Enrolment in primary education become<sup>moreequitablein the1990s,but inequitiesstill</sup> exist: 82 percent of poor children aged<sup>6-10 were in primaryschools comparedto96 percentfor</sup> the richest children. Moreover, gaps<sup>inenrolmentinsecondaryandpostsecondaryeducation</sup> between the rich and the poor are<sup>still largeinVietnam,with thenetenrolmentrateforthe</sup> poorest quintile only about one third of<sup>that for therichestquintile at lowersecondaryschools.In</sup> 1998, 91 percent of children aged<sup>11-14yearsoldfromtherichestquintileattendedlower</sup> secondary schools, compared to only<sup>34 percentof childrenfromthe poorestquintile.Although</sup> more children from the poorest quintile<sup>wentto upperandpostsecondary schoolsin1997-98,</sup> enrolment rates for this group at these<sup>higher education levels wereextremelylow comparedto</sup> those from the richest expenditure groups;<sup>64 percentof the richestchildren aged15-17attended</sup> upper secondary schools, in contrast<sup>with only5 percentof childrenfrompoorestquintile.The</sup> gap in enrolment in post secondary schools<sup>isevenlarger, the netenrolmentrate was 29 percent</sup> for richest children as compared to<sup>0.4 percent for poorest children(Table1).</sup> In Vietnam and other less developed<sup>countries,manychildrenstart grade1 atlateage,</sup> and there were many children who<sup>repeatedgrades.This can causethenumberof children</sup> enrolled in a certain level to be higher<sup>thanthenumberof childreninthe agerangeassociated</sup> with that level. At the primary school<sup>level,Table1 showsthatover thefiveyearperiod1993-</sup> 98, net enrolment rates increased while<sup>grossenrolment ratesdeclinedfor all expendituregroups,</sup> except the poorest group. This shows<sup>that Vietnamis movingfromthe firstto thesecond phase</sup> of education development: i.e. children<sup>areincreasingly startingschoolat therightage,and</sup> fewer children are repeating grades.

However, the high gross enrolment<sup>ratesfor thepoorestquintileimplythateithertheir</sup> repetition rates were still significant<sup>and muchhigher than otherexpendituregroups,orthat</sup> many children were starting primary<sup>schoolat alateage(orperhapsleavingschoolforafew</sup> years and then returning). In 1998,<sup>about25percentof thepoorest primary-schoolchildren</sup> repeated at least one grade at the<sup>primarylevel,comparedtoonly8percentoftherichest</sup> children (Table 2). Furthermore, the<sup>poorestquintile hadthelowestrate of continuationover the</sup> period 1993-98. Less than half (50 percent)<sup>of childrenfrom the poorest quintilecontinued into</sup> lower secondary school in 1998, while<sup>about94 percentof primary childrenfrom richest quintile</sup> in 1993 moved to lower secondary<sup>schools in1998.</sup>

**Table 2: Repetition rate by level of education,**<sup>**1998**</sup> (number of students who repeated classes<sup>as% of totalstudents,for eachlevel)</sup>

|Level|Poorest|Richest|Vietnam|
|---|---|---|---|
|Primaryschools|24.6|8.0|19.2|
|Lowersecondary|28.6|14.0|21.8|
|Uppersecondary|26.0|12.4|16.0|

_Source:_ Author's estimates based on<sup>1997-98 VLSS</sup> As can be seen from Table 3, despite<sup>highratesof repeatinganddelayedenrolmentat</sup> grade 1, over the 5 years between<sup>1993and1998there hasbeena significantimprovementin</sup> age/grade matching; in 1993, about 23<sup>percentof students enrolledin primaryschools were older</sup> than 10 years old, and almost 28<sup>percentof studentsenrolledinlowersecondaryschoolswere</sup> older than 14 years old. The proportions<sup>for 1998were19and 20 percentrespectively.</sup> 4