Lessons from a neighbor

So many interesting stories happen in the neighborhood. One day you share food, some days, you bicker over house noise or right of way. But what I like most about our neighborhood is the sense of community and the random opportunities to share small pockets of our lives. While hearing stories of my childhood friend succeeding in her chosen career and building a good life with her family makes me happy for them, the truth is, sometimes, we can’t help but compare. What is their secret to success?

Recently, I had the honor of representing Philippine Business for Education and joined the Second Congressional Commission on Education’s learning visit to Vietnam. The lectures, interactions with their government, and conversations with the students and teachers painted a compelling picture. I went home with mixed feelings—was it envy? Frustration? Maybe even a little bit of hope in between.

While the Philippines and Vietnam share similarities in culture, people, and economic phase, we have been outperformed in the 2022 Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa), with Vietnam’s average score of 468 versus the Philippines’ 353. In the 2012, 2015, and 2018 Pisa, Vietnam’s scores bested developing countries and even outranked some first-world economies. What is their formula for success?

During the visit, I saw the impact of quality education in action as key to the rapid ascent of Vietnam’s development over the past decades. What they had wasn’t a top-down, performative system, but a society that had collectively put its education system at the forefront that serves as its national compass. Their government sets directions while local communities invest and participate in its implementation. And everyone, from teachers to parents, is held accountable for excellence. They all knew where they wanted to take their country’s development, and they were clear—down to the numbers—how education would contribute to it.

There was also a relentless focus on the fundamentals and the basic education of the students. Investments extended to student nutrition and robust early childhood development programs, with around 85 percent of toddlers going to mam nons or kindergartens to play and learn.

Teachers are also more effective and well-managed in Vietnam. They regularly undergo training and are empowered to make their classes more engaging, many also maintain close relationships with parents.

Despite limited resources compared to other countries, Vietnam’s disciplined implementation channels resources on the things that matter. Their secret is that they are investing wisely.

We all know that investing in our children is investing in our future. However, in the past decades, our figures are telling us how we continue to neglect our children: where one in every three young Filipino under the age of five remain stunted, where students find it hard to read or understand simple texts at age 10, then continue to face a learning gap of five years when they graduate. All simply because they were lacking support and the resources they need are getting bogged down by bureaucracy.

If we want our economy to improve, we must strengthen our education system as a whole. Our government officials must put their vested interests and quick wins aside and commit to sustainable long-term policies instead.

This is what Vietnam committed to do in the 1990s when it sought to modernize its education system—which continues to be the country’s strategy for sustained economic growth. Vietnam’s 63 provinces are given unusually high levels of discretion with respect to the allocation of budgetary funds for education. Maybe it’s about time we do the same in decentralizing our education system.

Currently, the Philippine basic education system governs a vast system of around 21 million students, taught by over 900,000 teachers in around 60,000 schools in the country. In the face of a governance behemoth plunged into a deep crisis, decentralization will speed up the implementation of needed reforms.

It is high-time that we recognize that responsive and timely solutions are best crafted by the communities closest to our schools and learners. Many high-performing school systems in the Pisa 2022 are systems that trust principals and teachers to deliver education responsibilities, similar to Vietnam.

I have pored over multiple education systems across the globe and I have gone on a few study visits in the past years, but my days in Vietnam are the one that hits home the hardest.

Because it is so close to home, literally and figuratively.

Being geographically and culturally close, it felt like a mirror reflecting a possibility we have always desperately yearned for, reflecting what can be done. That if we put all our mind and might into it—we can have good things too.

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Justine B. Raagas is executive director of Philippine Business for Education. For questions or comments, email [email protected].

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