At the conference (Source: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has urged the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MoLISA) to improve the quality of vocational training, describing this as a key to escape the middle-income trap.
Addressing a conference in Hanoi on December 17 to review the ministry’s performance in 2017 and outlines tasks for 2018, the PM asked the ministry to create conditions for the private sector to invest in vocational schools.
“Vocational training should be carried out based on orders,” he said, stressing the need to complete polices and programmes on vocational training, especially for farmers, residents in disadvantaged areas, and social welfare beneficiaries.
Regarding labour export, PM Phuc reminded the MoLISA to protect the image of Vietnamese people abroad and urged the ministry to develop the labour market in high-tech countries.
He hailed the ministry’s efforts in sending a record number of 130,000 workers abroad in 2017 under contracts between Vietnam and foreign countries, exceeding the set target by nearly 24 percent.
The Government leader, however, pointed to high unemployment rate among university graduates, slow changes in the quality of vocational training and inadequate management of guest workers.
In the face of the fourth industrial revolution, efforts must be focused on developing human resources and reforming the vocational training system towards self-management with attention paid to information-technology (IT), he stressed.
Talking about poverty alleviation, PM Phuc noted the unsustainable reduction of poverty rate and the big rich-poor gap.
To achieve the target of sustainable development, it is necessary to renew poverty reduction policies, provide suitable assistance to the poor, especially those in disadvantaged, remote and ethnic minority-inhabited areas, so that they can rise from poverty themselves, he said.
The PM also emphasized the need to expand social insurance coverage and maintain the social insurance fund sustainably.
Another task is to step up public services in support of disadvantaged groups and those in difficult circumstances, he said.
The MoLISA should focus on completing mechanisms, policies and laws in the realms under its charge, while promptly drawing up projects on wage and social insurance reform to be submitted to the seventh plenary session of the Party Central Committee, he said.
As the Tet (Lunar New Year) is approaching, the PM asked the sector to ensure a happy festival for people, particularly national contributors, the poor, the homeless, ethnic minorities in difficulties, residents affected by natural disasters and labourers at industrial parks.
In 2017, the MoIT fulfilled and overfulfilled the three targets regarding the rates of trained labourers, unemployment in urban areas and poor households.
The sector supported nearly 3 million needy people with an estimated fund of nearly 15 trillion VND (660 million USD) and allocated hundreds of thousands of tonnes of rice to disaster-affected localities and close to 3 trillion VND (132 million USD) to the poor and social welfare beneficiaries on the occasion of the upcoming Tet holiday.
2017 was the first year when the ministry took over the state management of vocational training. By the end of this year, 1,974 vocational centres nationwide had enrolled over 2 million students. -VNA
VNA
