Effective use of state budget, mobilizing investment resources for education

The 2024-2025 school year is the first year that the new general education program is implemented synchronously in all 12 grades of general education. This is also the year that will have many innovations in the 2025 high school graduation exam. At the beginning of the school year, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son discussed the key tasks of the education sector in the coming school year.

PV: The 2024-2025 school year will see the implementation of the 2018 general education program enter its final year of the first journey, the first high school graduation exam under the new program. What are the Ministry of Education and Training's instructions for this important school year, Minister?

Minister Nguyen Kim Son: After 4 years of implementation by class and level, the 2024-2025 school year will complete the implementation of the 2018 General Education Program with the final classes of all levels. 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.

The recent journey of general education innovation, although fraught with 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.

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, and preparing conditions for organizing the high school graduation exam in 2025.

At conferences and meetings of the whole sector such as the Conference of Directors of the Department of Education and Training, the conference to summarize the school year of each level, the conference to summarize the school year of the whole sector... the work contents have been exchanged and discussed by the 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 direction and guidance, specialized units and the Ministry of Education and Training have been closely monitoring, planning to support and accompany localities in implementing each important task and work of the new school year 2024-2025.

Reporter: The 2024-2025 school year is the first year of high school graduation exams according to the 2018 General Education Program. Can the Minister provide more information about the new points in next year's university entrance exam?

Minister Nguyen Kim Son: 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 admission regulations for 2025 with the general spirit of simplification, creating convenience for students and society, ensuring admission quality and fairness of opportunities for candidates. Higher education institutions will still be autonomous in admission but will have to further promote social responsibility.

Reporter: Lack of teachers is still one of the biggest difficulties for localities when implementing the new general education program. In the 2024-2025 school year, what solutions will the Ministry of Education and Training have to help ensure the quality, quantity and structure of the teaching staff?

Minister Nguyen Kim Son: 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 large 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 number of preschool teachers lacking increased by 6,000, the number of general education teachers lacking increased by 13,856). 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, general education increased by 7,150 classes.

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.

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 take the initiative in recruiting, mobilizing and arranging teachers.

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 these show that there have been important movements to resolve the difficulties in the issue of staff.

Reporter: In addition to the problem of teacher shortage, the lack of facilities and classrooms leading to overcrowding in many schools has also made it difficult for many localities to implement the new general education program. What solutions will the Ministry of Education and Training have to overcome this situation next school year, Minister?

Minister Nguyen Kim Son: 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, on average, the whole country has about 15.5% of classrooms that have not been solidified. 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 the requirements for teaching equipment according to prescribed standards nationwide is still low, only reaching 50.63%...

To achieve the goal of solidifying 100% of educational facilities by 2030 and overcoming current difficulties in facilities and classroom walls, great efforts are needed from localities, including the advisory role of the Departments of Education and Training.

The 2024-2025 school year will be the year of preparation for the 5-year plan, so the Departments of Education and Training need to pay attention to advising on the development of the 2025-2030 5-year plan so that localities can proactively invest in education. Along with that, localities need to ensure that the minimum budget for education is 20%.

In addition, localities should also pay attention to exploiting special policies and preferential policies for provinces and cities. Although the level of special policies of each locality is different, they can exploit the advantages to invest in education development. In recent times, many localities have done this well and created resources and motivation for local education development.

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.

PV: On the eve of the new school year, what message does the Minister have for teachers, students and pupils nationwide?

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son: The more the country's socio-economic development, the higher the requirements for education and training. Never before has the education sector been entrusted with such a great responsibility, such a great honor and such a great 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 school year is about to begin, 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 threshold of the new school year, I hope that every manager, teacher and staff in the whole 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 the State. I wish teachers will have more joy and motivation to work and contribute. I wish students will have a new school year with much creativity and progress.

PV: Thank you very much, Minister.

Source: https://vov.vn/xa-hoi/su-dung-hieu-qua-ngan-sach-nha-nuoc-huy-dong-cac-nguon-luc-dau-tu-cho-giao-duc-post1118411.vov