Vocational training is selected as a breakthrough phase this year to improve the quality of human resources, with focus placed on enhancing links between businesses and vocational schools, said Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung.

Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Dao Ngoc Dung at theNational Assembly’s question-and-answer session on June 5^th. (Photo: VNA)

Dung made the statement while being grilled by legislators about vocational training and improvement of qualifications of vocational teachers during the National Assembly’s question-and-answer session on June 5^th.

The minister acknowledged that Vietnam’s human resources have low quality and that is one of the reasons behind low productivity.

Dung said in 2017, more than 40.7 per cent of labourers worked in the agriculture sector and the figure dropped to 38.6 per cent by April 2018. Meanwhile, the agriculture sector contributed only 15.34 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), he said.

In the coming time, priority will be given to vocational training, along with changing labour structure and improving qualifications of workers amidst the fourth industrial revolution, Dung added.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs will launch a pilot programme to connect 10 vocational schools with 15 corporations in providing training courses in line with market demands.

Dung told the lawmakers that Vietnam currently has 1,954 vocational schools, including 397 colleges, 525 vocational schools and more than 600 district-level vocational establishments./.

VNF/VNA