Confidently heading into the new school year

September 5, teachers, cadres and civil servants of the Vietnamese educational sector, together with students and parents across the country, jubilantly welcome the opening ceremony of the new academic year of 2018-2019.

The school year has been determined by the education sector to focus on improving the quality of education; exercising discipline and democracy in schools, building a safe, healthy and friendly educational environment; and strengthening the education of politics, ideology, morality, lifestyle, life skills, and cultural behaviours for students.

Over the past few years, thanks to the care of the Party, State and the whole society, Vietnam’s education sector has made unceasing efforts to overcome difficulties and challenges, and reach proud achievements. The Party and State’s policies on radical and comprehensive reforms of education and training have been concretised, while the shortcomings and limitations have been gradually addressed through the issuance of legal normative documents on education and training. The education sector continues to implement radical and comprehensive reforms of education and training activities, with many positive results recorded. The preschool network has been expanded, with the rate of mobilising children to school exceeding the targets across all age groups. The scale of general education has been stable, with the educational quality having been improved. The quality-focused culture has been gradually established in each higher education institutions. Notably, Vietnam’s educational reform results have won recognition and appreciation from the international community, as in 2018, the World Bank (WB) has affirmed that seven of the world’s ten leading educational systems come from the East Asia-Pacific region, with really impressive development seen in Vietnam’s educational system. Delegations of Vietnamese students to Olympiads and scientific-technical contests, both regionally and internationally, brought home high prizes, gaining admiration from international friends. For the first time ever, Vietnam has two universities named among the world’s 1,000 best universities, the Vietnam National University, Hanoi and the Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City. Those are the proud achievements of the country’s education and training.

However, compared with the actual needs, there are still many issues facing Vietnam’s education and training activities. The network of schools, classes and facilities for teaching and studying remains modest in many places. The quality of human resources, especially high-quality manpower, has yet to meet the requirements of national development. The recognition of the ranks of professor and associate professor, and noble titles needs to be reviewed with many disqualified candidates. Infringements in the national high school examination in some localities have reduced people’s faith in the seriousness, justice, objectivity and transparency of a number of educational reform activities. Ahead of the new school year, there remain many classrooms and schools which have yet to be recovered after being damaged by recent floods.

The academic year of 2018-2019 is also the fifth year of implementing the 11th Party Central Committee’s Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW on radical and comprehensive reforms to education and training. This is an occasion for the education sector to look back and bring into play the achievements, overcome limitations, and implement tasks and solutions in a synchronous and effective fashion, in order to achieve the objectives as set out by the Resolution, towards Vietnam’s firm educational development. In particular, preschool education should focus on developing schools and classes in industrial parks and processing zones, while resolutely combating child violence and handling the shortage of teachers. General education needs to prepare the conditions for the implementation of the programme of renovated textbooks, in addition to renovating the management mechanism in schools. Higher education continues to promote self-reliance, and improve the quality of personnel training to meet the requirements of the fourth Industrial Revolution. Regular education focuses on improving performance and developing education and training in remote, isolated and ethnic minority areas, while further caring for children of policy beneficiaries, building a learning society, and ensuring equal access to education for all people.

Heading into the new school year of 2018-2019, advantages are always accompanied by difficulties and challenges. The education sector needs to bring into full play its achievements, and continue to synchronously implement tasks and solutions for radical and comprehensive education and training reforms, in order to best meet the demand of high-quality human resource training in service of the country’s industrialisation, modernisation and international integration cause. All-level Party committees, governments, organisations, mass unions and the entire society continue to pay more attention to the cause of “human cultivation”, while creating the most favourable possible conditions for children to study and achieve strong academic results. Each cadre and teacher should uphold their flame of passion for the cause of education, and be constantly innovative and creative in their teaching methods. It is obligatory for students to promote the nation’s traditional fondness of learning, nurture ambitions and the will to rise above difficulties, and emulate for good studying and practice in order to contribute to building an increasingly wealthy and beautiful Vietnam in future.