The above information is mentioned in the National Report on the Education Performance Assessment Program for Primary School Students in Southeast Asia (SEA-PLM) cycle 2024 announced by the Ministry of Education and Training on July 14.
SEA-PLM is a regional scale assessment program implemented by the Southeast Asian Education Ministers Organization (SEAMEO) in coordination with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and development partners, to assess the learning outcomes of primary school students, and at the same time provide a reliable database to serve the planning and improvement of education policies.
Mr. Pham Quoc Khanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality Management, Ministry of Education and Training, said that the SEA-PLM survey cycle 2024 was implemented by Vietnam in April 2024 at 152 primary schools in 53 provinces and cities, with the participation of 152 principals, 1,074 teachers, more than 6,000 5th grade students and parents.
The entire sample selection process is carried out by international partners to ensure objectivity and science. Therefore, the survey results are considered a "table" reflecting the quality of primary education in Vietnam, while creating a basis for comparison with countries in the region.
According to the report, among the countries that announced the results, Vietnam ranked first in Math and Reading, second in Writing, with an average score of 334.6 points in Math, 323.5 points in Reading and 471.1 points in Writing.
The report also shows that 95.4% of students reached the minimum competency threshold for Mathematics, 85.5% reached the minimum competency threshold for Reading; 64.9% of students achieved high proficiency levels simultaneously in both Mathematics and Reading, the highest among countries participating in the survey.
Besides the positive results, the report also pointed out that the gap in learning outcomes still mainly stems from the socio-economic conditions of families, where students live and the language used at home. In particular, in remote, isolated and mountainous areas, the difference in the rate of reaching the minimum reading proficiency threshold between groups of students with high and low socio-economic conditions is up to 26.5 percentage points; in groups of students with many disadvantages, 31.5% have not reached the minimum reading proficiency threshold.
From the survey results, the report proposes 5 policy orientations, including: Continuing to improve the quality of teaching Reading, Writing and Mathematics; prioritizing supporting disadvantaged students; strengthening teacher training; narrowing the digital gap between regions; and at the same time continuing to use SEA-PLM results and domestic education data to monitor quality, build evidence-based policies and develop high-quality human resources.
