'4 no's' in education management when implementing 2-level local government

GD&TĐ - The spirit of "4 no's" in organizing and implementing state management of education was emphasized by Permanent Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong.

On the morning of August 5, the Ministry of Education and Training held a conference to deploy decentralization of state management of education when implementing two-level local government. Permanent Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong chaired the conference. Attending the conference were leaders and experts of units under the Ministry of Education and Training; leaders of 34 Departments of Education and Training; representatives of specialized departments and divisions under the Department of Education and Training and related departments, branches and sectors; leaders of commune-level People's Committees, commune-level education officials, representatives of preschools, general education institutions and vocational education - continuing education.

The conference was held in a combination of in-person and online formats nationwide with more than 50,000 attendees, of which about 90% were at the commune level.

Locality promotes proactive and creative spirit

Sharing the biggest concern regarding human resources, Mr. Tran The Cuong, Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, said: Hanoi has 212 out of 347 civil servants of the Department of Culture and Society assigned to be in charge of education with a teaching degree. Among these, there are cases where the professional expertise is in preschool education, but they are in charge of both primary and secondary schools, so it is very difficult.

Hanoi's experience is to establish clusters, each cluster basically covering the same scope as the previous districts, to support, resolve questions and implement activities such as organizing competitions, recruiting teachers, allocating education- related targets... Along with that, seconding education staff from the grassroots to support communes/wards that still have difficulties in professional work; strengthening training for education officers at the commune level. Taking advantage of commune/ward level congresses to include education-related content in the congress resolutions. Thoroughly applying information technology and digital transformation, typically applying it in primary school enrollment...

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, the departments and divisions of the Ministry of Education and Training have compiled legal documents related to decentralization, delegation, and division of authority of two-level local authorities in the field of state management of education, helping localities to conveniently monitor and implement.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training will organize training for education staff in 168 wards and communes to prepare for the new school year. The focus will be on reviewing conditions such as facilities, equipment, teaching aids, teaching staff, and educational management staff. Despite many difficulties, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu said that the Department of Education and Training has effectively coordinated with wards, communes, towns, and special wards and communes to best prepare for the 2025-2026 school year.

Affirming many advantages in education management with two-level local government, Mr. Huynh Viet Trung, Chairman of Hoa Son Ward People's Committee (Dak Lak) also mentioned difficulties when the workload is too large, the number of workers is too small and there is no expertise in education.

Faced with these difficulties, the solution of Hoa Son ward is to establish 3 professional groups (preschool, primary school, secondary school), each group has 3-4 people, including experts from the Department of Culture - Society and educational facility management staff. The groups are responsible for advising and replacing the previous experts from the Department of Education and Training.

Mr. Huynh Viet Trung also shared some wishes and suggestions to perform the task more effectively; including the issue of connecting the system of documents and data of the industry; solutions to overcome the shortage of teachers in especially difficult areas, ethnic minority areas...

Thanking the Ministry of Education and Training for organizing a very practical and timely conference, in line with the needs of educational management at the grassroots level, Mr. Nguyen Minh Chau, Chairman of the People's Committee of Tan Giang Ward (Cao Bang) informed: Tan Giang Ward has 12 educational institutions, including all levels from preschool to junior high school, with a scale of 124 classes and 3,541 students. The schools are unevenly distributed, with many schools and combined classes located 10 to 15 km away from the center of the ward.

The conference was held in a combination of live and online formats nationwide with approximately more than 50,000 attendees.

Regarding the advantages and outstanding difficulties in education management when implementing the new government model, Mr. Nguyen Minh Chau said that the commune and ward governments are located right in the locality, so they can best understand the specific circumstances, needs, and desires of the people, parents, and students. Along with saving staff and streamlining the apparatus when reducing the level of the Department of Education and Training, it is also increasing autonomy and flexibility for the commune level. When the commune level is assigned direct management authority, it will be more proactive in developing local education development plans; more proactive in managing and using facilities, upgrading plans, building new ones, repairing, purchasing equipment, etc.

“When the commune level directly manages, I believe that it will be more closely involved in organizing teaching and learning according to the new program in schools; meeting the requirements of facilities and teaching staff according to the new program more promptly; from there, the program will be better implemented in the facilities,” said Mr. Nguyen Minh Chau.

Regarding difficulties, the Chairman of Tan Giang Ward People's Committee mentioned that only 36/135 commune-level officials have pedagogical qualifications. Commune-level leaders mainly have experience in administrative management, very few commune leaders have expertise in educational management. Meanwhile, educational management has its own characteristics, requiring understanding of the program, teaching methods, student psychology, management of teaching staff and many other specialized categories, not just administrative management...

Sharing the work that has been implemented, Mr. Nguyen Minh Chau informed that Tan Giang Ward has met with some key teachers, asked for opinions from some education experts in the area to grasp; at the same time, organized a working session with the core teaching staff of 12 schools in the area and directly went to the grassroots to grasp the situation of facilities of some schools.

“We are also conducting initial research and surveys to pilot a flexible boarding model in the area, in line with the Central Government's orientation during this period,” Mr. Nguyen Minh Chau added.

Conference overview.

Thoroughly implement "4 no's" in organization and implementation

In his concluding remarks at the conference, the Deputy Minister acknowledged and thanked the sense of responsibility and attention of the Departments of Education and Training, People's Committees at the commune level, officials in charge of education at the commune level and managers of educational institutions when there were over 50,000 people attending at the bridge points.

According to the Deputy Minister, not only at this conference but also in all regular work between the Ministry of Education and Training and provinces/cities, between the Ministry of Education and Training and the Departments of Education and Training, and communes, the common spirit is to listen, understand, share, solve problems together and create together. If management levels do not listen, share, understand, do not work together to solve problems and create together, the tasks at the commune level will be full of challenges.

The Deputy Minister also pointed out the "4 proactive measures" that have been done well in the past time, which are: proactively grasping the situation in a timely manner; proactively providing training and guidance; proactively removing difficulties; proactively implementing tasks according to assigned responsibilities and tasks.

In the coming time, the Deputy Minister emphasized the need to study the system of documents, especially the documents that the Ministry of Education and Training has digitized and sent to localities; then organize implementation, start working; summarize difficulties and problems, promptly report to competent authorities. Only by doing can we see all the difficulties and problems, and from there find solutions.

In organizing implementation, it is necessary to thoroughly grasp the spirit of "4 no's": no blank management content; no overlapping management content; unclear management content; unclear management method.

The Deputy Minister emphasized the “management method” and said that it is necessary to innovate management thinking, leadership and management methods; for example, by applying information technology and digitalization. In particular, commune-level leaders need to do a good job of planning and appointing principals and vice principals of units under their management; these must be people with capacity, responsibility and practical experience.

In his speech, the Deputy Minister also reiterated the spirit of “6 clear” that has been thoroughly grasped by Party and State leaders, namely: clear people, clear work, clear responsibility, clear authority, clear time and clear product. A number of issues that localities proposed and recommended at the conference were also discussed and answered by the Deputy Minister.

At the conference, representatives of the General Education Department, the Legal Department, the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers, the Department of Preschool Education, the Department of Vocational Education and Continuing Education, and the Department of Financial Planning provided guidance on the implementation of state management of education according to the two-level local government in the areas under their management. At the same time, they made proposals, recommendations, and notes to help the Departments of Education and Training, the Department of Culture and Social Affairs under the People's Committees at the commune level effectively implement state management of education according to the two-level local government.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/4-khong-trong-quan-ly-giao-duc-khi-thuc-hien-chinh-quyen-dia-phuong-2-cap-post742851.html