INTRODUCTION

After more than twenty years of Đổi Mới (renovation) which commenced in 1986, Vietnam has made remarkable achievements both socially and economically. Since 1991, Vietnam's annual GDP growth has averaged over seven per cent. Education and training have also undergone positive changes and the people's general knowledge has increased substantially. By the year 2000, the state had carried out literacy programmes and established “universal” (phổ cập) primary education (UPE) in all localities. (According to state standards, a province/city to be considered reaching UPE has more than 80 per cent of children in the area finishing Grade five by age fourteen. In the mountainous or difficult areas this rate is set at 70 per cent). By December of 2008, forty-seven out of sixty-three provinces and cities had universal enrolment in lowersecondary education (ULSE). The government is now planning UPE and ULSE for all pupils reaching the requisite age for those particular levels of education, in addition to implementing universal upper-secondary education (UUSE) in some localities. Vietnam also plans to complete universal lower- secondary education (USE) for all provinces and cities in 2010. However, ensuring the sustainability of UPE and USE remains a big challenge for Vietnamese education as the phenomenon of dropouts remains.

To help clarify the magnitude of dropouts, this chapter analyses dropout trends of Vietnamese pupils from 1998 to 2006, using the Vietnam Living Standards Survey (VNLSS) data. The analysis focuses on primary and lower secondary levels of schooling, since universalizing education and retaining universal education at these two levels are stated goals of the Vietnamese Government. The analysis also attempts to analyse dropouts across regions, expenditure groups, sex, and age. Finally, the analysis examines reasons children drop out of school. A technical appendix provides details of the statistical methods employed in this analysis.

SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES FROM 1990 TO 2008: GENERAL TRENDS

It is important to emphasize that the term dropouts in Vietnam refers to students who cease attending school during the school year.