Editing Annam (French protectorate) (section)

===20th century===
In the year 1906, France enacted its first educational reform in French Indochina to expand their influence over the local populations.{{cn|date=July 2021}} These reforms were aimed at controlling the spiritual lives of the people and limiting the influence of the Confucian mandarins.{{cn|date=July 2021}} The traditional mandarins were seen as a threat to French influence, as they used Confucianism to promote Vietnamese nationalism.{{cn|date=July 2021}} The 1906 reforms implemented French at every level.{{cn|date=July 2021}} In the 1906 the basic subjects for boys were reading and writing, mathematics, history, geography, [[morality]], and [[accounting]], while the basic subjects for girls were reading and writing, mathematics, morality, [[hygiene]], and [[Homemaking|housework]].{{cn|date=July 2021}} [[Vocational education]] was also established to train the indigenous population to work for French capitalists as skilled labourers.{{cn|date=July 2021}} 

Because only a small number of schools were constructed across Vietnam, access to these schools was extremely limited and as much as 95% of the Vietnamese population would remain [[Illiteracy|illiterate]] during most of the period of French domination, showing the inefficiency of the education system.<ref name="Middlebury-History-of-Education-of-Vietnam"/><ref name="World-Bank-2010-Education-in-Vietnam"/>

In the year 1917 clear educational guidelines were established for French Indochina, and at the primary school and elementary school level Vietnamese classes were given with instructions written in [[Vietnamese alphabet|Chữ Quốc Ngữ]] to replace Chinese characters.{{cn|date=July 2021}} The Quốc Ngữ alphabet was used to turn Vietnamese into "a vehicle used to transport French ideology and interests in Indochina".{{cn|date=July 2021}} 

While apologists for the French colonial regime would claim that French rule led to vast improvements to the Vietnamese education system,<ref name="Encyclopædia-Britannica-Effects-of-French-colonial-rule-on-Vietnam">{{cite encyclopedia|url= https://www.britannica.com/place/Vietnam/Effects-of-French-colonial-rule|title= Vietnam – Effects of French colonial rule.|date=2021|accessdate=31 May 2021|encyclopedia= [[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |language=en}}</ref> the official statistics that were compiled and kept by the French authorities in Indochina cast doubt on such assertions.<ref name="Encyclopædia-Britannica-Effects-of-French-colonial-rule-on-Vietnam"/> 

In the year 1939 no more than 15% of all school-age children had received any amount of education, while 80% of the general Vietnamese populace still remained illiterate.<ref name="Encyclopædia-Britannica-Effects-of-French-colonial-rule-on-Vietnam"/> This was in contrast to pre-colonial times when the majority of the Vietnamese people were at least partly literate.<ref name="Encyclopædia-Britannica-Effects-of-French-colonial-rule-on-Vietnam"/>

[[File:Bằng cấp tiểu học bổ túc cấp bởi bộ trưởng Giáo Dục của Chính Phủ Đại Nam dưới thời vua Bảo Đại năm 1939.jpg|thumb|center|An Indochinese [[primary school]] completion certificate (''Bằng-Cấp Tiểu-Học Cụ-Thề Đông-Pháp'') issued by the [[Ministry of Education (Nguyễn dynasty)|National Ministry of Education]] of the [[Nguyễn dynasty]] in the year 1939. It has a modern [[France|French]] design but displays traditional symbols like the [[Seals of the Nguyễn dynasty|seal]] of the minister, and uses [[Classical Chinese]] alongside Romanised Vietnamese.]]