Attending the meeting were members of the Subcommittee on ContinuingEducation and Lifelong Learning, the National Council for Education and Human Resources Development; representatives of a number of Departments of Education and Training (DET), along with experts and scientists.
“Lifelong learning is never enough and is absolutely necessary"
Speaking at the orientation session, Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong highly appreciated the significance of the session when it was held on the first day of Lifelong Learning Week 2024, launching and encouraging the building of a reading culture to promote lifelong learning in every citizen.
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Session view
Affirming the role of lifelong learning, the Deputy Minister shared: Lifelong learning is never enough and is extremely necessary. Throughout the history of building and defending the country with the revolutionary education of Vietnam, our Party has always paid attention to education and training, especially the work of encouraging learning and talent and most recently the movement to build a learning society and lifelong learning.
“In the past, many plans and projects have been implemented with the goal of creating learning opportunities for everyone. At this point, those programs and projects need to be enacted into law so that the entire political system, all levels, and all sectors are responsible for creating opportunities, institutional conditions, and other conditions for everyone to study. Legalize so that studying is not only a need but also a responsibility of citizens,” the Deputy Minister commented.
The Deputy Minister said that the leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training have assigned agencies to research, prepare and promulgate two sets of laws: the Law on Teachers and the Law on Lifelong Learning. Regarding the Law on Teachers, the Ministry of Education and Training is trying to submit it in October this year with many important contents. Through the process of building the Law on Teachers, the Ministry of Education and Training sees that the preparation work plays a very important role. Therefore, this meeting was held to consult with experts, scientists and education managers to unify the draft issues.
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Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong speaks at the meeting
The meeting focused on unifying a number of important contents. In which, the urgency of building the Law on Lifelong Learning was highlighted. The urgency must come from the political foundation, legal foundation, scientific foundation, practical foundation, international experience in building a learning society and the Law on Lifelong Learning. In addition, the meeting needs to mention the key policies in the Law on Lifelong Learning to promote lifelong learning. From there, we can see the responsibility of the state, of organizations, and of each citizen.
“Laws are for motivation, laws are for being done, laws are for having to be done and having to be followed. The Lifelong Learning Law will have sanctions for being able to go to school and having to go to school,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.
Strengthening state management in the field of lifelong learning
Reporting at the meeting, Deputy Director of the Department of Continuing Education (Ministry of Education and Training) Vu Thi Tu Anh said: Although lifelong learning is an inevitable path for each individual and each community to develop sustainably and adapt to changes in life and society, currently in Vietnam, the concept of lifelong learning has not been clearly mentioned in official state documents, and has not been uniformly understood in research, policy-making activities and in practice.
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Deputy Head of the Department of Continuing Education (Ministry of Education and Training) Vu Thi Tu Anh reported at the meeting.
The Law on Lifelong Learning specifies the Party's guiding viewpoints and policies on lifelong learning and a learning society, in line with the viewpoints of Resolution 29. This is considered a legal document with a relatively independent position compared to other specialized laws on education such as the Law on Higher Education, the Law on Vocational Education and the upcoming Law on Teachers. The Law on Lifelong Learning supplements, expands and completes issues on the field of lifelong learning that have not been fully and comprehensively addressed in the 2019 Education Law and other laws on education.
Regarding the long-term orientation in the next steps of the legal document development process, the Law on Lifelong Learning needs to be developed as a detailed law with specific and clear regulations for the field of lifelong learning so that it can be easily applied in practice, without necessarily having many sub-law documents guiding implementation.
The Law on Lifelong Learning strengthens state management in the field of lifelong learning; perfects the education system in an open, flexible, and interconnected direction, creating lifelong learning opportunities for everyone; raises social awareness of the role and significance of lifelong learning and the contribution of lifelong learning to improving the quality of human capital and the competitiveness of national human resources.
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Associate Professor, Dr. To Ba Truong, Vietnam Association of Psychology and Education, discussed at the meeting
The proposed draft framework of the Law on Lifelong Learning is expected to include the following contents: General provisions; state management of lifelong learning; organizations and individuals providing lifelong learning opportunities; programs, content, documents, and forms of lifelong learning; assessment and recognition of lifelong learning results; lecturers/instructors, lifelong learning managers, and learners; mobilizing resources for and creating a favorable environment for lifelong learning and implementation provisions.
It is necessary to promulgate the Law on Lifelong Learning.
At the meeting, experts and scientists discussed and gave opinions on the basis for developing the Law on Lifelong Learning; international experience; the current status of implementing the construction of a learning society and lifelong learning; conditions to ensure feasibility when developing and promulgating the law...
Affirming the necessity of building a Law on Lifelong Learning, Associate Professor, Dr. To Ba Truong, Vietnam Association of Psychology and Education, said that this could be a revolution that changes education and training, because if there is a law, it will change the perception of the whole society about lifelong learning. Therefore, the ideology and awareness of the role of the law must be communicated from the central to local levels. To do that, it is necessary to pay special attention to the actual conditions at the local level regarding finance and operational personnel, which must be more clearly understood and cared for.
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Prof. Dr. Pham Hong Quang, Chairman of Thai Nguyen University Council at the meeting
From the perspective of higher education, Prof. Dr. Pham Hong Quang, Chairman of the Council of Thai Nguyen University, said that in the context of the current digital environment and global citizens, the issue of building a Law on Lifelong Learning must be implemented immediately and cannot be delayed. Because the main goal of lifelong learning is to develop people, create conditions and guide everyone to learn when the current educational environment is open, flexible and unlimited.
Recognizing the importance and necessity of the Lifelong Learning Law, Deputy Director of Lang Son Department of Education and Training Phan My Hanh expressed the view that there needs to be close unity to ensure connectivity in education, helping learners easily transfer between levels as well as forms and models in the education process. In addition, there needs to be policies to encourage the participation of organizations and individuals in implementing programs for learners as well as ensuring equal access to education in remote areas, and for disadvantaged people.
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Deputy Director of Lang Son Department of Education and Training Phan My Hanh discussed at the meeting
Appreciate the opinions of experts, scientists, representatives of Departments of Education and Training and members of the Subcommittee on Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning, Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong affirmed that the opinions at the meeting were extremely necessary and responsible for the common goal of building the Law on Lifelong Learning.
According to the Deputy Minister, this is a new law with many new contents, a wide range of impacts, diverse methods, rich programs, implementing the wishes of many parties and avoiding the overlap of issued laws, so it is extremely complicated. Therefore, with the viewpoint of promoting the spirit and collective intelligence, the Ministry of Education and Training always accepts and accepts opinions from many different perspectives to have thorough and appropriate research when building the Law on Lifelong Learning.
The Deputy Minister proposed the establishment of a research committee on the development of a separate law. In particular, it is necessary to study the actual implementation in localities, organize seminars and conferences to receive opinions from all subjects regulated and benefited by this law. At the same time, it is necessary to study the content, feasibility, and impact of policies and provisions on the reality in Vietnam. This will ensure that there are full perspectives, aspects, and a thorough and methodical implementation process.
Source: https://moet.gov.vn/tintuc/Pages/tin-tong-hop.aspx?ItemID=9865
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