The new school year emphasizes discipline, responsibility, and constant innovation.

On this occasion, Dai Doan Ket Newspaper reporter interviewed Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son about the key tasks and solutions in the school year implementing the final classes of the new general education program.

The Last Leg of Innovation

Reporter: Minister, the new school year has begun. According to the roadmap, from the 2024-2025 school year, the 2018 General Education Program will officially apply to all grades. This will also be the first school year in which the High School Graduation Exam will be organized according to the new plan to meet the requirements of the general education program innovation. What instructions does the Ministry of Education and Training have for this important school year?

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son: In the 2024-2025 school year, with the spirit of promoting discipline, responsibility, innovation, and quality improvement, the entire education sector will strive to better and best complete the set goals.

The recent journey of general education innovation, although fraught with many difficulties, also shows the determination and efforts of the entire political system, authorities at all levels and the entire education sector to gradually form innovative thinking among those who implement and benefit from innovation and convince society of the positive results of innovation.

Recognizing that this is an important school year, the Ministry of Education and Training has made preparations since previous school years. For example, the high school graduation exam plan from 2025 has been developed, widely consulted and received high consensus from society. Immediately after the plan was issued, the Ministry of Education and Training began preparing for the 2025 High School Graduation Exam. It is expected that the 2025 High School Graduation Exam Regulations will be issued in November 2024. The long-term stability of the exam regulations has also been taken into account in the drafting process to facilitate students, teachers, schools and localities in implementation.

In addition, the preparation process for the 2025 High School Graduation Exam needs to be piloted on a fairly large scale for evaluation, so the Departments of Education and Training have prepared plans for this work, and at the same time practiced to avoid risks when implementing the official exam.

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The recent journey of general education innovation, although fraught with many difficulties, also shows the determination and efforts of the entire political system, authorities at all levels and the entire education sector to gradually form innovative thinking among those who implement and benefit from innovation and convince society of the positive results of innovation.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son

This year, the school year schedule and new school year guidelines for each level of education were issued by the Ministry of Education and Training very early, specifically mentioning each task, work that needs to be done and must be done; including two important tasks: directing the effective implementation of the 2018 General Education Program for the final grades of all levels of education, and preparing conditions for organizing the 2025 High School Graduation Exam.

At conferences and meetings of the whole sector, the work contents have been exchanged and discussed by leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training, representatives of the Departments of Education and Training, and educational institutions in the spirit of sharing experiences, grasping difficulties and proposing and finding solutions to remove and resolve them. Along with the direction and guidance, the specialized units, the Ministry of Education and Training has also been closely monitoring, planning to support and accompany localities in implementing each important task and work of the new school year 2024-2025.

Creating incentives to “retain” teachers

Entering the 5th year of implementing the new program, the shortage of teachers is still common in many localities, especially teachers teaching integrated subjects and new subjects. This is one of the "scheduled" challenges for many localities when the new school year begins. What solutions does the Ministry of Education and Training have to solve this problem in the 2024-2025 school year, Minister?

- The country currently has about 1.6 million teachers. In the 2023-2024 school year, the whole sector recruited 19,474 teachers, however, the number of students is constantly increasing, leading to an increase in the number of classes. In the 2023-2024 school year, the number of junior high school classes increased by 7,198, equivalent to an increase of 13,676 teachers; the number of high school classes increased by 1,213, equivalent to an increase of 2,729 teachers compared to the 2022-2023 school year, leading to a shortage of teachers in most localities.

According to preliminary reports from localities, the number of teachers lacking in the 2024-2025 school year compared to the 2023-2024 school year increased by 19,856 teachers. The main reason is that the number of students continues to increase, leading to an increase in the number of classes. For example, preschools increased by 2,327 groups of classes, and general education increased by 7,150 classes.

To solve this situation, the Ministry of Education and Training has directed localities to recruit all quotas and place orders for teacher training; universities actively organize training related to new subjects, ethnic language teachers, etc.

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“In the 2024-2025 school year, together with the whole country, the education sector will continue to focus on implementing the major tasks assigned in the Resolutions and major policies of the Party, National Assembly, and Government, continuing to innovate education and training.

In the new school year, with the spirit of promoting discipline, responsibility, innovation, and quality improvement, the entire education sector will strive to better and best fulfill the set goals.

In addition, the Ministry of Education and Training will continue to improve the system of policies and laws to enhance the status of teachers; including the Law on Teachers which will be submitted to the National Assembly to create a legal corridor for the promulgation of policies on remuneration, recruitment, use, management, honor, reward... and empower the education sector to proactively recruit, mobilize and arrange teachers.

The Ministry of Education and Training will coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs to advise competent authorities to allocate the remaining staff quotas according to Decision 72 of the Central Government; resolutely urge localities to recruit all staff assigned from previous years and assign additional staff. At the same time, direct localities within their authority and specific socio-economic conditions to have appropriate support policies for local teaching staff, creating trust and peace of mind for teachers during their work.

In recent times, preferential policies for teacher training students, changes in basic salaries, etc. have had a positive impact on students' choice to study teacher training. Many localities have issued and implemented specific mechanisms and policies to create incentives to attract and "retain" teachers. The Law on Teachers is being developed based on practical requirements... All of this shows that there have been important movements to resolve the difficulties in the issue of staff.

The Law on Teachers has been awaited by teachers for a long time. Minister, please tell us about the progress of the draft Law on Teachers?

- As we know, teachers play a very important role in determining the quality of education. Reality has proven that the development of education depends on the development of the teaching staff. The results of educational innovation depend on the innovation of each teacher. Thus, the quality of an education depends on a very important part, which is the quality of the teaching staff. The quality of teachers depends on many factors. In addition to individual efforts, the spirit of continuous learning of each teacher, policies, working environment, methods of selecting, recruiting and developing teachers play an important role.

Based on that awareness, over the past long time, the Ministry of Education and Training has actively prepared theoretical and practical bases to propose to the Party, the State, and the National Assembly to allow the development of a separate Law regulating teachers. By April 2024, the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed to submit to the National Assembly to include the development of the Law on Teachers in the 2024 Law Development Program of the 15th National Assembly. This is good news, meeting the expectations of 1.6 million teachers working in educational institutions nationwide.

Assigned the responsibility of presiding over the drafting of the Law on Teachers, after a period of drafting with many tasks, complicated processes, and difficult new content, on May 13, 2024, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the Draft Law on Teachers to widely solicit public opinion.

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“In the 2024-2025 school year, the education sector will continue to review, revise and supplement the system of legal documents, paying attention to practical issues that arise and need to be adjusted to remove difficulties and obstacles; creating favorable mechanisms and policies for the development of education and training. In particular, priority will be given to resources to complete the development of the Law on Teachers - a law project that will solve one of the most crucial issues in education, which is the development of the teaching staff.”

On August 27, the draft Law on Teachers was commented on by the Government at the Special Session on Law-making for completion and submission to the National Assembly Standing Committee as prescribed. According to the plan, the draft Law on Teachers will be submitted to the National Assembly for consideration and initial comments at the 8th session (October 2024) and considered and approved at the 9th session (May 2025).

Simplify and ensure quality of enrollment

The 2024-2025 school year is also the first year that the High School Graduation Exam is organized according to a new plan to meet the requirements of the general education program innovation. So, what adjustments will there be in university admissions from 2025, Minister?

- Along with the process of promoting university autonomy, university admissions have undergone many changes that have brought about certain results in recent times. In the context of general education entering the final stage of innovation, the High School Graduation Exam entering the first year of implementation according to the new plan, adjustments and innovations in admissions are necessary to respond to the entire innovation from general education to university education.

Based on this orientation, the Ministry of Education and Training is currently reviewing and finalizing the draft of new enrollment regulations for 2025 with the general spirit of simplification, creating convenience for students and society, ensuring enrollment quality and fairness in opportunities for candidates. Higher education institutions are still in the spirit of enrollment autonomy but will have to further promote social responsibility.

Dear Minister, the 2024-2025 school year has begun. What message do you have for teachers and students nationwide in this important school year?

- The more the country's socio-economic development, the higher the requirements for education and training. Never before has the education sector been assigned such a great responsibility, honor and challenge as it is today. Last school year, the entire sector made great efforts to overcome many difficulties and challenges.

The 2023-2024 school year has ended with many good results, the new 2024-2025 school year has begun, on behalf of the leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training, I acknowledge, commend and thank the outstanding efforts of the management team, teachers, staff in the whole industry, and of the students in the past school year.

On the eve of the new school year, I hope that every manager, teacher and staff in the entire sector will continue to make new efforts, new determination, new solutions, promoting the fine traditions of the education sector to continue to develop Vietnamese education to meet the requirements and tasks assigned by the Party and State.

Wishing teachers more joy and motivation to work and contribute. Wishing students a new school year with lots of creativity and progress!

Thank you very much Minister!

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In the 2024-2025 school year, the education sector will continue to review, revise and supplement the system of legal documents, paying attention to practical issues that need to be adjusted to remove difficulties and obstacles; creating favorable mechanisms and policies for the development of education and training. In particular, priority will be given to resources to complete the development of the Law on Teachers - a law project that will solve one of the most crucial issues in education, which is the development of the teaching staff.
Box 5: “In implementing fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training and innovation in general education, in recent times, localities have paid attention to increasing investment in school networks, facilities, and teaching equipment. However, in reality, the number of classrooms that have not been solidified is still high; there is still a shortage of classrooms in areas with high population density, mountainous areas, remote areas, and areas with special difficulties; the rate of meeting teaching equipment according to prescribed standards nationwide is still low, only reaching 50.63%...

One of the key objectives that the education sector will focus on implementing in the 2024-2025 school year is to effectively use the State budget and mobilize investment resources for education; continue to solidify schools and classrooms, eliminate temporary classrooms; develop schools and classrooms in areas with rapidly growing populations and densely populated areas; ensure adequate facilities and minimum teaching equipment to serve the implementation of the general education program and effectively manage and use teaching equipment.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/bo-truong-bo-gddt-nam-hoc-moi-de-cao-ky-cuong-trach-nhiem-doi-moi-khong-ngung-10289298.html