Students prepare to take the 2019 national high school exams in HCMC.
Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Nguyen. 

Vietnam has jumped six places in the latest Worldwide Educating for the Future Index (WEFFI) that lists countries providing 21st-century skills to their youth. 

With an overall score of 55.6 out of 100, Vietnam ranks 31st place in the global rankings of 50 developed and developing countries in the 2019 WEFFI which released last week, rising from 37th place in last year ranking.

The index, commissioned by the Yidan Prize Foundation, was compiled by The Economist. It looks at how well education systems of different countries equip young people (15 to 24 years old) with future-oriented skills in areas such as critical thinking, problem-solving, leadership, collaboration, creativity and entrepreneurship, as well as digital and technical skills.

The new report says developing countries like Vietnam, Indonesia, Mexico and others "are putting their more limited resources to good use in advancing a future skills agenda."

While secondary education in Vietnam teaches students both digital skills and soft skills like communication and entrepreneurship, it does not equip them with critical thinking acumen.

Finland remained first in the global rankings, followed by Sweden and New Zealand.

Singapore and Japan were the only two Asia countries in the top 10, at fourth and 10th, respectively.

Some developed countries dropped in their overall ranking. The U.S dropped from 18th to 22nd place, U.K from 10th to 15th and Russia from 26th to 33rd place.

Both China and India advanced in this year ranking. China moved up from 39th to 34th and India 40th to 35th.

The bottom three nations were Kenya (48th), Nigeria (49th) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (50th).