Improving the quality of education: A perspective from national standard schools (Final part)

07:08, 08/11/2023

Final installment: Towards raising standards

The construction of national standard schools has achieved remarkable results, but in the overall development process, the criteria for standard schools continue to change, and the requirements and needs for learning are also higher than before.

Identifying barriers

A school that meets national standards is one that achieves five criteria (school organization and management; administrators, teachers, staff, and students; facilities and teaching equipment; relationship between the school, family, and society; educational activities and educational outcomes). These standards are gradually raised over time to stratify objectives and ensure the organization of comprehensive, high-quality educational activities; creating a foundation for approaching the level of educational development in countries around the world…

Students from Phan Chu Trinh Secondary School (Buon Ma Thuot City) conduct chemistry experiments in the school's laboratory.

National standard schools undergo a 5-year accreditation and recognition cycle. After 5 years, they will be re-accredited (maintaining or upgrading standards) or not re-accredited. According to the education sector's review, the construction of national standard schools is facing many difficulties and challenges from reality: deteriorating infrastructure; some criteria need to be changed or improved according to new regulations; the increasing number of students makes it difficult to ensure the minimum ratio of school area and student-to-class ratio; and the quality of education in some schools is not being maintained, improved, or developed…

The development process has shown that building national standard schools requires continuous and in-depth investment from both the education sector and local authorities at all levels, especially in facilities and infrastructure. In Lak district, the budget for education investment has certain limitations, forcing the district to adjust it year by year. Some schools planned to achieve the standard early on but still haven't met it due to the need for significant investment, while the limited annual budget forces the district to reallocate funds to schools outside the plan that require less investment. Therefore, in recent years, although Lak district has ensured the plan to build standard schools, the shift of funds to schools outside the plan has directly affected the organization of teaching and learning in the locality, especially schools that were passively excluded from the standard school construction plan.

In the coming period, the Provincial Party Committee and the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee will continue to direct Party committees and authorities at all levels to pay attention to building infrastructure and school facilities to ensure the target of standard schools is met; strengthen the teaching staff to meet the prescribed staffing quota; and ensure that 20% of the total state budget expenditure is allocated to education to contribute to improving the quality of education and training, and to fulfill the targets of the Resolution of the 17th Provincial Party Congress, term 2020-2025.”

Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Pham Minh Tan

In Buon Ma Thuot City, although the city is about to achieve national standard status, the initial assessment of schools that have met the standards has not been carried out according to regulations. These schools currently still fall short of standards and are at risk of failing to meet them due to deteriorating facilities, an increase in student numbers, and changes in the criteria for standard schools, which are now more demanding than the old ones. Furthermore, several schools that have not yet met the standards are facing difficulties in meeting the criteria. Mr. Nguyen Huu Tho, Deputy Head of the Education and Training Department of Buon Ma Thuot City, explained that while these schools have basically met the criteria regarding human resources, organization, and educational quality, they are hampered by issues related to facilities and school area, making it very difficult to achieve the standard according to the roadmap without commensurate investment.

Long-term solutions are needed.

Plan No. 741/KH-UBND dated January 22, 2021, of the People's Committee of Dak Lak province on the quality assessment of education and the construction of schools meeting national standards in Dak Lak province for the period 2021-2025, identifies the following objectives for the future: to continue building schools that meet national standards and to re-certify schools in order to encourage investment in education, create conditions for schools to continue improving the quality of education, and contribute to the successful implementation of educational reform in the province. Schools will conduct self-assessments and rely on external evaluation results to determine the extent to which they meet educational objectives, develop quality improvement plans, and maintain and enhance the quality of their educational activities.

Specifically, the province aims to have 60% of schools meeting national standards by 2025; 100% of schools meeting standards will be re-certified every 5 years; and 3-5% of schools meeting standards will have their standards upgraded. To achieve these goals, the province will continue to strengthen communication on educational quality accreditation and the construction of schools meeting national standards; prioritize allocating sufficient land for the construction of new schools, supplementing land use planning to ensure sufficient land area according to national standard requirements for schools that do not yet have enough land; and review and issue land use right certificates to 100% of schools…

Permanent Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Pham Minh Tan presented Certificates of Commendation to teachers who achieved outstanding results in the National High School Excellent Student Selection Examination for the 2022-2023 school year.

Regarding the education sector, Dr. Do Tuong Hiep, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training, stated that in the coming time, the Department will continue to strengthen supervision, inspection, and urging of schools to implement the work of building schools that meet standards; requiring schools that have already met the standards to continue to promote and maintain quality. At the same time, it will spread the movement of building happy schools based on national standard schools to maintain and improve standards; and pilot the development of smart lessons, smart classrooms, and smart schools…

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