Innovations in educational activities demonstrate a comprehensive and dynamic educational strategy, bringing about powerful changes.
In the first two months of 2025 alone, the education sector has had three notable events with many turning points. These are not individual events but a consistent strategic whole, laying the foundation for the development of national human resources.
Many new education policies were introduced in early 2025.
First of all, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) implemented Circular No. 29, effective from February 14, to tighten the situation of rampant extra teaching and learning in the general education system.
In parallel, on February 28, the Politburo made a breakthrough decision to exempt tuition fees for all high school students at public schools from the 2025-2026 school year.
On March 2, General Secretary To Lam published an important article titled "Lifelong Learning", marking a turning point in national education policy.
All three events above show that a comprehensive and synchronous education strategy is designed to address and develop national human resources.
Rectify tutoring activities
On February 14, Circular 29/2024 replacing Circular 17/2012 issued by the Ministry of Education and Training officially took effect, marking an important step forward in rectifying the situation of extra teaching and learning nationwide.
When developing this circular, the Ministry of Education and Training aims at the viewpoint that schools do not have extra classes or extra teaching because, in principle, schools and teachers implementing the prescribed study hours have ensured that students have the amount of knowledge and meet the requirements of the 2018 General Education Program.
According to a survey conducted by the Institute of Educational Research in 2023, on average, each high school student in big cities has to attend 12-15 extra classes per week, accounting for nearly 40% of study time with an average tuition fee of 2-4 million VND/month. This not only causes financial pressure but also creates an imbalance in the comprehensive development of students.
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The PISA 2022 international comparison study also shows that Vietnamese students score high on standardized tests (ranked 31st/79 in mathematics), but are weak in critical thinking and practical problem solving (ranked 49th/79). This reflects the current education model that focuses too much on memorization and test preparation, instead of developing thinking skills and independent learning abilities.
Therefore, the issuance of Circular 29 is necessary in the current context. By limiting extra teaching, the Circular forces the education system to improve the quality of teaching during regular school hours and shift from a one-way knowledge transfer method to a model of developing thinking and self-learning capacity.
Recently, many schools ranked first in the country in terms of achievements such as Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, Phan Boi Chau (Nghe An)... have successfully tested this model with 70% of study time devoted to practice, discussion and research activities.
Free tuition for students
On February 28, the Politburo decided to exempt all tuition fees for students from kindergarten to high school nationwide. The implementation time is from the beginning of the new school year 2025 - 2026 (September 2025 onwards).
It is estimated that the state budget will need to pay for the implementation of the tuition exemption policy for the above subjects to be about 30,000 billion VND/year.
The policy of free tuition for public school students is a landmark.
According to the Ministry of Education and Training’s forecast model, this measure will help increase the lower secondary school completion rate from the current 88.6% to 95% by 2030, while raising the high school completion rate from 72.3% to 85%. This is a prerequisite for creating a qualified workforce to adapt to the knowledge economy.
According to statistics, the country currently has 23.2 million students (not including students studying at vocational and continuing education centers). Of these, there are 3.1 million preschool students under 5 years old; 1.7 million preschool students 5 years old; 8.9 million primary school students; 6.5 million secondary school students and 3 million high school students.
Meanwhile, direct and indirect education costs currently account for an average of 15-20% of household income and are the main cause of school dropouts in disadvantaged areas. The dropout rate at the secondary school level in the northern mountainous provinces still fluctuates at 8-12%, four times higher than in large cities.
Lifelong learning
General Secretary To Lam's call for "lifelong learning" is not a completely new slogan, but placed in a special global context and with separate requirements, it has very special meaning and importance.
According to a 2023 report by the World Economic Forum (WEF), 50% of university knowledge will be obsolete within 5 years in the technology sector and within 10 years in most other professions. The pace of technological innovation means that 65% of primary school students today will be working in jobs that do not yet exist when they grow up.
General Secretary To Lam said: " Implementing the Party's viewpoints and policies, building a learning society and lifelong learning has become a movement, a need, a cultural habit and achieved many important results.
Accordingly, a unified national education system has been formed from preschool education to postgraduate training; types of schools, classes, and training types have been diversified, providing learning opportunities for people of all ages.
The General Secretary's article also emphasized the importance of continuous learning in the context of the strong scientific and technological revolution.
Affirming that for Vietnam to develop sustainably in the knowledge age, all people need to practice lifelong learning, especially cadres and party members who must have HEART - TALENT - INTELLIGENCE - STRENGTH, " dare to think, dare to speak, dare to do, dare to take responsibility, dare to sacrifice for the common good".
Along with that, General Secretary To Lam frankly pointed out the "diseases" that are limiting the effectiveness of building a spirit of lifelong learning, emphasizing the need to overcome these limitations to create motivation for continuous learning.
However, to implement the new national education strategy, we need to focus on solving three problems. First, comprehensively reform the general education program and methods. Second, build a system to support comprehensive universal education. Third, build a culture of lifelong learning throughout society.
With a workforce trained according to the new educational strategy, in the future they will not only make up for the shortage but also be the necessary premise to successfully bring the whole country into a new period of development, making Vietnam increasingly rich, strong, prosperous, " standing shoulder to shoulder with the world powers" as Uncle Ho once wished.
Ngo Tien Long
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/hang-loat-doi-moi-mang-tinh-buoc-ngoat-trong-chinh-sach-giao-duc-quoc-gia-ar929943.html
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