80 years of Vietnamese education, from 90% illiterate population to international integration

The Ministry of National Education, now the Ministry of Education and Training, was established right after the Provisional Government was introduced to the people on September 2, 1945. After 80 years with many ups and downs and changes, Vietnamese education has achieved important achievements.

Over the past 80 years, the development of Vietnamese education has been divided into 5 stages.

Period 1945-1954: Building a new ideological foundation, eliminating illiteracy, maintaining and developing the national education system, training a generation of "resistance citizens"...

Immediately after the August Revolution, the Democratic Republic of Vietnam was born amid numerous difficulties: "internal and external enemies", an exhausted economy , and more than 90% of the population was illiterate.

The government considered eradicating illiteracy and reviving education as urgent tasks. In the liberated areas, the Popular Education and Cultural Supplementary Education movements spread widely, schools were expanded, universities were restored and taught in Vietnamese.

In the temporarily occupied areas, education was a front for ideological struggle, and the patriotic education movement developed strongly. The Popular Literacy classes were maintained secretly despite the French government establishing a narrow education system with the purpose of enslaving, opposing the revolution, poisoning the youth, and turning schools into places for monitoring, seducing and recruiting soldiers, and for oppressing patriotic teachers and students.

Period 1954-1975: The North basically eliminated illiteracy and built a complete national education system. The South developed flexible and persistent revolutionary education and a democratic school network.

After 1954, the country was divided into two regions, the North and the South, with two opposing systems and development paths, which had a profound impact on education. Despite the differences in nature, the educational goals of the two regions achieved certain successes.

The North focused on eradicating illiteracy with the third widely launched campaign. The 1956 education reform established a 10-year general education system, compiled new curriculum and textbooks, and trained a team of qualified teachers.

Primary school students in Hanoi. Photo: Pham Hai

Since 1958, education has become an important part of the socialist construction, the curriculum has been strengthened, focusing on practice and production labor. Universities have developed rapidly, from 5 schools (1959-1960) to 17 schools (1964-1965). During the period 1965-1975, when the US bombed the North, the education sector shifted to wartime conditions.

The South maintained two parallel systems: education under the Republic of Vietnam regime and education in the liberated areas. From 1954 to 1960, popular education classes operated under a “legal cover” in difficult conditions. From 1961, a revolutionary education system was established, with its own curriculum and textbooks, and schools developed strongly. From 1969 to 1975, education shifted flexibly, opening legal and semi-legal classes in the suburbs, especially after the Paris Agreement.

In the period 1975-1986, the national education system was unified, the scale was maintained and expanded, illiteracy was eliminated, people's knowledge was improved, and comprehensive education policies and guidelines were developed.

In the first three years after 1975, education focused on urgent post-war tasks such as taking over, stabilizing and unifying the system nationwide. In the years 1979-1986, the third comprehensive education reform was implemented in the context of the country falling into a socio-economic crisis.

In that context, in June 1975, the Secretariat issued two directives on education in the South, serving as a guideline for taking over, eliminating illiteracy, supplementing culture, developing schools and classes, and unifying management.

The 1976 Party Congress also established the ideological foundation for educational development: "Education is the cultural foundation of a country and the future strength of a nation."

Resolution 14 of the Central Committee in January 1979 was an important legal document that officially launched the third educational reform. However, in the context of the socio-economic crisis, the 1982 Party Congress frankly admitted that “the biggest problem today is the serious decline in the quality of education”.

During the years 1975-1978, the education sector quickly took over and put into stable operation almost the entire school system in the South. By the end of 1978, the southern provinces and cities had basically completed the eradication of illiteracy, private schools were dissolved, many public universities were merged, forming a post-graduate - associate doctoral training system.

In the context of the 1979-1986 crisis, education successfully unified the 12-year general education system nationwide. For the first time, a single curriculum and textbooks were compiled and applied. However, the socio-economic crisis had a direct and severe impact on education. Infrastructure was degraded, the education budget accounted for only 3.5-3.7% of total expenditure, mainly for salaries. At one point, 40% of classrooms nationwide were temporary classrooms made of bamboo and thatch. Teachers' lives were difficult, education quality declined, and student numbers fluctuated.

In the period 1986-2000, education was the top national policy, the legal framework and institutions were gradually improved, socialized, and diversified.

The 6th Party Congress (December 1986) pointed out weaknesses and required innovation in thinking, considering education an inseparable part of the general innovation cause.

Central Resolution 6 (1989) advocated diversifying training, expanding non-public schools and shifting the financial mechanism from subsidy to mobilizing many sources with tuition fees.

Hanoi students on the first day of school. Photo: Hoang Ha

At the 7th National Congress of the Party (1991), education and training were considered the "top national policy" with the task of "Improving people's knowledge, training human resources, nurturing talents", investing in education is investing in development...

The Party's policy has been institutionalized through laws, such as the Law on Universal Primary Education (1991), especially the Law on Education (1998).

In the period 2000-2025, education policy is consistently the top national policy, the education budget accounts for 20% of total expenditure, digital transformation, and international integration.

Resolution No. 29 of the Central Committee in 2013 affirmed the importance of education, prioritizing state budget spending on education, reaching at least 20% of total expenditure.

In the first 10 years of the 21st century, education focused on strengthening the foundation and universalization. By 2000, Vietnam had completed universal primary education and eradicated illiteracy. In June 2010, 63 provinces and cities met the standards for universal lower secondary education. New general education programs and textbooks were implemented since 2002.

The 2005 Education Law abolished the semi-public model and replaced it with private and non-public models, creating a legal framework for the socialization of education. Vocational education was emphasized with the 2006 Vocational Training Law. The 2005 Education Law introduced the concept of “quality assessment” for the first time.

Also during this period, education and training entered a period of fundamental and comprehensive innovation. The 11th Party Congress (2011) identified Education and Training as the top national policy, the Education Development Strategy 2011-2020 (Decision 711, 2012), the Law on Higher Education 2012 and especially Resolution 29-NQ/TW (2013) created a legal corridor for comprehensive innovation.

The Covid-19 pandemic (2020-2021) promoted online teaching with the motto "temporarily stop going to school, not stop learning". Since the pandemic, digital transformation has become the strategic direction of the industry.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/80-nam-giao-duc-viet-nam-tu-90-dan-so-ca-nuoc-mu-chu-den-hoi-nhap-quoc-te-2437322.html