The VND16tril (US$1bil) foreign languages project, if approved, will become operational in 2007. Nguyen Loc, Deputy Director of the National Institute for Educational Strategy and Curriculum, spoke to VietNamNet about the programme.

Besides equipment and strategy, the most important issue facing the project is the lack of foreign language teachers, both in quality and quantity. How do you plan to deal with this problem?

To implement the project well, the quality of teachers should be improved. The project has six levels as per the international system. Students as well as teachers have to follow this system.

For example, teachers should pass the fifth level to teach high school students at third level. This means teachers should have already graduated from universities specialising in foreign languages.

Currently, we lack foreign language teachers. According to a report, only 8.2% of the teachers are trained in foreign language teaching. Meanwhile, the project is planning to double the number of foreign language classes.

So, the number of foreign language teachers should also be doubled. So, we have to train and educate more teachers or employ those from foreign countries.

Since almost all foreign language students prefer to stay in big cities after graduation, remote areas and regions in the country will face a shortage of teachers.

Earlier in 2000, the foreign language programme and curriculum were changed. Now, under the project, the whole foreign language sector is proposed to be transformed. Will this be in conformity with the recent education programme?

Normally, education programmes and content are changed every five to ten years.

We have earlier revised the education content and curriculum in 2000. With the project to teach and study foreign languages expected to become operational in 2007-08, it is now time to revise the foreign language programme again.

According to the project, all foreign language programmes will not be revised at the same time. Based on different conditions and demands, the revised programme can be implemented by each province at various times.

With the project planned to be completely implemented in 2015, will some provinces find it difficult to keep up with the pace?

Each province will decide to implement the revised programme depending on their own conditions such as availability of teachers and support from local authorities.

About 40% outstanding universities can immediately carry out the programme, with another 40% of universities to start from 2010 or 2011, and the rest from 2016.

Experts have pointed out that the project has failed to identify a main foreign language to be universally taught. What is your opinion?

The Government has proposed English to be taught as the main foreign language. In the near future, the ministry will submit its proposal to the Government and unify our points of view.

We are still poor and must use our resources carefully to teach a foreign language that is most popular around the world.

Earlier, provinces had the right to choose the first and second foreign languages.

They could choose two out of four foreign languages, including English, French, Russian and Chinese.

However, we now plan to teach only one foreign language, and will start with the second language from 2020. The provinces have the right to choose the language to teach.

Once the project is approved, we will set up a management board which will look into issues like teachers and teaching equipment.

(Source: Viet Nam News)