Minister of Education and Training: The Law on Teachers is a tool to develop the teaching force.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son affirmed that he has great faith in the effectiveness of the Law on Teachers when it comes into practice because the law has been distilled from practice.

“If we want aneducation system that creates change for the country, we cannot help but develop the teaching force. Therefore, in the process of building the Law, the slogan and spirit that we pursue is to build the Law to develop the teaching force. Whatever we do to develop the teaching force, we will resolutely do it and try to do it.”

This was shared by Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son at the Conference summarizing the process of building, promulgating and implementing the Law on Teachers organized by the Ministry of Education and Training this afternoon, July 17.

Special milestone

Minister Nguyen Kim Son said that the National Assembly 's passing of the Law on Teachers is a special milestone, not only for the industry but also for the whole country, a joy not only for more than 1 million teachers but also a common joy for all those interested in education.

Sharing this, speaking at the conference, Mr. Carlos Vargas - Head of UNESCO's Teacher Development Section, Chairman of the Secretariat of the International Working Group on Teachers for Education Goals 2030 said that the promulgation of the Teachers Law is a historic event, creating a favorable environment for teachers to develop, affirming the role of the state in supporting this development, both in time and finance.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the process of drafting the Law on Teachers has been carried out by this unit for a long time and has begun to make important progress since 2018. The Ministry of Education and Training spent 4 years, from 2018 to 2021, researching to propose drafting the Law on Teachers; another nearly 4 years, from the end of 2021 to mid-2024, to propose drafting the Law on Teachers. The time to draft the Law and submit it to the National Assembly for approval took place quickly within 1 year, the Ministry of Education and Training had to concentrate all its forces, urgently and seriously to carry out this task.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, during the process of drafting the Law, the Ministry organized nearly 100 large-scale seminars and conferences to solicit opinions; there were about 20 working sessions between the Ministry of Education and Training and the Committee on Culture and Society, the Committee on Law and Justice of the National Assembly; about 30 meetings between the standing team and experts and about 150 meetings of the standing team. The Law on Teachers also received comments from more than 800,000 people, including more than 700,000 preschool and general education teachers; nearly 7,000 vocational education teachers; nearly 8,000 university and pedagogical college lecturers.

Teaching hours of teachers at Pom Lot Secondary School, Dien Bien province. (Photo: Pham Mai/Vietnam+)

The Law on Teachers passed by the National Assembly has affirmed the position, protected the honor and prestige of the teaching profession. Teachers' salaries are ranked highest in the administrative career salary scale system, and there are many policies to treat, support and attract teachers. The Law on Teachers also standardizes the team and empowers the education sector to proactively recruit teachers - a policy bottleneck that has existed for many years, contributing significantly to solving the problem of surplus - shortage of teachers in the sector.

Need to overcome many challenges in implementation

Affirming that the promulgation of the Law on Teachers is an important turning point, delegates at the conference also expressed concern that there is a large gap between the text of the Law and its implementation in practice and that there will be many challenges.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Society, said that the promulgation of the Teachers Law project was a great success, but putting this law into practice will be a big challenge, requiring great determination. In this process, there must be assessments from practice to make timely adjustments, so that the best and most reasonable policies can reach teachers, helping them to maximize their roles and responsibilities to contribute more to the country's education.

Sharing this, from practical experience in drafting and implementing laws related to education in the past, Professor Pham Do Nhat Tien, former Assistant Minister of Education and Training, said that the law-making stage is a stage of "many dreams" but implementation will be a stage of many challenges.

Mr. Tien gave the example of the Law on Higher Education. The drafting committee of this law wanted the best for higher education, but when it came to practice, many difficulties arose. “First is the overlap between legal documents, such as between the Law on Higher Education and the Law on Public Investment and the Law on Land. Second is the loose coordination with relevant parties. Therefore, many provisions of the Law on Higher Education were not put into practice,” Mr. Tien said.

Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training is drafting and submitting to the Government for promulgation 3 decrees and issuing 12 circulars under its authority to guide the implementation of the Law on Teachers. Mr. Tien said that the development of documents under this law will also be a challenging task, with many difficulties as there will be overlaps with other legal documents and coordination mechanisms between ministries, branches and localities.

“It is necessary to determine the roles of the parties to bring the law into life, and to ensure the unified management rights of the education sector with teachers,” Mr. Tien suggested.

Faced with these concerns, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son affirmed that he has great faith in the effectiveness of the Law on Teachers when put into practice.

“We do not bring the law into life, but the law comes from life. From life, we distill the law, not from external entities put into the law. Therefore, the law is a sharp tool, a solid foundation for developing the teaching force,” said Minister Nguyen Kim Son.

Source: VNP

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/bo-truong-bo-gd-dt-luat-nha-giao-la-cong-cu-de-phat-trien-luc-luong-nha-giao-20250717214951013.htm