Online School in Vietnam: Schools in Two Cities, Factories Everywhere Else

By Alfred Ouko, Founder · October 2026 · 9 min read

Vietnam’s international schools are concentrated in two cities. Hanoi has UNIS Hanoi, the British International School and a number of others; Ho Chi Minh City has ISHCMC, Saigon South International School, the British International School and a cluster in Thao Dien and Phu My Hung. Families there have real choice. But much of Vietnam’s international economy is not in those city centres. It is in the electronics plants around Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen, the industrial parks north of Ho Chi Minh City, the port of Hai Phong, the oil and gas industry at Vung Tau, and the technology firms of Da Nang. This guide is about the families in those places, and about Vietnamese families everywhere who want an international track beside the Vietnamese school.

Where the international economy actually is

Since the late 2000s, Vietnam has become one of Asia’s main manufacturing bases. Samsung’s phone factories in Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen brought a large Korean community north of Hanoi, and LG has built in Hai Phong. North of Ho Chi Minh City, the industrial parks around Binh Duong, including the Vietnam Singapore Industrial Park, host Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese and Singaporean firms. Intel’s plant sits in the Saigon Hi-Tech Park. Vung Tau has been the base for the offshore oil and gas industry for decades. Da Nang has software outsourcing, tourism and a growing remote-working community. All of these recruit managers and engineers from abroad, and all of them send Vietnamese staff abroad and bring them back.

What families currently do

Families on assignment who can commute use the international schools in Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, which can mean long daily journeys from an industrial park. Korean families in the north often use the Korean school in Bac Ninh. Others settle in the city and accept the commute to the plant themselves. Vietnamese families make a different choice. Most keep their children in a Vietnamese school, public or private, and add học thêm, the extra tuition that fills evenings and weekends, with IELTS or SAT classes added as university plans firm up. That works, but it rarely adds up to a planned international qualification with one school responsible for it.

Where a live online school fits

For Vietnamese families, the usual pattern is a second track. The Vietnamese school carries the enrolment, the national curriculum and the route to the graduation examination, and we teach Cambridge IGCSE or AP subjects live, in a small group, toward external examinations. For international families in Bac Ninh, Binh Duong or Vung Tau, we often provide continuity, so a child keeps the same curriculum and examination board through a two- or three-year posting and the next move. Some foreign families use us full-time, usually under their home country’s arrangements. Vietnam’s compulsory education for Vietnamese nationals runs through grade nine, and families should confirm their position with the Ministry of Education and Training before planning anything other than the supplementary route.

Time zone and class times

Vietnam is on Indochina Time, UTC+7, with no daylight saving, so it is four hours ahead of our Nairobi teaching base all year. A class at nine in the Nairobi morning lands at one in the Vietnamese afternoon, and a class at one in Nairobi lands at five. Students still in a Vietnamese school day will usually take the later afternoon and early-evening classes, in the hours học thêm normally occupies. Full-time students can use the earlier ones. Every lesson is recorded, so a student who misses a class for a family event or a late school day can catch up the same evening. Because Vietnam does not change its clocks, the timetable stays fixed through the year, which makes it easy to plan around school, tuition and family life.

What we teach, and when the local school is right

We teach Cambridge from Primary through A Level, Pearson Edexcel International GCSE and International A Level, IB subject support, and the American curriculum with AP. Manufacturing and engineering families tend to ask for Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry; Vietnamese families aiming at RMIT Vietnam, Fulbright University Vietnam or VinUniversity often want English and the sciences toward IGCSE and A-Level, or AP. Cambridge and Pearson Edexcel examinations are sat at authorised exam centres, which families book, with the centre confirmed per family, per session. And where a child is doing well in a good Vietnamese school and is aiming at a Vietnamese university through the national examination, a second track may not be needed. We say so when that is the case.

Vietnam’s international schools are in two cities, and its international economy is spread across factory belts, ports and the coast. A live online school fits beside the Vietnamese school as a structured second track, and beside a posting as continuity that moves with the family. If that sounds like your situation, book an assessment for your child, or start with our Bac Ninh, Binh Duong and Vung Tau pages.

Frequently asked questions

What time are live classes in Vietnam?

Vietnam is four hours ahead of Nairobi all year. Morning classes in Nairobi land in the Vietnamese afternoon, and later ones in the early evening. All lessons are recorded.

Can we use Smartious alongside a Vietnamese school?

Yes, and it is the most common arrangement. The Vietnamese school carries the enrolment and the national curriculum, and we teach Cambridge, Edexcel or AP subjects live toward external examinations.

We are posted to Bac Ninh. Do we have to live in Hanoi for school?

Not for the international curriculum. The class is the same wherever the family lives, so the choice of home can follow the job rather than the school.

Is it a replacement for học thêm?

For the international qualification, often yes. One school takes responsibility for the subjects and the plan toward the examinations, instead of several separate tutors.

How much does it cost?

Fees start from USD 423 a month for Primary and vary by curriculum and level.

Next steps

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