Japan’s experience in implementing community-based learning centres (Kominkan/CLCs) was shared at an international workshop in Ho Chi Minh City on November 24 with an aim to improve the effectiveness of similar facilities in Vietnam.
The two-day function was co-organised by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation’s Regional Centre for Lifelong Learning (SEAMEO CELLL).
Prof. Dr Teuchi Akitoshi from Japan’s University of Tsukuba said Japan has a widespread system of Kominkan from urban to rural areas, creating opportunities for people to learn throughout their lifetime.
These CLCs also run technical and cultural activities, helping consolidate community solidarity, he added.
Participants at the function said the Kominkan model partly contributed to Japan’s rising from a war-torn country to a global power within 20 years.
Piloted in Vietnam since 1997, the model has been multiplied nationwide with around 11,000 CLCs in 98.77 percent of all communes and wards, serving tens of millions of people.
Director of MOET’s Continuing Education Department Nguyen Cong Hinh said such a rapid expansion of CLCs has proved their role in eradicating illiteracy, universalising primary and secondary education, and supporting poverty alleviation.
However, he pointed out to some problems in CLCs’ operations, noting that only 30 percent of the centres work effectively.
Hinh attributed this fact to limited capacity of centres’ managers, monotonous activities, the shortage of learning material, as well as the lax coordination between universities and CLCs.
Educational experts, therefore, urged the sector to improve the capacity of the CLCs’ staff, adapt learning activities to the local life, mobilise all local resources for the work, and learn from developed countries’ expertise in the field.
In 2013, the Vietnamese Prime Minister approved a project on building a learning society between 2012 and 2020 with concrete targets on illiteracy eradication, educational universalisation, the improvement of workforce’s computer, foreign language and professional skills, and people’s engagement in soft skill training programmes.-VNA
The two-day function was co-organised by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation’s Regional Centre for Lifelong Learning (SEAMEO CELLL).
Prof. Dr Teuchi Akitoshi from Japan’s University of Tsukuba said Japan has a widespread system of Kominkan from urban to rural areas, creating opportunities for people to learn throughout their lifetime.
These CLCs also run technical and cultural activities, helping consolidate community solidarity, he added.
Participants at the function said the Kominkan model partly contributed to Japan’s rising from a war-torn country to a global power within 20 years.
Piloted in Vietnam since 1997, the model has been multiplied nationwide with around 11,000 CLCs in 98.77 percent of all communes and wards, serving tens of millions of people.
Director of MOET’s Continuing Education Department Nguyen Cong Hinh said such a rapid expansion of CLCs has proved their role in eradicating illiteracy, universalising primary and secondary education, and supporting poverty alleviation.
However, he pointed out to some problems in CLCs’ operations, noting that only 30 percent of the centres work effectively.
Hinh attributed this fact to limited capacity of centres’ managers, monotonous activities, the shortage of learning material, as well as the lax coordination between universities and CLCs.
Educational experts, therefore, urged the sector to improve the capacity of the CLCs’ staff, adapt learning activities to the local life, mobilise all local resources for the work, and learn from developed countries’ expertise in the field.
In 2013, the Vietnamese Prime Minister approved a project on building a learning society between 2012 and 2020 with concrete targets on illiteracy eradication, educational universalisation, the improvement of workforce’s computer, foreign language and professional skills, and people’s engagement in soft skill training programmes.-VNA
