A recent survey of 35,000 teachers in six Vietnamese provinces found their English proficiency generally ‘not encouraging,’ according to ETS executive Pushkar Saran. This matters because Vietnam plans to make English a second language in schools.

The teachers took the TOEIC Link test. The test checks listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.

ETS and Vietnam’s Ministry of Education will use the test results as a baseline to create plans that improve teachers’ English ability. Saran said teachers need to understand English well before they can pass language knowledge to their students.

The government aims to roll out English as a second language from 2025 to 2035. The plan could affect about 30 million students across the country.