District Continuing Education Center recruits 3 students per year

(Baonghean) - Many vocational training and continuing education centers in the area are facing a situation of low enrollment, some years they cannot recruit any students.

Inefficient operation

Before the merger, Nghe An province had 35 public centers including 12 vocational training centers, 2 general technical - career guidance centers, and 21 continuing education centers.

Of these, 12 vocational training centers are under the management of the district-level People's Committee, 21 continuing education centers are under the Department of Education and Training. As for the general technical - career guidance center, there is only 1 center under the district in Thanh Chuong and 1 center in Vinh city under the Department of Education and Training.

In fact, for many years now, the operation of continuing education centers and vocational training centers in the province has not been effective. For example, in Con Cuong district, in the 2016-2017 school year, the district's continuing education center only enrolled 3 10th grade students.

A similar situation happened many years ago, because up to now, the total number of students in grades 10, 11, and 12 of the entire center is only 21 students. Ms. Nguyen Thi Que - Director of the Center said:

“Enrollment in continuing education is becoming increasingly difficult because the number of high school students in the area has shrunk significantly. Those who do not continue to high school are transferring to vocational schools because they have both a vocational certificate and recognition of having completed their cultural level.”

Class time of students at Anh Son District Continuing Education Center. Photo: My Ha

Difficulty in recruiting students is also a common situation in many other continuing education centers. For example, in the Quy Chau district continuing education center, only 6 10th grade students were recruited in the 2016-2017 school year; in the Que Phong district continuing education center, only 8 students were recruited; and in the Tuong Duong district continuing education center, not even a single student was recruited!

The quality of education and training at the centers is also not high, when in the 2017 National High School Exam, the graduation rate of the centers was among the lowest in the province. In which, the unit with the lowest graduation rate was Thai Hoa Continuing Education Center with a rate of 64%.

Regarding vocational training, although district-level vocational training centers have invested tens of billions of dong with spacious facilities, they are all in a state of "thirst" for students, most of them only train a few hundred students "dripping" each year in elementary, short-term training programs.

From this reality, the merger of centers is an inevitable trend. According to Mr. Hoang Nghia Tuyen - Deputy Head of Vocational Training Department, Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs:

“The merger of units will open up many expectations to meet the requirements of improving the quality and operational efficiency of the centers, promoting the efficiency of investment resources, reducing management agencies, and saving the State budget.

At the same time, create conditions for students to have the opportunity to both study culture and learn a trade, improve work skills, and meet the needs of the labor market.

"Stuck" in some specific localities

For localities that have both district-affiliated vocational colleges and continuing education centers, or both provincial-affiliated vocational colleges and continuing education centers, the matter of merging or maintaining them remains confusing.

Specifically, the districts and cities of Yen Thanh, Nghi Loc, and Vinh city have both continuing education centers and vocational secondary schools under the district. The localities of Con Cuong, Thai Hoa town, Do Luong, and Quynh Luu have continuing education centers under the district level, while vocational secondary schools are under the Department of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs.

If implemented according to Circular 39, vocational secondary schools are not currently subject to merger. However, following the direction of the province, these units have also developed projects in the past, but the general spirit is to keep the units with separate apparatus and add functions.

For example, in Nghi Loc district, according to the project, the district's Continuing Education Center will only be renamed to Nghi Loc District's Continuing Education and Vocational Education Center and transferred to the district for management. Explaining this, Mr. Tran Van An - Director of the District Continuing Education Center said: "According to the new regulations, the functions of Continuing Education Centers will be increased and if standing "alone", the center can still cooperate in training and expand training professions".

In Yen Thanh district, Mr. Tran Van Tuan - Principal of Yen Thanh Industrial and Agricultural Vocational College said: "The local point of view is that if there is already a Vocational College, the vocational education function should not be added to the Continuing Education Center and the merger should not be carried out in accordance with the spirit of Circular 39.

At the same time, if the merger occurs, the school will have to shoulder a fairly large apparatus, while in the coming time, the school will be autonomous and will not be able to pay salaries to staff if the number of staff increases.

Teaching sewing to students at Yen Thanh Agricultural and Industrial Technical Vocational School. Photo: My Ha

Discussing the conflicting opinions, Mr. Ngo Xuan Vinh - Deputy Head of Organization and Personnel Department, Department of Home Affairs expressed his opinion:

“For localities that have both a Continuing Education Center and a vocational secondary school, even though the vocational secondary school is not subject to Circular 39/2015, merging these two units is necessary. Because if we add the function of primary vocational training to the Continuing Education Center to form a Vocational Education Center - Continuing Education, while the locality already has a separate vocational school, it is wasteful and ineffective.”.

Mr. Vinh also said that the biggest concern of the units when merging is the personnel issue. However, this has been taken into account by the Department of Home Affairs and the Department's view is that it is possible to transfer cultural teachers to schools in the district to ensure the rights of teachers, only retaining those who can undertake the functions and tasks.

My Ha