Labor export and overseas study counseling activities in a career orientation fair, helping learners access information on domestic and international labor markets.

In 2025, with the active engagement of sectors, units and local authorities, vocational training activities across the province continued to record positive results. The province enrolled and provided vocational training for more than 50,600 people, reaching 100% of the planned target. Of these, 3,800 people were trained at college level, 7,000 at intermediate level, 3,150 at elementary level and 36,600 through training courses lasting under three months. The majority of learners were rural workers and ethnic minority people, contributing to expanded access to vocational opportunities, improved skills and the creation of sustainable income sources.

Training programs were implemented in a flexible manner, closely aligned with actual labor market demand, focusing on target groups such as poor households, near-poor households, newly escaped-from-poverty households, workers in remote and disadvantaged areas and ethnic minority communities. The guiding principle of “learning to work, learning to escape poverty” was consistently upheld, linking vocational training with local production and employment needs. Many classes were organized directly at grassroots level, with flexible schedules and practical training content suited to learners’ capacity, enabling participants to both attend training and maintain production activities and family life.

Through vocational training, workers were equipped with professional knowledge and skills, gradually changing traditional production practices, improving productivity and product quality and enhancing market access. From these training courses, many livelihood models, cooperative groups and cooperatives have been established and developed, contributing to on-the-spot job creation, increased income and reduced risk of falling back into poverty.

In fact, vocational training has brought about clear improvements in the lives of rural residents. Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong of Vo Tranh commune said that after attending a tea processing vocational training course, her family boldly invested in machinery and improved production processes, thereby enhancing product quality and income. Similarly, Mr. Hoang Van Thinh of Vo Nhai commune shared that the household electrical vocational training course helped him gain an additional trade, creating stable employment and income right in his locality without having to seek work elsewhere.

Trainees participating in a tea processing vocational training class, improving production skills and product value

Building on the achieved results, in 2026, Thai Nguyen province plans to enroll 1,812 students at college and intermediate levels and 12,000 learners at elementary and continuing training levels. Of these, approximately 4,000 learners will receive training support from the state budget, with continued priority given to rural workers, poor households, near-poor households, newly escaped-from-poverty households, workers in remote and disadvantaged areas and ethnic minority people.

In the agricultural sector – the backbone of the rural economy, the province will focus on training occupations associated with local strengths, such as tea cultivation and processing, fruit trees, medicinal plants; livestock and poultry farming following biosecurity-oriented approaches; aquaculture; and the application of science and technology in production. At the same time, non-agricultural occupations will continue to be expanded, including small-scale mechanics, household electrical work, agricultural machinery repair, industrial garment manufacturing, food processing, community-based tourism, rural trade and services and occupations serving production activities in industrial parks and clusters. These efforts will open up more employment opportunities and contribute to a sustainable shift in the rural labor structure.

A vocational training class on chicken farming in Na Ri commune attracting a large number of rural workers

Promoting the effectiveness of vocational training in association with new rural development and sustainable livelihood promotion, Thai Nguyen is determined to achieve the multidimensional poverty reduction targets for the 2026-2030 period, striving to reduce the poverty rate by an average of 1–1.5% per year and by at least 3% per year in poor communes. Through these efforts, the province aims to create clear improvements in people’s living standards, narrow regional disparities and move toward comprehensive and sustainable new rural development.