The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) of Vietnam has entered into an exclusive agreement with Singapore-based smart contract platform TomoChain to store student records on a blockchain, TomoChain announced.
Make school records management more cost and time efficient
According to the announcement, the National Qualifications Archive program will upload all certifications obtained by high school students and high schools themselves in Vietnam onto TomoChain's public blockchain to create a transparent and immutable ledger.
Qualifications are currently managed by education and training institutions, resulting in delays in the verification processes by recruiting agencies and human resources, the statement said.
Record keeping and identity verification are applications of blockchain technology that could be effectively applied to public administration. Earlier this year, U.S. lawmakers called on President Trump's administration to consider using blockchain technology to update health and supply chain records and using the technology to speed up people's identity verification. which will receive benefits from the government.
"The management of degrees and certificates is a problem that must be solved by technology, which is significant for the whole society and must also be cost-effective for the degree management system in particular, and education in general, ”Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc said in a press release.
Vietnam is not alone in the institutional exploration of the blockchain
The initiative in question is Vietnam's largest exploration of blockchain technology to date and marks the first time for a public blockchain to be adopted domestically by a major government, the announcement says.
A number of countries and institutions have tested blockchain-based ledgers for invest and archive student records. In 2017, Malta's Ministry of Education reached an agreement with a blockchain startup to track student credentials and academic documents on a blockchain.
The same year, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) released 100 degrees on a blockchain as part of a pilot program. TomoChain, headquartered in Singapore, has additional offices in Vietnam and Japan.
The company owns its own TomoDEX crypto exchange powered by a TomoX level one protocol launched earlier this year. In September 2020, TomoChain acquired Lition, a German company that provides public and private blockchain solutions with the erasable data functionality.
After the initial phase in Vietnam, up to 1,5 million degrees of all types from educational institutions under the MOET will be entered into the system. The national system is expected to be implemented for the 2020-2021 school year, TomoChain said.
