VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) applies a decentralization scheme, allowing local education and training departments to appraise the schools’ capability for licensing. This is the fatal mistake that leads to the big problems in the training.

Under the Circular No. 08 issued in February 2011, MOET assigns local education and training departments to verify the conditions of schools to be sure that the schools can meet the requirements to provide medical training.

MOET could not understand that schools need to have special conditions to provide training in the special major, and that local education departments are not capable enough to undertake such a heavy and complicated job.

As a result, more and more medical schools and faculties have been set up in many different localities, which has led to the crisis in the special training major.

In fact, schools themselves do not want to see their applications for opening medical faculties to be appraised by local education departments, because they believe the departments are not competent enough.

The president of a big university in Hanoi frankly said that not all local education departments can verify the material facilities, teaching staff, laboratories and equipments because they don’t have enough workers for so many works, while the workers are not qualified enough for this.

He said that the officers of local education departments don’t have deep understanding about the schools and the training majors. How can they assess the schools?

Le Hoang Tuoi, Director of the Hau Giang provincial Education and Training Department, said the division in charge of the work only has four officers. Therefore, when the department was asked to assess the conditions of the Vo Truong Toan Medical University, it had to hire four experts in the field to join the appraisal team.

Tuoi said the department cannot appraise the professional quality, while it simply checks the material facilities in accordance with the ready made lists. “We had to film the material facilities and take pictures for evidences.” Tuoi said.

The Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan said at a conference that he heard some ridiculous stories about the appraisal. A medical school borrowed some medical instruments from a medical center to show to the officials from the local education department. After the officials saw the modern equipments and believed that the school was well equipped enough to provide training, the school gave the equipments back to the medical center.

However, replying to the complaints about the incapability of local education department in appraising the schools’ conditions to open medical faculties, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Bui Van Ga denied the fact that local education departments have been overloaded when asked to examine the medical schools’ material facilities.

Ga said that local departments only carry out normal inspections, not professional inspections. The Director of the University Education Department Bui Anh Tuan also said that the inspection by the Ministry of Health before the schools are granted licenses is necessary.

Tuan, while admitting that medical branch is a special training major which requires special regulations, still believes that the decentralization is the best solution.

K. Chi