Vietnam Starts ADB-funded $71M High School Education Program

The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training on June 11 kicked off a program on improving the quality of high school education worth of $71 million, of which $60 million comes from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The 2010-2015 program will be carried out at 32 junior high schools, 41 senior high schools, 60 junior high schools for disabilities, 62 specialized senior high schools, the Vietnam News Agency said on June 14. The program will focus on improving teaching and learning skills of IT and foreign languages by supplying curricula, better facilities and training teachers. Under the program, 73 schools will be equipped with IT facilities for intensive training courses, while 122,000 students can attend English courses. ADB will lend $6 billion to Vietnamese development projects in the next three years, state media reported, citing ADB Deputy Director in Vietnam Yumiko Yumiko Tamura. The funding will mainly go to projects in the areas of infrastructure, energy, education and health in the country.