New school year: Education sector faces unprecedented opportunities

BIG OPPORTUNITY TO BREAKTHROUGH

Minister Nguyen Kim Son shared that this school year, the education sector is facing unprecedented opportunities, and that education and training have never received as much attention and expectation from the Party and the State as they do now. The most important of these is the recent issuance of Resolution 71-NQ/TW by the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training development. This is an important political foundation to further promote the fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training that was established in Resolution 29 (2013) and continued to be emphasized in Conclusion 91 of the Politburo (2024).

- Ảnh 1. — Never before has the Party and State paid as much attention and expectation to education and training as they do today.

For the entire education sector, this is a great opportunity to make a breakthrough, to affirm the decisive position of education in the country's development. Aware of this, the Ministry of Education and Training is urgently developing and submitting to the Government a draft of the Government's Action Program to implement Resolution 71 and will concretize it with the Ministry of Education and Training's Action Plan to implement it right from the beginning of this school year.

Prime Minister directs focus on repairing educational facilities damaged by natural disasters

On September 3, the Prime Minister issued Official Dispatch No. 156/CD-TTg to the Chairmen of the People's Committees of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, and Ha Tinh provinces; and the Ministers of National Defense, Public Security, and Education and Training on focusing on repairing educational and medical facilities damaged by recent natural disasters, ensuring conditions for the new school year opening for students.

The telegram stated that to ensure the organization of the new school year opening ceremony for students, especially in areas affected by recent natural disasters, the Prime Minister requested:

The Chairmen of the People's Committees of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces directed a specific review of the work to restore educational facilities affected by storm No. 5 and recent natural disasters in the area; continue to mobilize maximum resources and forces (especially the military, police, and youth union members) to speed up the progress, even faster, to repair and restore all schools and school sites that have had their roofs blown off, damaged, or unsafe; repair desks and chairs, supplement books, teaching equipment and school supplies for students; ensure safety, adequate conditions for organizing the opening ceremony and basic learning conditions for students; do not let students lack schools, classes, teachers, books, and school supplies. For schools and campuses that have collapsed or are severely damaged and have not been restored or are unsafe, a plan must be developed to arrange temporary locations for students to start classes and study, and must be completed by September 4 at the latest. The results must be reported to the Prime Minister on September 4.

The Minister of Education and Training continues to direct and urge the education sector of localities, especially Thanh Hoa, Nghe An and Ha Tinh provinces, to review and proactively advise local Party committees and authorities to direct and mobilize forces and resources to quickly overcome the damage to educational institutions affected by natural disasters; have proactive and timely plans to support books, teaching equipment and learning materials for educational institutions damaged by natural disasters at the request of localities to ensure learning conditions for students at the beginning of the new school year; synthesize and report to the Prime Minister on the implementation results on September 4.

The Minister of National Defense and the Minister of Public Security continue to direct military and police units stationed in the area to mobilize maximum forces to support school sanitation and repair educational facilities as requested by the locality.

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Along with that, a national target program on education and training development is being built; 4 important laws on education (Law on Teachers, Law on Education, Law on Higher Education and Law on Vocational Education) have been and are expected to be issued this year, creating a solid foundation for operating a modern, synchronous and effective education system. Digital transformation, application of artificial intelligence and STEM education are also opening up opportunities for education to enter a stage of quality improvement and comprehensive innovation.

Besides opportunities, the education sector also faces many challenges. The operation of a two-tier local government model, especially at the commune level, places high demands on managing changes in organization, personnel and apparatus. The issues of educational equity; extra teaching - extra learning; recruitment and rotation of teachers; and universalization are also challenges that the sector must resolutely address. In addition, absorbing huge investment resources in the coming time, ensuring efficiency and compliance with regulations also requires great efforts and hard work.

COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE 2018 General Education Program for Adjustments

The 2018 General Education Program has gone through its first innovation cycle. Could the Minister assess the effectiveness of the implementation of this program as well as the issues that need to be overcome and revised to suit practical requirements in the coming time?

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son : The first batch of students graduating under the 2018 General Education Program showed many positive points. However, the implementation of the 2018 General Education Program in recent times has also revealed some shortcomings. Specifically, at the high school level, the choice of subjects is limited by teachers and classrooms; at the middle school level, teaching integrated subjects is difficult due to uneven capacity of teachers and learning materials.

- Ảnh 2. — In the 2025-2026 school year, the Ministry of Education and Training will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the 2018 General Education Program after an implementation cycle.

To overcome this, in early August, the Ministry issued Official Letter No. 4555 requiring high schools to publicize their plans for organizing the teaching of elective subjects, coordinate with other schools to expand opportunities for students; and support students when they need to adjust their subject choices. For secondary schools, continue to train teachers in integrated teaching, compile illustrative learning materials, and implement a model of teacher clusters supporting each other, in order to improve quality and create excitement for learning.

In the 2025-2026 school year, the Ministry of Education and Training will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the 2018 General Education Program after an implementation cycle to clarify the level of achievement in developing students' qualities and abilities; point out advantages, limitations, causes and propose solutions for adjustment, ensuring the program is practical, effective and sustainable.

The assessment focuses on: facilities, teaching equipment, teaching staff and managers, training quality, suitability of textbooks, effectiveness of innovative methods, testing and assessment; at the same time, considering selective teaching in high school and career guidance activities from middle school to ensure students' real right to choose. The Ministry of Education and Training also coordinates with ministries, branches, localities, domestic and foreign experts to conduct comprehensive surveys, research and assessments.

The consistent orientation is to adhere to the goal that has been determined by the Party and the National Assembly, which is to comprehensively develop the qualities and capacities of students, in conjunction with the requirements of training human resources for the new period. The spirit is to look straight at the truth, evaluate objectively, and make timely adjustments, all for the sake of students.

CONTINUE TO RESOLVE THE RANDOM EXTRA TEACHING AND LEARNING

One of the issues that has received special attention from the public in the past time as well as in the coming school year is the continued implementation of Circular 29 on the management of extra teaching and learning; the implementation and supervision of teaching 2 sessions/day. Could the Minister share the Ministry's guiding viewpoints on these issues?

Regarding the management of extra teaching and learning, the Ministry of Education and Training continues to adhere to the viewpoint that "extra teaching can consolidate knowledge, but brings little value to human development". The profound consequences of the widespread situation of extra teaching and learning require continued drastic rectification. Therefore, in the 2025-2026 school year, the Ministry of Education and Training will continue to direct and urge localities to issue regulations on the management of extra teaching and learning to enhance the responsibility of the government, while requiring educational institutions to effectively implement the General Education Program.

Implementing Directive No. 17 dated June 6, 2025 of the Prime Minister on teaching 2 sessions/day, the Ministry has directed schools to develop an educational plan that clearly shows the plan to mobilize and use resources for implementation in qualified places. The plan must specify the content, duration, and target students, and at the same time assign teachers reasonably and in accordance with regulations; focus on differentiating subjects, nurturing excellent students, reviewing for final year students, and supporting students who have not met the requirements according to Circular 29.

Năm học mới: Ngành giáo dục trước cơ hội chưa từng có - Ảnh 1. — Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son

The Ministry emphasized the need to innovate management work, strengthen inspection and supervision of the implementation of the General Education Program as well as the management of extra teaching and learning, ensuring strict implementation of policies and laws.

The organization of the second session, including additional teaching for 3 subjects as prescribed, was carried out in accordance with Directive 17. The funding for the second session was mainly guaranteed from the state budget under the direction of the Prime Minister. Socialized sources were implemented according to current regulations.

Preparing for pilot high school graduation exam on computer

In preparation for the pilot implementation of computer-based high school graduation exams from 2027 under the direction of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Education and Training is focusing on implementing a number of key tasks, such as: developing a project to organize computer-based high school graduation exams, submitting it to the Prime Minister for approval in 2026; mobilizing experts to build a standardized question bank (expected to be applied from 2027); developing procedures and regulations for organizing computer-based exams, organizing training courses and seminars nationwide; continuing to coordinate with the Government Cipher Committee in transferring and receiving exam questions and other security aspects related to the exam.

The Ministry of Education and Training is currently preparing software systems to organize computer-based exams and testing computer-based exams in localities. It is expected that this school year, the test will be implemented for more than 100,000 students.

TEACHER RECRUITMENT WILL BE DESIGNED DIFFERENTLY

How will the recruitment and mobilization of teachers change when implementing the 2-level local government model and the Law on Teachers, sir?

Immediately after the National Assembly passed the Law on Teachers, the Ministry of Education and Training proactively developed a system of documents guiding its implementation. In particular, regarding the recruitment of teachers, the Ministry is developing a circular with the direction of assigning the Department of Education and Training to preside over the implementation, or advising the Provincial People's Committee to decentralize and authorize in accordance with local realities. The above approach ensures the implementation of the policy of reducing intermediaries, synchronizing the quality of recruitment (one-time recruitment can be registered for admission to many schools based on exam/review results), saving costs, increasing opportunities for participants in recruitment; at the same time, contributing to overcoming the situation of local surplus/shortage of teachers as well as ensuring the structure of the team according to grade level, subject, and educational activities.

In addition, the Ministry of Education and Training is drafting a decree detailing a number of articles of the Law on Teachers, including regulations on the content and form of teacher recruitment. It is expected that the recruitment will include two rounds of examinations, in line with current regulations on civil servant recruitment.

However, the second round of expertise and professional skills will be designed differently, closely following the actual process of teaching and educational activities, ensuring the correct assessment of pedagogical capacity and professional skills of candidates at each level of education and training. This is expected to be an important innovation, aiming to overcome previous limitations when applying the general mechanism for civil servants without taking into account the specific characteristics of the teaching profession.

Năm học mới: Ngành giáo dục trước cơ hội chưa từng có - Ảnh 2. — Teacher recruitment will be designed differently, closely following the actual process of teaching and education activities, ensuring correct assessment of pedagogical capacity and professional skills.

What does the Minister think about the long-standing teacher shortage over the past years and what solutions will be put in place to overcome it in the coming time?

In the 2022-2026 period, the education sector will be supplemented with 65,980 positions by the Politburo. In the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years, the country will recruit more than 40,000 teachers. However, due to the continuous increase in the number of students and classes, the demand for teachers has also increased sharply (the 2023-2024 school year will need 13,676 more teachers; the 2024-2025 school year will need about 22,000 more teachers). Therefore, many localities still lack teachers.

The main reason is due to limited recruitment sources. In some subjects such as information technology, foreign languages, arts, and pedagogy, it is difficult to recruit students because teachers' income is still low. In addition, the process of allocating and recruiting staff in many localities is slow and prolonged.

The Ministry of Education and Training has been implementing many solutions such as: directing training institutions to open major codes, train teachers according to the actual needs of localities, especially specific subjects; requiring localities to recruit enough assigned staff; directing localities to review and arrange the school network; piloting the autonomy mechanism in some public preschools and general schools; promoting socialization...

Along with solutions from the Central Government, the Ministry recommends that localities proactively recruit enough assigned staff, have policies to attract and support teachers, and arrange funding to implement teacher contracts according to regulations.

Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training is also finalizing a draft of detailed regulations on salaries, allowances and policies to attract and support teachers. Accordingly, it is expected that the basic salary of all teachers will increase by at least 2 million VND, and at most up to 5 - 7 million VND/person/month. This increase is only calculated on the basic salary, not including other allowances.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nam-hoc-moi-nganh-giao-duc-truoc-co-hoi-chua-tung-co-185250903235231135.htm