Hot this week: Disaster response; adjusting professional standards for lecturers

GD&TĐ - The education sector's response to natural disasters and plans to adjust professional standards for university lecturers... are notable educational news of the past week.

Education sector responds to natural disasters

While Storm Ragasa (Storm No. 9) has not yet dissipated, Storm Bualoi continues to form and become Storm No. 10 in 2025, directly threatening many provinces and cities. To minimize damage, ensure safety for students, teachers and educational facilities, the Minister of Education and Training has issued 3 consecutive dispatches: Dispatch No. 1595/CD-BGD&DT dated September 22, 2025 on proactively responding to Storm No. 9; Dispatch No. 1638/CD-BGD&DT dated September 25, 2025 on strengthening response to Storm No. 9, being ready to respond to Storm No. 10; Dispatch No. 1650/CD-BGD&DT dated September 29, 2025 on proactively responding to Storm No. 10.

The Ministry of Education and Training has established an online information group with representatives of the Departments of Education and Training in affected areas to update, exchange regularly, promptly grasp the situation and give instructions. Localities have seriously implemented a 24/7 on-call regime, focusing on overcoming the consequences of storm No. 9 while proactively preparing plans to respond to storm No. 10.

The Ministry of Education and Training has continued to direct the Departments of Education and Training to closely monitor the storm's developments, report damage, and focus on overcoming the consequences to soon stabilize teaching and learning.

According to reports from the Department of Education and Training of some localities, there have been no human casualties; however, initial damage to facilities in some localities shows the serious impact of storm No. 10 on educational institutions.

In Thua Thien Hue , 134 schools were affected, with estimated damage of about 1.1 billion VND; some low-lying schools had to temporarily close.

In Quang Tri, many schools had their roofs blown off, fences collapsed, and equipment damaged; students across the province were absent from school to ensure safety.

In Ha Tinh, 412 educational establishments were affected, with total damage of about 428.95 billion VND; students in the whole province were out of school.

In Nghe An, 483 educational establishments were affected, causing damage of nearly 300 billion VND; students in the whole province were absent from school to ensure safety.

In Thanh Hoa, 30 educational establishments were affected, the damage is being counted, students will be off school on September 29; the following days will be decided by educational establishments based on weather developments.

In Hanoi, the storm's circulation caused deep flooding, affecting many educational facilities.

While the damage caused by Storm No. 10 has not been completely repaired, the entire industry must continue to respond to Storm No. 11.

Teachers and other forces work hard to clean up mud at Xuan Truong Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, Cao Bang.

In Official Dispatch No. 1753/CD-BGDDT, the Minister requested the Directors of the Departments of Education and Training of provinces and cities from Hue and above to strictly implement the Prime Minister's instructions in Official Dispatches No. 182/CD-TTg and 183/CD-TTg; direct educational institutions to mobilize staff, teachers and local mass organizations to carry out general cleaning and disinfection of classrooms, ensuring a safe and clean learning environment as soon as the water recedes.

The Director of the Department of Education and Training was also asked to report to the competent authority to direct specialized agencies to conduct a review and assessment of the safety level of school buildings, paying special attention to items such as school gates, fences, roofs, trees in the school yard, classrooms and other auxiliary buildings for timely renovation and repair, ensuring safety for students, staff and teachers.

At the same time, be ready and fully prepare facilities, teaching equipment and other conditions to welcome students back to school as planned; regularly monitor, update information and prepare plans to prevent and respond to Storm No. 11 according to the "four on-the-spot motto" in the condition of being continuously affected by Storms No. 9 and 10.

At the launching ceremony, leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training, units and individuals inside and outside the education sector donated a total amount of more than 3.6 billion VND.

On the afternoon of October 3, the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Education Trade Union held a ceremony to launch the education sector to support people affected by Storm No. 10.

At the ceremony, on behalf of the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Education Trade Union, Minister Nguyen Kim Son called on the entire education sector, officials, civil servants, public employees, staff, students, and organizations and individuals inside and outside the sector to join hands, contribute materially and spiritually, with support, encouragement, and connection to share the difficulties with people in flood-affected areas in general, and with the education sector of the northern provinces and cities in particular.

The Minister noted that immediately after this fundraising launch, the transfer of support should be done as quickly as possible. Priority should be given to supporting people, first and foremost teachers and students. These are teachers who have suffered losses and have difficulty with accommodation and transportation; and students who, without support, will not be able to continue going to school...

The Minister also requested that the Departments of Education and Training and educational institutions increase propaganda about support and contributions, including for students.

At the launching ceremony, leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training, units and individuals inside and outside the education sector donated a total amount of more than 3.6 billion VND.

Draft regulations on professional standards for university lecturers

The Ministry of Education and Training announced a draft Circular regulating professional standards for lecturers teaching in higher education institutions.

This Circular replaces the provisions in Articles 3, 5, 6 and 7 of Circular No. 40/2020/TT-BGD&DT dated October 26, 2020 stipulating codes, professional title standards, appointment and salary classification for teaching staff in public higher education institutions, when it comes into effect.

The draft Circular inherits the contents stipulated in Circular No. 40 on tasks, standards of professional ethics, standards of training and fostering qualifications and standards of expertise and professionalism of lecturers teaching in higher education institutions, ensuring consistency with relevant current legal documents; in accordance with the Party's guidelines, policies and laws of the State.

According to the draft, regulations on codes, professional title ranks, appointment instructions and salary classification according to titles (appointment principles, appointment cases, salary classification of lecturers) (Articles 2, 8, 9 and 10 of Circular No. 40) are transferred to the draft Circular regulating codes, appointment and salary classification for teachers for teachers teaching in public educational institutions.

Circular No. 40 stipulates that the subjects of application are teaching staff in public higher education institutions. For the new draft Circular, the subjects of application are lecturers teaching in higher education institutions and related organizations and individuals, including both public and non-public. The new draft Circular does not apply to lecturers teaching in higher education institutions under the state management authority of the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of National Defense.

In addition to the duties of lecturers prescribed in Circular No. 40, according to the provisions of the new draft Circular, university lecturers, senior university lecturers are also required to perform other duties assigned by the head or head of a unit under or directly under a university education institution as decentralized according to the authority assigned in accordance with the standards on professional competence and expertise of university lecturers and other provisions of relevant laws.

The draft Circular stipulates that the head of a higher education institution or the head of a unit affiliated or directly under a higher education institution is authorized to, based on the standards of professional competence and skills of the professional standards of lecturers teaching in higher education institutions, arrange, assign, and delegate tasks to university lecturers and evaluate the level of task completion according to the professional title of university lecturers.

The head of a higher education institution or the head of a unit affiliated or directly under a higher education institution shall develop and implement a plan for training, fostering, and developing the university teaching staff according to his/her authority; advise the superior management agency and local authorities on management, fostering, and improving the quality, professional capacity, and expertise of the university teaching staff.

The Organizing Committee awarded First Prize to 12 projects participating in the national science and technology research competition for middle and high school students in the 2024-2025 school year.

Amending the regulations on national science and technology research competitions for high school students

The Ministry of Education and Training announced the draft Circular amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Regulations on the National Science and Technology Research Competition for Secondary and High School Students issued together with Circular No. 06/2024/TT-BGD&DT dated April 10, 2024 of the Minister of Education and Training.

Accordingly, the regulations on organizing department-level competitions are amended to ensure that participating units select national-level competition projects through the competition organization form applying the promulgated Regulations. This helps the competition projects not to be surprised when participating in the National Competition if selected.

The draft Circular amending and supplementing Circular 06 also emphasizes the need to improve integrity in scientific research by clearly defining specific subjects. The projects selected to participate in the national competition will also be publicly announced and monitored by the whole society, ensuring honesty in research.

The Draft Circular also amends and supplements a number of other contents to improve the organization of the Contest, aiming at public, transparent and fair organization.

According to the draft Circular, the number of projects participating in the competition of the Department of Education and Training is based on the percentage of projects participating in the competition at the Department of Education and Training level compared to the total number of projects participating in the competition at the Department of Education and Training level of the provinces and cities nationwide. Departments of Education and Training with good scale and competition movement will be assigned a proportionate number of projects to participate in the Science and Technology Research Competition for high school students, avoiding leveling and not really encouraging the movement.

Small-scale competing units may register up to 3 national-level competition projects. Larger provincial-scale units with a ratio greater than 1% and less than or equal to 5% may register up to 6 projects. Units with a ratio of competing projects greater than 5% and less than or equal to 10% may register up to 9 projects. Units with a ratio of competing projects greater than 10% may register up to 12 projects.

For the participating units being high schools under the Ministry and ministerial-level agencies, universities, colleges, institutes and academies, each unit can register a maximum of 3 competition projects, an increase of 1 project compared to the regulations in Circular 06.

Also according to the draft Circular, the contestant unit is allowed to nominate one more project for each project that won fourth prize or higher at the international contest in the previous year.

To ensure stability, the draft stipulates transitional conditions for the 2025-2026 school year Competition. Accordingly, the maximum number of competition projects of the Departments of Education and Training after the merger of provinces and cities is the total number of competition projects of the competition units before the merger.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/nong-trong-tuan-ung-pho-thien-tai-dieu-chinh-chuan-nghe-nghiep-giang-vien-post751231.html