Hanoi (AsiaNews) - Vietnam is expanding and needs social workers, who are in short supply and above all lack adequate formation. The communist government also does not want Catholics participating in social and educational activities. This creates new difficulties for Catholic teachers, and social workers suffer the consequences.

Focus on social activity in the country, beginning in 1987 - when Vietnam opened its doors to economic and social development - has come in recent days during a meeting at the University of Labour and Social Affairs in Hanoi, on the occasion of the 11th international day of social work. More than 500 people participated in the celebration.

The encounter was organized in collaboration with the Save Children Fund of UNICEF, and the Save Children groups of Sweden and Great Britain, in addition to various nongovernmental organizations. It was held in a city in which the population has suffered from heavy flooding in recent weeks.

The purpose of the meeting was to evaluate the results of social work beginning in 1987. Vietnam is a developing country, and needs to invest in professional social work. The government wants to control all sectors of social work, of social welfare, and community development projects.

Harsh judgment of Vietnam's educational system was expressed by Nguyen Thi Oanh, who has a master's degree in social work and for many years has worked with Tuoi Tre, a government newspaper. "The system," she said, "is very bad. Professors who are teaching social work subjects are not social work lecturers. Most of them are medical doctors, psychological, historical and even political professors. So we need to have quality social work training."

"We cannot organize a big association of social work at the central level," she continued. "We should organize social work associations or groups of the north, the center, and the south. If we divide into small groups of social work, we can carry out activities of social work well."

But the government wants to control everything, and does not want the presence of Catholics.