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Vietnam has been trying to produce more and more workers with bachelor’s degrees, while it has been neglecting vocational education. 

On March 31, 2015, Taiwan officially put Tuo Jiang, the largest invisible rocket ship, into operation. The modern ship was built at Lung Teh shipbuilding yard at Suao Port.

At the launching ceremony, two Vietnamese were seen among the workers introduced as the creators of the ship.

They undertook hard jobs that local workers refused to do.

Do Thai Binh, a renowned maritime expert, said the “hard jobs” in shipbuilding are cleaning, descaling and ship painting which must be taken in special places where machines cannot reach. And the working environment is dangerous.

When asked if Vietnamese workers can get  jobs with higher pay and less risky working environment, Phan Vinh Tri, also a renowned maritime expert, said Vietnamese are not qualified enough to obtain these jobs.

Tri said foreign employers would prioritize hiring Vietnamese workers if the workers can satisfy their requirements, because the pay to Vietnamese workers would always be lower than the pay to local workers for the same work.

The problem here is that the two Vietnamese workers could only undertake hard work.

“This is due to low skills of Vietnamese workers,” he noted. “And Vietnamese education which is not good enough to produce the workers who can satisfy the requirements set by employers. "

It is a great pride of Vietnam that the ratio of students in every 10,000 people has been increasing rapidly. But there are not many statistics about achievements in vocational training.

Vocational schools, one after another, have shut down because they cannot enroll learners because Vietnamese students prefer following university education.

Tri noted that vocational training not only can be implemented at schools, but also through the labor export strategy.

It is necessary to reconsider what Vietnam has gained from sending workers abroad, except the income for workers and tax payments to the State.

Thailand has sent its workers to Israel to work in agriculture projects. The workers sent are those with high qualifications and deep knowledge, who are hired workers at Israeli farms and later, will bring modern technologies they learn there to Thailand.

The Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) tries to send Vietnamese workers abroad just to help settle unemployment in Vietnam, a serious social problem.

It is necessary to build up a labor export strategy with a long term vision which aims to strengthen vocational training and produce qualified workers for the national economy.