Japan has pledged an additional amount of aid worth 1 billion Yen to help Vietnam further educational development through scholarships and classroom construction projects.
To this effect, two agreements were clinched by Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Norio Hattori and Deputy Minister of Education and Training Tran Van Nhung in Hanoi on July 6.

Under the agreements, 35 outstanding Vietnamese students will be granted postgraduate scholarships worth 527 million Yen to further their studies in Japan during the 2006-2007 period.

The rest of the fund, totaling 511 million Yen, will be devoted to the construction of 140 classrooms in the northern mountainous provinces of Tuyen Quang and Phu Tho as part of the second phase of a project to build and upgrade facilities for primary schools in northern provinces. Under the project, the construction of 26 primary schools, worth over 776 million Yen were completed in the region by 2005.

The first phase of the project was launched in 1996 to help to build 300 primary schools, worth over 200 million US$ in provinces hit by natural calamities in the central and southern regions.