Vietnamese primary students’ learning performance surpass their peers from other Southeast Asian countries, according to the Southeast Asia – Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) 2019 Main Regional Report.

A classroom at Thang Long Victoria Primary School, Hanoi. Source kinhtedothi.vn

Six countries participated in the survey in 2019 – Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, and the Philippines – in three skills: reading comprehension, writing and mathematics.
The results were announced during the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization meeting held on December 1.
Regarding Reading competency, Vietnamese primary students displayed the highest average competency level of 6/6. The percentage of Vietnamese students achieving the sixth level of competency is 8%. Malaysia followed in the second place with 58% of students achieving the sixth level. The percentages of the primary students in the four remaining countries were all below 10%.
In Writing, the SEA-PLM survey puts student competency at a scale of 8 levels. Vietnamese students posted an average capacity of 6/8. The percentage of students achieving the 8th level of competency is 20 per cent, while their peers from other SEA countries reached only 2-4%.
There are 9 levels of competency in Mathematics in the SEA-PLM survey. Vietnamese primary students have an average competency level of 8/9. The percentage of students with the highest level of competency (level 9) is 42%. This rate in other neighboring countries was all below 10%.
A closer look at the data revealed that Vietnamese female students were equal to their male counterparts in maths and reading, but they fared significantly better in writing.
Parents’ education level or literacy level also played a part in their children’s learning outcomes, with the more educated parents tending to have children with better academic performance.
The learning gap between urban and rural students as assessed by SEA-PLM has narrowed to a point of almost no difference. However, students from mountainous or remote regions still have a lot to do to get on the level of their peers from other regions.
In 2019, SEA-PLM survey was conducted on 150 schools in Việt Nam with 832 teachers, 4837 students and 4160 parents.
Deputy Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam Nguyen Van Phuc highly appreciated the initiative to develop a common learning outcomes assessment program for ASEAN countries, saying that the program not only provides an objective and fair assessment of the quality of education, but also creates an opportunity for countries to study from each other, share experiences and strategic policies to promote education.
Phuc said that from the evaluation results of SEA-PLM survey, the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam has identified immediate and long-term policies and strategies for the development of primary education, including continuing to crafting specific and practical investment policies to improve education for students in mountainous and remote areas, and providing support for ethnic minority children and children in challenging circumstances.
The Ministry of Education and Training will also build a strategy to improve the educational attainment of students’ parents, develop training materials and programs for parents so that they have better ways of educating their children, he added.
Vietnam will also look at policy tools to invest more in male students so that they can improve their life skills and improve their writing skills.
Equipping schools’ principals and teachers with school and classroom management skills and methods, modern teaching methods and testing and evaluation will also receive more attention in a bid to effectively carry out Vietnam’s new primary education program.