Education and Training Deputy Minister Nguyen Thi Nghia signed her name on a football in a show of support for "One Goal - Education for All" at Lieu Giai Experimental School in the capital city yesterday.

"We are here to work side by side to provide all children, youths and adults with quality basic education by 2015," Nghia said at the launch of the Global Action Week for Education.

Nghia and representatives from UNESCO, Actionaid, Childfund and local enterprises and individuals hope to sign up to help 72 million children throughout the world who do not have access to schools.

In Viet Nam there is a widening gap in the quality and accessibility of education across urban, rural and mountainous areas, according to a Education and Training Ministry survey released in December last year.

It found that Hong (Red) river delta provinces boasted the highest number of children attending kindergarten at 79 per cent while the rate dropped to 45 per cent in Cuu Long (Mekong) delta provinces and 39 per cent in Tay Nguyen (the Central Highlands).

The quality of care and teaching provided to ethnic children remained low, with the majority not sufficiently fluent in Vietnamese to enter primary level education, said the report.

The report said over 300,000 five-year-old children (or 22.8 per cent of pre-school children) in 29 cities and provinces nationwide were not in a position to receive full care and teaching during the 2008-09 school year.

Such difficulties were challenging Viet Nam's efforts to achieve the goal of "Education for All" by 2015 but it has targeted it as a priority

Spending on education has increased from 15.5 per cent of the State budget in 2001 to 20 per cent in 2010.

The Government had continuously sustained the allocation of education funding with the commitment to reach 20 per cent of the national budget by this year, said Katherine Muller-Marin, head of UNESCO Ha Noi.

"This is a significantly higher level of investment compared to many other countries," she added.

The world has experienced one of the worst economic and financial crises over the last few years. A rapid survey undertaken by UNESCO in March 2009 pointed out various negative effects of the economic crisis on education budgets as well as the decreasing trend in the share of national income devoted to education in 40 out of the 105 countries that took part in the survey.

With a theme "Education for All: Enhanced Investment in Education", this year's Global Action Week for Education calls on organisations, donors and individuals in and out of the country to prioritise the financing of education, even in the face of the economic downturn.

The event received enthusiastic responses from many participants.

"We all have responsibilities in the ‘One Goal' commitment and hope to help more students gain access to education by granting them scholarships and studying tools," said a book company director, Nguyen Ngoc Bao.

Over 150 countries including Viet Nam set forth a commitment to provide all children, youths and adults with quality basic education by 2015 in Dakar in 2000. — VNS