said that because the vagina is too small for a baby to go through (excerpt from the minute of discussion of Nguyen Hue’s schools).

Other pupils said honestly: “When I was a child, mother said babies are born from armpit. She said I would know about it when I’m grown up, and I still don’t know now” (excerpt from the minute of discussion of Nguyen Hue’s schools).

Meanwhile a lot of pupils said that they do not know anything about contraceptive measures. A schoolgirl said that she knew about the morning-after pill, and confirmed that her friends do not hear about these.

The surveyors have pointed out that pupils do not have much knowledge about reproductive health because they do not receive appropriate education. In fact, Vietnam has been focusing on providing knowledge to married couples only.

A teacher from Gia Dinh High School said that it is because of the few lessons at schools, while mass media is not a suitable information channel for pupils.

55% of pupils said that they have never asked about that at pharmacies, 45.1% said they do not intend to find the answers from medical centres, 35.8% said they have never asked teachers, 34.2% have never asked brothers or sisters, and 26% said they would not share their thoughts with their parents.

Meanwhile, 54 out of the 172 pupils said that they have girlfriends and boyfriends, and said they want to learn more about love and reproductive health.

(Source: Tien phong)

“The art of killing dragons” taught in Vietnamese universities

VietNamNet Bridge – The latest survey on the employment of university graduates conducted by the Ministry of Education and Training shows that only 50% of graduates can find jobs, and only 30% of these have jobs in the fields in which they received training.

Explaining the “modest” figure, Dr Nguyen Si Dung, Deputy Chairman of the National Assembly’s Office, said that universities and colleges in Vietnam were still teaching “the art of killing dragons”.

Mr Dung said that the lives of Vietnamese people had changed a lot in recent years, but old curricula were still being applied.

Vietnam is now facing an excess of untrained labourers, and lack of qualified staffs. It is because Vietnam’s national economy has shifted to a market-oriented one, while the educational system has not been changed yet to adapt to the new conditions. There is no close link between enterprises and the educational and training system.

Xuan Thinh, a student from the Hanoi University of Technologies, said: “Dragons do not exist in reality. We don’t want to learn the ‘art of killing dragons’ only.”

Mr Dung said that universities provide ‘products’ for society based on demand; policy makers need to listen to businessmen in order to draw up suitable educational policies.

“Educators, policy makers and enterprises should sit together to discuss what to teach to produce labourers useful to society,” Mr Dung said, adding that if the “art of killing dragons” continued to be taught at universities Vietnam would not be able to improve the quality of its labour force.

Nguyen Thien Nhan, Minister of Education and Training, just after taking his post in July 2006, realised the need to “make products on demand”, putting forth 10 groups of solutions to this problem.

The top priority solution is to set up a national steering committee in charge of “educating on society’s demand”, which will comprise representatives from the Ministries of Education and Training, Labour, War Invalids and Social Affairs, Planning and Investment, and other relevant ministries. A national centre for forecasting labour force demand will be set up, which, in the first period, will give forecasts about the demand for labourers in big cities like Hanoi, HCM City and Da Nang.

(Source: TBKTVN)

British Council holds English language teaching workshop

VietNamNet Bridge – About 70 primary teachers in Hanoi attended a British Council backed workshop on creating child-friendly lessons on October 25.

The workshop is part of the British Council’s Regional Primary Innovations’ project and aims to help change primary English language teaching in Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Japan. Support for education policy markers, for primary school English language teacher educators and primary school teachers are cornerstones of the programme. About 600 primary teachers, and schools in Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM City will have access to new textbooks and reference books thanks to the programme. The demand for English language teaching in primary schools in Vietnam is growing as English is increasingly perceived as an essential basic skill. To ensure successful language learning at primary schools, teachers mush have the skills and techniques necessary for a more child-friendly or child-centred during class time.
(Source: VNA)