Vietnam School Readiness Promotion Project Launched

The Vietnam School Readiness Promotion Project (SRPP) was officially launched, with the aim to raise school readiness for 5-year old children, in particular for the disadvantaged group and children from ethnic minority groups.

 

According to a survey introduced at the launching, about half of Vietnam’s 5-year old children are at risk of lacking at least one area of the five skills needed to start schooling. The Early Development Instrument survey, conducted by the Ministry of Education and Training, the Russia Education Aid for Development, the Canada Offord Institute and the World Bank, also show that the percentage of children not ready for school is highest in children of ethnic minority and of disadvantaged backgrounds.

 

The Vietnam School Readiness Promotion Project is designed to address this problem by raising school readiness among children entering primary education, through supporting selected elements of Vietnam's national programme on “Universal Early Childhood Education for 5-year old children 2010-2015 (Decree 239). The project supports efforts to expand full-day preschool enrolment, improve capacity for preschool quality assurance and strengthened professional expertise of teachers and principals.

 

The funding of US$100 million for this project comes from the International Development Association, the World Bank’s concessional lending arm for poor countries.