Nearly 2,500 new classrooms, libraries and laboratories have been builtin 22 disadvantaged provinces nationwide under a development project inVietnam.
The Upper Secondary Education DevelopmentProject was launched in 2003 in a bid by the Ministry of Education andTraining and the Asian Development Bank to improve the quality ofsecondary education in disadvantaged areas.
Around 59,000students in the provinces of Ha Giang, Cao Bang, Bac Kan , LangSon, Quang Binh, Ninh Thuan and Kon Tum have all benefited from theproject so far.
ADB provided a 64 million USD loan for theproject, that is expected to finish in June, six months later thanscheduled due to some operational changes, said deputy minister NguyenVinh Hien.
It is just one of the Government's efforts toeliminate hunger and reduce poverty through enhancing secondaryeducation, he said.
Over 72,000 teachers and educationmanagers have received training as part of the project, and more than 4million textbooks and teaching aids have been provided for schools.
Reproductive health pamphlets have also been distributed among schoolgirls.
According to a project summary report, over 93 percent of total capital has been disbursed so far.
"The new classrooms have given us increased capacity and we canaccommodate 60 percent more students now. Our school is now one of thetop schools in the province," said the headmaster of Luong Van Tri UpperSecondary School in the northern province of Lang Son.
The number of disadvantaged students that dropped out of school fell,because many of them had less distance to travel, said a representativefrom Nguyen Hue Upper Secondary School in the Central Highlandprovince of Gia Lai .
The project also createdfavourable conditions for disadvantaged and ethnic students to accessupper secondary education, said a teacher from Phan Ngoc HienUpper Secondary School .
"The project helps raiseawareness among teachers and education managers about the essentialsneeded to improve the quality of education in disadvantaged areas," saidTran Nhu Tinh, an official from the Ministry of Education and Training.
The project will be more effective if we receive further investment from the State, Tinh said.
The project has overcome a number of difficulties including personnelchanges at ADB and the ministry, slow land clearance and pricefluctuations, according to the report.
Eiko Izawar, arepresentative from ADB in Vietnam said: "We always want to helpdevelop the Vietnamese education system and provide a brighter futurefor the next generations."
ADB is committed to contributing more and more into the development of Vietnamese education, she said./.