The World Bank on June 24 approved two credits worth 177 million USD to support Vietnam in the further development of its primary through tertiary education systems.

The first credit, worth 50 million USD, will be granted to the nation’s first tertiary education development policy programme which is intended to enable the sector to expand its training establishments and ensure equal access to relevant study programmes.

The decision to invest in tertiary education is based on the WB’s optimistic assessment of the country’s achievements in development, poverty reduction, and education, particularly higher education.

Coordinator of the WB’s Personnel Development Section Jeffrey Waite said “This new programme will support the development of a modern higher education system, where universities and colleges have greater managerial autonomy but are also required to be more accountable for the quality of the service they provide.”

The second credit worth 127 million USD will be for the school education quality assurance programme which focuses on disadvantaged primary students by supporting the Government’s full-day schooling reform programme.

The World Bank will provide support to improving the policy framework, human resources and school facilities, to facilitate the implementation of the programme.

The same day, the WB also approved two other projects for Vietnam , totalling 12 million USD, on pollution reduction and building its capacity to manage polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) – a chemical used in manufacturing electrical equipment./.