It is necessary to form 3 digital, social and green skills for students at all levels.

Giving opinions on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education, on the afternoon of October 22, at Group 16 including the National Assembly delegations of Da Nang city, Tuyen Quang province, and Cao Bang province, delegates proposed to add regulations to form digital skills, social skills, and green skills, ensuring the formation of a development axis connecting students, contributing to shaping the capacity of Vietnamese citizens in the new period.

The training program must ensure the formation of an interconnected development axis.

Discussing at Group 16, the National Assembly deputies highly appreciated the Government's efforts in submitting the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education . This is a necessary step to promptly institutionalize important Resolutions of the Party on education and training development; and acknowledged that the draft Law has many progressive points such as recognizing digital diplomas, enhancing decentralization, etc.

National Assembly Deputy Quan Minh Cuong ( Cao Bang ) chaired the discussion group.

Emphasizing that "the national education system is a bridge bringing Vietnamese citizens into a new era", National Assembly Deputy Duong Van Phuoc ( Da Nang ) said that the draft Law is lacking the most important "bracing bars", which are Digital skills, Green skills and Social skills according to a linked development axis.

“This revised Education Law is a historic opportunity for us not only to “update technology”, but also to shape the capacity of Vietnamese citizens of the 21st century”, the delegate emphasized.

National Assembly Delegate Duong Van Phuoc (Da Nang) speaks at the meeting.

To supplement digital skills, social skills and green skills for students, delegate Duong Van Phuoc proposed adding a separate clause to Article 30 clearly stipulating that general education ensures the formation and development of minimum digital competencies (digital safety, use of data - information, digital thinking - calculation, digital ethics) according to the level of education.

At the same time, the Minister of Education and Training is assigned to issue digital competency standards and assessment tools. Article 19 adds a provision assigning the Government to develop a national digital competency framework for learners, in accordance with the requirements of the global and regional labor market.

“If we do not lay the foundation of digital capacity for the younger generation, digital transformation will remain a slogan, not a reality. A country cannot enter the digital age with a generation still “bound” to the old way of learning,” delegate Duong Van Phuoc emphasized.

Sharing the same view, National Assembly Deputy Vuong Quoc Thang (Da Nang) suggested that the drafting agency should continue to conduct research to have regulations on equipping scientific thinking, research approaches as well as having a form of inspiration for all levels of education about scientific research activities to create a foundation for students' passion to become scientists, ensuring career guidance on scientific research activities right from the high school stage.

National Assembly Deputy Vuong Quoc Thang (Da Nang) speaks at the meeting

Regarding social skills, the draft Law has recognized the importance of "social and emotional skills" at the primary level (according to the comparison and interpretation of Article 30). However, some delegates noticed that this capacity chain is completely broken when students move to lower secondary school (Junior High School) and upper secondary school (High School).

Citing experiences from Finland and Norway that have integrated social and emotional skills into all subjects – from Math to Science to form a well-rounded person, delegate Duong Van Phuoc proposed amending Clause 2, Article 30 of the current Law to add requirements on developing social skills, emotional skills, and digital citizenship responsibility at the secondary and high school levels, ensuring the creation of a seamless competency roadmap. At the same time, in teacher training, it is necessary to stipulate that teachers are equipped with the capacity to provide psychological and social counseling and support to students.

“The gap in social skills education is the cause of problems such as school violence, lack of conflict resolution skills, and confusion after graduation,” the delegate emphasized.

At the same time, the delegate also proposed to legalize green skills in Article 30, in the direction of adding a clause regulating the content of education integrating green skills (sustainable resource use, sustainable consumption, environmental safety, climate change adaptation) and citizen capacity for sustainable development; assigning the Minister of Education and Training to prescribe minimum assessment standards and provide guidance on organizing green experience activities/projects.

Clarifying the scope of a unified textbook set

The Draft Law amends and supplements Article 32 of the current Law in the direction of separating the provisions on local educational materials into a separate clause (clause 2), not included in the provisions on textbooks (clause 1) and renaming this Article to " General education textbooks and local educational materials" . Assign specialized agencies under the provincial People's Committee to organize the compilation of local educational materials, and the provincial appraisal council to appraise.

Agreeing with the State's policy of providing a unified set of textbooks nationwide, National Assembly Deputy Ma Thi Thuy (Tuyen Quang) said that this regulation helps ensure fairness in access to education, especially for remote areas, ethnic minority areas, and mountainous areas - where economic conditions, facilities and teaching staff are limited.

National Assembly Delegate Ma Thi Thuy (Tuyen Quang) speaks at the meeting.

The regulations on diplomas and certificates of the national education system in Clause 3, Article 1 of the draft Law received attention from National Assembly deputies for their comments, because this is the key content of this law, which has a direct impact on the rights of learners and the effectiveness of State management.

“If the issuance is unclear about the position of vocational secondary school diplomas and inconsistent with the terms "graduation" and "program completion", or if there is a lack of a mechanism to secure electronic diploma data, it will cause disruption in the education system and difficulties for management in practice,” emphasized National Assembly Deputy Dang Thi Bao Trinh (Da Nang).

National Assembly Delegate Dang Thi Bao Trinh (Da Nang) speaks at the meeting.

Agreeing with the draft Law on removing the provision on granting a junior high school diploma, replacing it with confirmation of program completion, however, delegate Dang Thi Bao Trinh found that the provisions amending and supplementing Articles 28 and 35 of the current Law still stipulate the requirement of junior high school graduation as a condition for further study, leading to internal contradictions in the draft Law. Therefore, the delegate suggested that the Drafting Committee review and synchronously amend relevant provisions, changing the entire phrase "junior high school graduation" to "completion of junior high school program" to ensure consistency throughout the law.

Delegate Vuong Quoc Thang also proposed to study and evaluate the impact carefully, and at the same time, consult directly related subjects to ensure the feasibility of the regulation on abolishing the issuance of junior high school diplomas. At the same time, it is noted that, in addition to the regulations on applying electronic diplomas and digital transformation in education, it is necessary to supplement regulations on principles on management mechanisms, sharing, and data security to improve effectiveness and efficiency, and avoid the exploitation and use of information for personal gain.

The Draft Law supplements Clause 4a to Article 85 of the current Law on the National Scholarship Fund to contribute to the implementation of Resolution 71-NQ/TW of the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training development.

Regarding this content, National Assembly Delegate Pham Thuy Chinh (Tuyen Quang) noticed that there is an overlap in the subjects of application with the National Scholarship Fund and the Learning Encouragement Fund, both of which are stipulated in the draft Law.

National Assembly Delegate Pham Thuy Chinh (Tuyen Quang) speaks at the meeting.

In addition, the non-budgetary state financial fund has the characteristic of only performing tasks in each period, not having long-term nature like the state budget expenditure tasks. Therefore, the delegate suggested that it is necessary to consider allowing the application of a similar mechanism as the Learning Encouragement Fund - the fund's operating costs will be guaranteed by the budget.

“Such a regulation will clearly show that this is the State’s responsibility in creating human resources for the new stage, the stage of the country’s rise,” delegate Pham Thuy Chinh emphasized. The delegate also suggested that the draft Law should only stipulate the establishment of a National Scholarship Fund from the State budget; the establishment, sources of formation, operating principles, and management methods will be assigned to the Government to provide detailed regulations to guide implementation.

Source: https://daibieunhandan.vn/can-hinh-thanh-3-ky-nang-so-xa-hoi-va-xanh-cho-hoc-sinh-cac-cap-10392455.html