After 2 years of the pandemic, life in Vietnam has returned to what we now call the ‘new normal’. However, the impact left by the pandemic is far from gone. People’s lives, work and health have all suffered and two years of interrupted education has left it’s mark, with children struggling back at school and some young people dropping out of education altogether. During the academic year 2021- 22, children and young people spent seven months in online classes, and only returned to school or higher education for one month before their summer breaks began. Young Lives’ findings show that interrupted education and increased use of online and distance learning has widened educational inequalities, with students from ethnic minority groups, poorer households and rural communities particularly disadvantaged.
Targeted action is now required to help get young people back on track. Addressing learning losses through targeted education programmes should prioritise quality education and aim to reduce educational inequalities, alongside long-term policies to address the digital divide by improving internet access in rural areas and access to technology in poorer households. New investment in mental health services should also be considered if we are to fully support young people.
Vietnam was one of the first countries to recognize the severity of the rapidly expanding health crisis triggered by COVID-19 and took immediate action. Timely and decisive government responses, through strict social distancing measures and joined up responses from central government to local authorities, helped the country to limit the health impact of the virus, particularly in the first year and a half of the pandemic. A central part of this response was to close schools and universities, particularly while vaccines were still unavailable; schools were initially closed from January to May 2020, and subsequently from April 2021 to April 2022 following the dramatic fourth wave of the pandemic.
Following the swift decision to close schools, there was very little time for administrators, teachers, students and families to prepare for online learning, particularly those in rural communities. UNICEF estimated that 93% of teachers in remote provinces of Vietnam did not have access to modern technology in their classrooms prior to the pandemic (UNICEF 2020). Teachers were therefore often left to implement the unprecedented shift to online learning with very little experience or expertise in using technology such as video conferencing and social media.
At the same time, household finances in both rural and urban areas were increasingly strained as the pandemic took its toll on the economy. In Vietnam, data from the General Statistics Office show that by the end of 2020, about 32.1 million people aged 15 and over had been negatively affected by the pandemic. Of which, 69.2% had their income reduced, 39.9% had to reduce working hours or take alternate leave and about 14% were forced to suspend production and business activities.
The number of households in the Young Lives survey that are struggling to meet basic needs increased during the pandemic. Young people from poorer households and marginalised groups appear trapped in deep pockets of poverty, unable to bounce back - despite economic restrictions easing. Those from minority ethnic groups are significantly more likely to consider themselves struggling (24%), compared to those from the majority ethnic group (7%). Long-term stresses on family resources may lead to reduced household spending on children’s education, especially where households are increasingly required to provide new technological devices for learning, such as laptops and mobile devices equipped with audio and cameras to allow online interaction.
Despite strong government investment and significant improvement in access to education in Vietnam over the last two decades, persistent inequality remains for a number of groups, even before the impact of COVID-19 is taken into account. Young Lives has shown that students from poorer households, particularly those from rural communities, ethnic minority groups and those whose mother received little or no education, are less likely to attend preschool or extra classes during primary and secondary school, underperform in cognitive tests (vocabulary, reading and maths), and are more likely to drop out of education early, compared to their more advantaged peers (Duc and Hang 2016).
The pandemic has exacerbated this uneven picture. Already disadvantaged students found themselves further deprived and there was little or no direct support provided by the government or other authorities, beyond the waiving or lowering of tuition fees in some areas.
With online teaching conducted throughout much of 2021, Young Lives found that 55% of students reported that the quality of education declined during the pandemic. Those in the poorest households were more likely to report that quality of education had fallen (59 %, compared to 50% of those in the wealthiest households), as were those in rural areas (59 %) compared to those in urban areas (49 %).
We also found that a clear digital divide is limiting young people’s chances of successfully completing their education, which is likely to impact their future life outcomes. Those most likely to leave education for reasons other than course completion were young people without a suitable device on which to study online. More than 1 in 5 (22 %) of those who did not have internet access at home (via a laptop, tablet, or computer), had dropped out by October– December 2021, compared to only 3 % of those with access to the internet (on at least one of these devices)
And so to the ‘new normal’. After such a protracted period out of the classroom, how are children coping back in school? There is currently much debate about poorer school performance, difficulties with concentration and behavioral changes, as well as worsening mental health among young people.
Young Lives found that the number of young people experiencing symptoms of depression (12%) had doubled by October-December 2021, compared to the previous year (6%), with reported levels of anxiety increasing from 5% to 8% over the same period.
There is urgent need for measures to help disadvantaged children catch up with their peers, and address the inequalities accumulated over the past two years. Loss in knowledge and skills are important, but equally, physical and mental health consequences, which can be more intractable, also need to be taken into consideration when planning for young people targeted interventions.
Education holds the key to young people’s future. The pandemic may seem to be moving to a new, less life-threatening phase, but the consequences it has left behind, including socio-economic and mental health problems, are profound and require the attention of policymakers at different levels.
Investing in initiatives to address persistent inequality in education is vital. This should include a focus on supporting students from poorer households and ethnic minority groups, particularly those in rural and remote communities, and whose parents received little or no education.
Long-term policies to help address the widening digital divide by improving and extending internet and broadband connectivity in rural areas and access to technology in poorer households will help to enable more equitable provision of education, alongside a range of other economic and social benefits. This is also important to help make vulnerable households more resilient to future interruptions in education, including disruption caused by climate change.
Increasing investment in awareness-raising campaigns and data collection to raise the visibility of mental health issues among young people and identify what works in the provision of services and addressing underlying causes, is also essential if we are to fully support young people.
Young Lives expects to resume face-to-face surveys in 2023, to continue monitoring the long-term impacts of the pandemic and other global crises on young people’s lives three years after the coronavirus outbreak.
After 2 years of the pandemic, life in Vietnam has returned to what we now call the ‘new normal’. However, the impact left by the pandemic is far from gone. People’s lives, work and health have all suffered and two years of interrupted education has left it’s mark, with children struggling back at school and some young people dropping out of education altogether. During the academic year 2021- 22, children and young people spent seven months in online classes, and only returned to school or higher education for one month before their summer breaks began. Young Lives’ findings show that interrupted education and increased use of online and distance learning has widened educational inequalities, with students from ethnic minority groups, poorer households and rural communities particularly disadvantaged.
Targeted action is now required to help get young people back on track. Addressing learning losses through targeted education programmes should prioritise quality education and aim to reduce educational inequalities, alongside long-term policies to address the digital divide by improving internet access in rural areas and access to technology in poorer households. New investment in mental health services should also be considered if we are to fully support young people.
Vietnam was one of the first countries to recognize the severity of the rapidly expanding health crisis triggered by COVID-19 and took immediate action. Timely and decisive government responses, through strict social distancing measures and joined up responses from central government to local authorities, helped the country to limit the health impact of the virus, particularly in the first year and a half of the pandemic. A central part of this response was to close schools and universities, particularly while vaccines were still unavailable; schools were initially closed from January to May 2020, and subsequently from April 2021 to April 2022 following the dramatic fourth wave of the pandemic.
Following the swift decision to close schools, there was very little time for administrators, teachers, students and families to prepare for online learning, particularly those in rural communities. UNICEF estimated that 93% of teachers in remote provinces of Vietnam did not have access to modern technology in their classrooms prior to the pandemic (UNICEF 2020). Teachers were therefore often left to implement the unprecedented shift to online learning with very little experience or expertise in using technology such as video conferencing and social media.
At the same time, household finances in both rural and urban areas were increasingly strained as the pandemic took its toll on the economy. In Vietnam, data from the General Statistics Office show that by the end of 2020, about 32.1 million people aged 15 and over had been negatively affected by the pandemic. Of which, 69.2% had their income reduced, 39.9% had to reduce working hours or take alternate leave and about 14% were forced to suspend production and business activities.
The number of households in the Young Lives survey that are struggling to meet basic needs increased during the pandemic. Young people from poorer households and marginalised groups appear trapped in deep pockets of poverty, unable to bounce back - despite economic restrictions easing. Those from minority ethnic groups are significantly more likely to consider themselves struggling (24%), compared to those from the majority ethnic group (7%). Long-term stresses on family resources may lead to reduced household spending on children’s education, especially where households are increasingly required to provide new technological devices for learning, such as laptops and mobile devices equipped with audio and cameras to allow online interaction.
Despite strong government investment and significant improvement in access to education in Vietnam over the last two decades, persistent inequality remains for a number of groups, even before the impact of COVID-19 is taken into account. Young Lives has shown that students from poorer households, particularly those from rural communities, ethnic minority groups and those whose mother received little or no education, are less likely to attend preschool or extra classes during primary and secondary school, underperform in cognitive tests (vocabulary, reading and maths), and are more likely to drop out of education early, compared to their more advantaged peers (Duc and Hang 2016).
The pandemic has exacerbated this uneven picture. Already disadvantaged students found themselves further deprived and there was little or no direct support provided by the government or other authorities, beyond the waiving or lowering of tuition fees in some areas.
With online teaching conducted throughout much of 2021, Young Lives found that 55% of students reported that the quality of education declined during the pandemic. Those in the poorest households were more likely to report that quality of education had fallen (59 %, compared to 50% of those in the wealthiest households), as were those in rural areas (59 %) compared to those in urban areas (49 %).
We also found that a clear digital divide is limiting young people’s chances of successfully completing their education, which is likely to impact their future life outcomes. Those most likely to leave education for reasons other than course completion were young people without a suitable device on which to study online. More than 1 in 5 (22 %) of those who did not have internet access at home (via a laptop, tablet, or computer), had dropped out by October– December 2021, compared to only 3 % of those with access to the internet (on at least one of these devices)
And so to the ‘new normal’. After such a protracted period out of the classroom, how are children coping back in school? There is currently much debate about poorer school performance, difficulties with concentration and behavioral changes, as well as worsening mental health among young people.
Young Lives found that the number of young people experiencing symptoms of depression (12%) had doubled by October-December 2021, compared to the previous year (6%), with reported levels of anxiety increasing from 5% to 8% over the same period.
There is urgent need for measures to help disadvantaged children catch up with their peers, and address the inequalities accumulated over the past two years. Loss in knowledge and skills are important, but equally, physical and mental health consequences, which can be more intractable, also need to be taken into consideration when planning for young people targeted interventions.
Education holds the key to young people’s future. The pandemic may seem to be moving to a new, less life-threatening phase, but the consequences it has left behind, including socio-economic and mental health problems, are profound and require the attention of policymakers at different levels.
Investing in initiatives to address persistent inequality in education is vital. This should include a focus on supporting students from poorer households and ethnic minority groups, particularly those in rural and remote communities, and whose parents received little or no education.
Long-term policies to help address the widening digital divide by improving and extending internet and broadband connectivity in rural areas and access to technology in poorer households will help to enable more equitable provision of education, alongside a range of other economic and social benefits. This is also important to help make vulnerable households more resilient to future interruptions in education, including disruption caused by climate change.
Increasing investment in awareness-raising campaigns and data collection to raise the visibility of mental health issues among young people and identify what works in the provision of services and addressing underlying causes, is also essential if we are to fully support young people.
Young Lives expects to resume face-to-face surveys in 2023, to continue monitoring the long-term impacts of the pandemic and other global crises on young people’s lives three years after the coronavirus outbreak.