Education ministry ranks last in public administration reform index

The list, released by the Steering Committee for Administrative Reform on Thursday, showed that the Ministry of Education and Training had dropped six places from 2019.

The Ministry of Health remained second from last for a third year in a row.

The top three, unchanged from 2019, were the State Bank of Vietnam, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Justice.

The PAR Index, which assesses the administrative reform status of ministries and the country’s 63 provinces and cities, this year polled around 22,500 government workers and 36,000 members of the public and businesspeople.

Quang Ninh Province, Hai Phong City and Thua Thien-Hue Province were the top three, while Quang Ngai, Phu Yen and Kien Giang provinces occupied the bottom positions.

Also on Thursday the 2020 Satisfaction Index of Public Administration Services, which assesses public services all over the country, was announced.

Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Bac Giang Province, and Hai Duong Province topped it.

Those at the bottom were Binh Thuan, Dak Lak, Cao Bang, and Quang Binh Provinces.

The index, for which over 35,000 people were polled, found 5 percent of the respondents saying they had to go back and forth multiple times to government offices to get their work done.

In some places they had to pay bribes to get the work done, had their appointments delayed or faced other difficulties.

But 85 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the services, but they would like to see simplified and faster administrative procedures among other improvements.