Many ODA-funded Education Projects in Vietnam Prove to be Inefficient

Though education projects funded by official development assistance (ODA) in Vietnam have helped many localities in improving the teaching quality, many experts in the field still complain of the inefficiency of such projects, the Dau Tu newspaper reported on September 21. The idea was raised at a seminar on efficiency of education projects using ODA fund in the 2004-2014 period held in Ho Chi Minh City last week by the National Assembly’s Committee of Culture, Education, Youth and Children. Ms. Pham Quang Trang Thuy, principal of Hung Vuong Technology Vocational School, hailed the support of ODA for such projects but expressed her dissatisfaction with the implementation of such programs. She pointed out that her school received a $1.7-million equipment earlier in July, but that was two years behind the delivery deadline. Ms. Thuy said that the facility the school prepared was then three years old and need larger funding to accommodate the device. Meanwhile, Ms. Nguyen Minh Giang, head of the Education and Training Department of the southern Kien Giang province, said that over the last ten years, the locality had received VND390 billion ($17.3 million) worth of ODA support in six projects. The projects helped close down the education gap between the locality and other provinces. However, Ms. Giang also emphasized the inefficiency of such projects due to the implementation process. She said that the local authorities had to prepared land and area for the projects but did not receive the funding right away. “ODA money often came after a long period of time,” she added. Given these problems, the organizer of the event and guests have outlined several measures to improve the management of ODA for education projects. The committee also pledged to monitor the implementation of ODA more closely. Currently, Vietnam has 18 education projects funded by ODA, 14 of which are about technology support with a combined capital of VND7.41 trillion ($329 million), accounting for 73.4% of total ODA for education, said Dr. Tran Hoang Ngan, principal of University of Finance and Marketing, citing statistics of the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI). (Dau Tu Sept 21 p4)