Draft of revised Education Law: Ministry of Education and Training explains new points of public concern

However, many practical concerns have also been raised while implementing these new points.

On the afternoon of May 16, the Ministry of Education and Training held a workshop to provide comments on the draft law amending and supplementing a number of articles of theEducation Law at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education. Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc chaired the conference, with many delegates from universities, departments of education and training, and high schools.

WHY ELIMINATE SECONDARY SCHOOL GRADUATION DIPLOMA ?

At the workshop, Mr. Dao Hong Cuong, Deputy Director of the Legal Department (Ministry of Education and Training), said that since March this year, the Ministry of Education and Training has drafted three draft laws for amendment, including the Education Law.

Grade 9 students in Ho Chi Minh City take the 10th grade entrance exam. According to the draft revised Education Law, there will no longer be a junior high school diploma and the junior high school principal will be responsible for confirming the completion of the program.

PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH

Need to legalize socialized scholarships

Dr. Le The Tai, Head of Student Affairs Department of Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, commented on the necessity and importance of tuition exemption and reduction policies and tuition fee support. Specifically, it is necessary to supplement the tuition fee compensation mechanism corresponding to the collection level of autonomous schools; propose to consider expanding the subjects eligible for tuition fee exemption and reduction according to current regulations; recommend adding a new clause on tuition fees that students are responsible for maintaining their learning and training results at the minimum level according to the regulations of the educational institution. In particular, Mr. Tai proposed to legalize socialized scholarships to encourage agencies, businesses and individuals to sponsor scholarships for students.

A new point that many people are interested in is related to the content of abolishing the issuance of junior high school graduation certificates, assigning the authority to the principal of the junior high school/head of the educational institution implementing the junior high school education program to confirm the completion of the junior high school program instead of the head of the district-level Department of Education and Training to issue junior high school graduation certificates. At the same time, assigning the authority to the principal of the high school/head of the educational institution implementing the junior high school education program to issue junior high school graduation certificates instead of the director of the Department of Education and Training.

According to a representative of the Legal Department (Ministry of Education and Training), the abolition of the issuance of junior high school graduation certificates and the decentralization of authority to confirm the completion of the general education program are inevitable requirements to fully institutionalize the Party's policies, meet the practical needs of education management and approach international practices. Specifically, timely institutionalization of the policy of strong decentralization and delegation of power in state management in the spirit of Resolution 27-NQ/TW (2022) and Conclusion No. 137-KL/TW (2025) of the Politburo ...

"The nature of universal secondary education is a social policy, not a training system with a degree output. Confirming the completion of the study program is enough to serve the purpose of streaming and transferring levels, it is not necessary to maintain the administrative degree granting mechanism. This adjustment does not affect the rights and learning opportunities of learners. Replacing the degree with a certificate of completion of the program still ensures full legal basis for learners to transfer levels, learn a trade or continue their studies as desired," added Deputy Director Dao Hong Cuong.

LEGAL CORRIDOR ON CONNECTIVITY BETWEEN LEVELS OF EDUCATION

Faced with these new points, representatives of local departments of education and training and educational institutions expressed their agreement.

Mr. Tran Nguyen Minh Thanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Da Nang City, said that the innovations are very suitable in the current situation. Specifically, he said he supports the regulation that the national education system has vocational high schools so that students graduating from junior high school have more conditions to study high school. "We see one thing, currently, students studying at vocational schools, if they do not continue to study culture, must have a set of documents to study culture at the Continuing Education Center. This is too much for them, in fact, they cannot study. So we need to have a reasonable orientation for the program at vocational high schools so that when they graduate, their vocational degree is also considered a high school degree," Mr. Thanh suggested.

The Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Da Nang City also welcomed the new point of handing over the diplomas to the principals of high schools for signature. However, Mr. Thanh was concerned about the authenticity of the diplomas. "All departments have public information portals for diplomas, but no one goes there to check and compare. When it is necessary to confirm the diplomas, documents are sent to the departments for processing. Therefore, in the future, it is necessary to regulate the management of diplomas more specifically, related to the concept of digital diplomas," Mr. Thanh said.

Mr. Pham Dang Khoa, Head of the Department of Education and Training of District 3 (HCMC), shared: "Every year I also have to sign the junior high school graduation certificate and it takes a lot of time. Therefore, I personally support the abolition of the junior high school graduation certificate, giving the authority to the junior high school principal to confirm the completion of the junior high school program". However, Mr. Khoa noted: "It is necessary to carefully control before signing the scores of students in the school year, to avoid the situation of thinking about graduating from junior high school or high school at all costs. That is, having the mentality that students must graduate from junior high school or high school at all costs and thus not ensuring the quality of students".

Also according to Mr. Khoa, vocational secondary education will create conditions for students to learn vocational skills, cultural content... "But I am concerned about the connectivity between these levels of education. After studying vocational secondary education, can I graduate from high school and register for university entrance exams? This issue needs attention and in fact, this has been raised before, but when the vocational system belongs to the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the connectivity is not good. Therefore, it is necessary to carefully study and create a legal corridor for connectivity between levels of education", the Head of the Department of Education and Training of District 3 (HCMC) proposed.

In response to concerns from the grassroots about the authentication of diplomas, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc said that we are currently planning to build a database of diplomas, the Ministry is promoting it and there will be a database to help solve the authentication problem. "However, the experience of universities is that the place that issues the diplomas must confirm whether the diplomas are real or fake. Every year, universities receive and are responsible for responding about the authenticity of the diplomas, and in the future, high schools will do the same. The current university archive system is permanent. If we can do that, the system will be more streamlined, reduce administrative procedures and ensure management requirements," Deputy Minister Phuc added.

According to experts, vocational secondary education should be made a level of education instead of secondary education to solve the problem of streaming.

Photo: My Quyen

ABOLISHING THE SCHOOL BOARD BECAUSE IT IS JUST A FORMATIVE STATE

According to the Drafting Committee, in the summary report on the implementation of the Education Law in 2019, many localities have reflected the reality that school councils in public kindergartens and general schools operate in a very formal manner, lack real power, have overlapping roles and do not create real governance values. The current system of public kindergartens and general schools has not been granted financial, personnel or organizational autonomy, so the role of the school council is not designed to be linked to practical functions. Moreover, in most schools, the principal is also the chairman of the school council and the secretary of the Party cell/Party committee, leading to overlapping roles and blurring the monitoring and criticism functions of this organization.

Therefore, according to the representative of the Legal Department, removing the regulation on school councils in public kindergartens and general schools is a necessary step to streamline the apparatus, increase enforcement effectiveness, and create conditions for substantial innovation in school activities based on existing democratic institutions.

Expressing his agreement with the proposal to abolish school councils in public preschools and general education institutions, Mr. Nguyen Minh Hoang, Principal of An Lac High School (HCMC), said: "The 2019 Education Law has defined the role of the school council as a strategic governance institution. However, the implementation in many localities, especially in HCMC, shows that school councils in public preschools and general education institutions are mainly formal, operate ineffectively, have overlapping functions, and cause pressure on personnel and administrative procedures."

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/du-thao-luat-giao-duc-sua-doi-bo-gd-dt-ly-giai-nhung-diem-moi-du-luan-quan-tam-185250516223504052.htm