Human Resources Development in Mekong Delta with Efforts to Find New Methods

According to statistics, the Mekong delta has a natural area of four million hectares and a population of over 17 million people, equal to 21 per cent of the total population of Vietnam. The region contributes around 18 per cent of Vietnam’s GDP. However, according to the evaluation of the steering board of the south-western region, the development of human resources in the region still has shortcomings. What the Mekong delta should do in the coming years to catch up with the rest of the country?

 

According to the steering board, in the 2001-2005 period, education and vocational training in the Mekong delta has made significant progress with local schools having gradually been strengthened and upgraded. An increase in both quality and quantity has been seen for local teachers. Yet, shortcomings remain in education and training, and human resources development in the Mekong delta. Accordingly, the number of trained labourers in the region reaches only 14.14 per cent, much lower than the average rate for the whole country. Many schools in the region have degraded. A shortage of qualified teachers and managers can be seen in local schools.

 

In Can Tho city, the implementation of education and training programmes has helped increase trained labourers in 2005 to 23.3 per cent, 0.9 per cent higher than the yearly plan. However, the quality of labourers is assessed not to meet the requirements. Alongside Can Tho city, Ben Tre province has become a leader in the Mekong delta in terms of attracting talented staffs. So far, the province has attracted 300 engineers to the districts of Ba Tri, Thanh Phu and Binh Dai. However, the province’s policies on sending university graduates to grassroots units have yet to gain a high effectiveness. In Can Tho city and Ben Tre province, of 10,560 workers and staff members in the industrial sector in Hau Giang province, the number of managers accounts for only 10.2 per cent; the number of engineers and technicians, 8.63 per cent, and workers, 81.17 per cent. Of this figure, the number of trained workers account for only 6.24 per cent. As a result, products of local enterprises have poor quality and low competitiveness.

 

When localities have a high demand for skilled workers, the supplies have not yet improved. This is a common landscape of many localities in Vietnam. According to Vietnamworks.com and the Navigos Group, Mekong delta provinces continue to lack high quality labourers. According to statistics, Ho Chi Minh City alone each year has around 40,000 university and college graduates. But 60 per cent of them cannot meet enterprises’ requirements. Only 30 per cent of them can find suitable jobs and up to 50 per cent have to find jobs different from what they learnt at universities and colleges.

 

According to remarks made by some senior officials from the labour service in the Mekong delta, the imbalance between labour demand and supply results mainly from the fact that universities and colleges lack financial sources to invest in training equipment and facilities. Also, some colleges and technical schools lowered their enrolment marks, resulting in a poor quality of students. According toe the Can Tho Labour Federation, to address the problem, throughout 2010, universities, schools and training establishments in the Mekong delta should re-plan their training activities, so as to meet the recruitment demand of enterprises and organisations. Also, enterprises and agencies, in turn, should develop re-training programmes for their staff members and untrained labourers.

 

Talking on the issue, Le Van Dien, head of the vocational training management board of the Can Tho Department of Labour, War Invalid and Social Affairs, said that a breakthrough in vocational training in Can Tho was that old students joined the training of new students. Also, many local enterprises have co-operated with the Department of Labour, War Invalid and Social Affairs to provide training services for labourers, thus helping them meet the demand of the market. Accordingly, from now to 2010, 60 per cent of Can Tho city’s workers will complete senior secondary education and 40 per cent will have received further training.

Apart from Can Tho city, in recent years, many provinces in the Mekong delta have found new effective ways to train and attract talented people. According to the An Giang Union of Co-operatives by November, 2005, the province had attracted 241 university and college graduates signing labour contracts with 117 agricultural co-operatives and two farms. Accordingly, apart from their wage, the people receive financial support from the co-operatives and farms, such as housing priorities, duty allowance, and job options after three years’ working at co-operatives and farms.