2022 Education World Forum drew education chiefs from more 100 countries in the world (Photo: Internet)

Vietnam shared experience in ensuring education services for children during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as national climate education policies at the 2022 Education World Forum (EWF) that took place in London from May 23-26.

At a discussion on the renovation of education at low cost in Asia, Deputy Ambassador of Vietnam to the UK To Minh Thu highlighted measures that Vietnam has applied to make sure all children access education services, especially during months of social distancing that forced children at all education levels to stay at home since the fourth wave of COVID-19 hit Vietnam in April 2021.

She said that the Vietnamese Government rolled out various measures with the priority of vaccination for youngsters to enable schools to reopen from March 2022.

So far, more than 98 percent of the students aging from 12-17 years old in Vietnam have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine shot and more than 96 percent have got two, she said.

Thu underlined that amid the pandemic, Vietnam considered education digitalisation as a very important task, with the application of information and communication technology (ICT), the digitalisation of curriculum, and the improvement of ICT capacity for teachers and students.

Vietnam has set a target of all education facilities applying school governing system basing on digital data and technologies in 2025, digital education becoming a key pillar in the tertiary education system in 2030, and 100 percent of the tertiary education facilities providing online training programmes, she said.

Thu stressed that Vietnam commits and ensure sponsorship to education sector, providing finance and loans to education facilities and students, and setting aside at least 20 percent of its State budget spendings to education sector.

The country has worked to upgrade the infrastructure for online education through the “Internet and computers for students” programme, which has provided more than 1 million computers to students. Under the programme, telecommunication service suppliers will give 3G SIM cards and data to students to ensure their computers are Internet connected serving online learning.

Thu affirmed that Vietnam has enjoyed great progress in giving schools autonomy and self-responsibility, and improving the quality and evaluation standards of educational institutions. In the post-pandemic period, Vietnam is determined to restore teaching and learning activities and promote educational achievements with strategic plans and commitments to supporting disadvantaged children, ensuring high quality and equity in education, she added.

At the discussion on climate education policies, First Secretary for Education at the Vietnamese Embassy in the UK Tran Huong Ly said that education on environment at Vietnamese schools play an important role in enhancing public awareness of climate change and promoting the coordination in climate change response efforts of local communities and international organisations.

Ly affirmed that environment education is one of the sustainable development goals of Vietnam, pointing out that in Vietnam, environment policies are developed in Vietnam from the national level to schools, including the development of knowledge and skills frameworks to respond to climate change and disasters in schools at all school level.

Environment education in Vietnam has been integrated into general education programme in subjects such as physics, geography and biology with appropriate knowledge, skills and response to natural disasters, and the protection of natural resources and animals as well as efficient use of energy, she said, adding that environmental education documents and manuals for educational management officials and teachers have also been built.

Ly said that environment education in Vietnam is also carried out through campaigns and extracurricular activities, adding that higher education facilities have also involved in the training of environmental engineers and lecturers and the implementation of research projects.

She underlined that Vietnam will continue to promote international cooperation in education, especially among domestic educational facilities and their foreign peers in education research and digitalisation to enhance the quality of teaching and learning activities as well as the educational environment in Vietnam.

Themed “Education: building forward together; stronger, bolder, better” drew education chiefs from more 100 countries in the world and representatives from international and non-governmental organisations. This year, it focused on how to optimise technologies, artificial intelligence and experience to strengthen education systems and economies around the world. The forum also focused on how countries can develop education systems with limited resources./.