Compulsory and free education solutions for 9 years

All European countries apply compulsoryeducation for 9 years or more. Among them, many countries such as England, Poland, the Netherlands, France... implement compulsory education for 12 years (or until 18 years old). The US implements compulsory education for 9 years or more in all states, in which many states have implemented completely free tuition up to high school level. Japan is the earliest Asian country to apply, since the 1870s for elementary school and the Basic Education Law of 1947 stipulates 9 years of compulsory education.

Most socialist countries implement compulsory education for 9 years or more, of which Cuba and North Korea implement 12 years. In 1986, China issued the Law on Compulsory Education for 9 years. However, with more than 1.3 billion people, China did not implement free secondary education immediately but implemented it step by step, where it was convenient first, then in difficult places. It was not until 2006 that this country made secondary education 100% free nationwide.

In Southeast Asia, Singapore and the Philippines apply 10 years of compulsory education; Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia 9 years, Malaysia 6 years. Of which, Indonesia is piloting 12 years in the capital Jakarta.

The draft law supplementing a number of articles of the Education Law proposed by the Ministry of Education and Training, proposing tuition exemption for secondary school students, has been agreed upon and supported by scholars, intellectuals, officials and people nationwide, who believe that this is a correct policy, in line with world education and deeply humane. However, due to financial difficulties, this proposal was rejected by the Ministry of Finance and a separate project will be developed after 2020.

To implement 9-year compulsory education, the biggest difficulty is finance. Vietnam has an investment ratio for education compared to GDP of 6.3% (ranked 2nd in Southeast Asia, only after Thailand at 7.6%), education expenditure in total budget expenditure reaches 20%. Therefore, it is difficult for the central budget to increase to implement compulsory education. According to calculations, the whole country collects about 2,000 billion VND in junior high school tuition fees per year, if divided among 63 provinces and cities, it is not much.

Therefore, some provinces and cities with large budget revenues such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, Bac Ninh, Hai Phong, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Quang Nam ... can implement free secondary education from the 2018-2019 school year. Especially Ho Chi Minh City, where the average income per capita is over 6,000 USD/person, will be the pioneer in piloting secondary education nationwide. In addition, the Government needs to establish a 9-year compulsory education support fund to support disadvantaged provinces. This fund is contributed by businesses, organizations and individuals.

Regarding legal conditions, it cannot be implemented in a short time, but requires a roadmap and appropriate steps. First, some provinces and cities with economic conditions asked the Government to pilot free junior high school education. After that, the Government allowed the expansion of the pilot program, and when conditions were met, it submitted to the National Assembly to amend the 1991 Law on Universal Primary Education into the Law on Universal Secondary Education, which stipulates 9 years of compulsory education and free tuition at junior high school level.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/cac-giai-phap-giao-duc-bat-buoc-va-mien-phi-9-nam-185740282.htm