Building a learning society in Viet Nam

Intergenerational learning is at the heart of the Vietnamese culture of lifelong learning. Since 2005, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has been building various entities of learning throughout the country. This has seen the expansion of continuing education centres (CECs) in Viet Nam’s districts and provinces and the establishment of community learning centres (CLCs) in 90% of the country’s villages and wards. By encouraging informal, intergenerational learning in families, CLCs are helping to improve the country’s literacy rates.

‘The UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning (UIL) has been instrumental in helping the Ministry of Education and Training develop units of learning throughout the country, thereby helping Viet Nam build a learning society based on the values of lifelong learning,’ said Mr Nguyen Cong Hinh, the Vietnamese Director General, Department of Continuing Education in the Ministry of Education and Training, at a round-table meeting held today at UIL in Hamburg.

The Director General was accompanied by Mr Le Huy Lam, Director of the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization Regional Centre for Lifelong Learning (SEAMEO CELLL), which is based in Viet Nam. SEAMEO CELLL is working with UIL towards building learning societies in Southeast Asia. Find innovative ways of promoting lifelong learning in informal and non-formal settings, at different societal levels, so as to reach majority of adult populations in Viet Nam and Southeast Asia in general, comprised an important part of the round-table discussions.