Difficulty in vocational training at Vocational Education Centers - Continuing Education in Hai Duong

Not eligible to operate

From January 2018, according to the decision of the Provincial People's Committee, the continuing education, career guidance and vocational training centers will be merged into one center, with a unified name: Vocational Education - Continuing Education Center. After the merger, the whole province has 12 centers in 12 districts, towns and cities.

Currently, the centers have up to 3 direct management units: Department of Education and Training (managing continuing education and career guidance); Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (managing vocational training); District People's Committees manage organization, regimes, policies, emulation and rewards, etc.

A report by the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs last July stated that the centers have focused on improving facilities and teaching equipment, ensuring adequate conditions to carry out the tasks of implementing the continuing education program at high school level.

Regarding vocational education tasks, there are 4 centers that have been granted certificates of registration for vocational education activities by the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs: Tu Ky, Gia Loc, Thanh Ha and Ninh Giang.

District-level centers are currently not equipped with enough facilities, equipment, teachers, etc. to meet the requirements for vocational education activities. Therefore, currently, 12 centers do not operate vocational education activities, only perform the tasks of continuing education and cooperate with colleges and intermediate schools to train secondary school graduates to study intermediate level.

Gia Loc is the only locality in the province that does not have a private high school. Therefore, most students who fail to get into public high schools wish to study at the district vocational education - continuing education center. Currently, the center has more than 1,500 students in 3 grades 10, 11 and 12, with a total of 29 leaders, managers and employees. The center only has 22 teachers in charge of a total of 32 classes. With this human resource, to carry out the task of continuing education is a great effort.

Although it is one of four centers granted a certificate of registration for vocational education activities by the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the center in Gia Loc currently does not have permanent teachers or teachers with solid vocational training skills to perform the function of vocational education. In addition, facilities for short-term vocational training are almost non-existent, unable to meet the demand. Faced with these difficulties, the center must cooperate with vocational training institutions in and outside the province.

Need specific mechanism

According to Circular No. 01/2023/TT-BGDDT of the Ministry of Education and Training dated January 6, 2023, the center's tasks and powers include: Implementing elementary level training or joint training at elementary, intermediate and college levels according to regulations of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs; joint university training according to regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. The educational program meets the requirements of learners, updates knowledge and skills in the fields of law, culture, society, sports, arts, environment, health, economics, finance; skills education programs; technology transfer programs in labor and production, contributing to improving labor productivity...

It can be seen that the Vocational Education - Continuing Education Centers in Hai Duong have not yet fully promoted their functions in vocational education activities due to the above difficulties.

Mr. Pham Duy Phuong, Director of Gia Loc District Vocational Education and Continuing Education Center, said that short-term vocational training at centers is still very important, especially in localities, to meet the practical needs of the people. In order for centers to promote their role in short-term vocational education, there must be a comprehensive planning mechanism and in-depth research from the Central Government. From there, localities can apply it appropriately and flexibly to create conditions for centers to be able to train short-term occupations that are practical to the needs of people's lives.

Based on this viewpoint, Mr. Nguyen Van Cong, Director of the Center for Vocational Education - Continuing Education of Kim Thanh district, said that the units that are jointly responsible for managing the center currently need to have inter-sectoral guidance to develop common operating regulations. For short-term vocational training of the current centers in Hai Duong, the common situation is very difficult, most of them are "bare-handed", only coordinating to do it but cannot do it themselves. It is recommended that authorities at all levels pay more attention to investing in facilities in vocational training to meet the flow of 9+ students. At the same time, pay attention to supporting the centers to accelerate the implementation of project development for vocational training linkage activities to ensure compliance with regulations.