Merging provinces and communes: Does not affect enrollment and graduation

Push up enrollment early

A representative of the Department of Education and Training of Hai Chau District (Da Nang) said that from June 1, immediately after the closing ceremony of the 2024-2025 school year, kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools in the district will begin enrollment work for the first level, earlier than previous years. Schools will enroll students in the right areas, students residing in the enrollment area of ​​which ward will study at the school of that ward. Enrollment is based on the list of students in the enrollment area, based on data, universal surveys issued by the Ward People's Committee and looked up from the national population database provided by the locality and the police.

Students in Hanoi take the entrance exam for grade 10 in 2024.

In addition, for some primary schools with limited recruitment sources because the ward has 2-3 schools at the same level such as Le Lai, Phan Thanh (Hai Chau district), it is possible to develop a plan to recruit students from neighboring areas who want to study at the school. Students in the expanded recruitment program of Phan Thanh Primary School will be recruited to Trung Vuong Secondary School when they complete the primary school program. Similarly, in the case of students in the expanded recruitment program of Le Lai Primary School, when they enter grade 6, they will be recruited to Nguyen Hue Secondary School. The peak time for primary school enrollment of schools in Hai Chau district is from June 1 to 20. Similarly, Thanh Khe district (Da Nang) also accelerated the time for primary school enrollment procedures and conducted enrollment for grades 1 to 6 throughout June.

Local education materials.

Previously, Huynh Thuc Khang Secondary School (Thanh Khe District) received a portion of students from An Khe Ward. However, in 2025, due to the insufficient number of classrooms, 6th grade students from An Khe Ward will study at Nguyen Dinh Chieu Secondary School.

The education sector affirms that students' rights and enrollment plans are guaranteed when merging communes/wards to the provincial level.

In Hanoi, there are currently 526 communes and wards, and after the reorganization, the number of communes and wards will be just over 100. Although the merger is taking place, to ensure stable enrollment at the primary level, the education sector has proposed to accurately investigate the number of children of each age group in the area, divide the areas and assign appropriate quotas. According to the plan, the primary level enrollment will take place next July, but schools are required to notify the enrollment plan earlier so that parents can rest assured in preparing the admission conditions for their children.

Since July, the country no longer has district-level administrative units. This is a major change in the State management model, including the education sector. Many parents are concerned that the dissolution of the Department of Education and Training may affect stages such as junior high school graduation and 10th grade enrollment. However, according to the Department of Education and Training, schools and students' rights are guaranteed and will not be interrupted during this transition period. Mr. Pham Khuong Duy - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Vinh Phuc, affirmed that the abolition of the district level will not affect students because the education sector has prepared data systems, human resources and processes early. All of this is to ensure that graduation and enrollment are carried out on schedule and according to regulations. Currently, Vinh Phuc student data is synchronized on the SMAS system, ensuring that schools can complete their records, set up review boards and send them to assigned units.

Regarding university admissions, a teacher from Vinh Phuc Specialized High School (Vinh Phuc province) expressed concern that in the event that 2 or 3 provinces merge and lose a specialized high school, will students from specialized schools have the opportunity to be given priority in admissions as in previous years? Responding to this concern, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Anh Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Education and Training) said that not only for students from specialized schools, when developing a plan to advise the leaders of the Ministry, the Department of Higher Education and the Department of Quality Management (Ministry of Education and Training) raised the issue of mergers, especially the restructuring of the management model in localities. Mr. Dung affirmed that, up to this point, for university admissions, all regional priority points, subjects and priority plans are being applied as in previous years.

Ensure the rights of learners

To ensure smooth education and training activities without affecting the rights of learners, in early April, the Ministry of Education and Training sent an Official Dispatch to the People's Committees of provinces and cities on ensuring the maintenance and improvement of the quality and efficiency of public educational institutions in administrative units when implementing two-level local government. The Ministry of Education and Training proposed to implement the content of state management of education for the sector's expertise; recruitment, arrangement, transfer, secondment, and development of the teaching staff by the provincial-level professional agency to uniformly regulate and handle local teacher shortages. At the same time, localities maintain the educational public service units and transfer to the commune-level government the function of state management of education for kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools.

In May and June, the district level is still in effect, so the review of primary school completion and junior high school graduation will be completed before June 30, so it will not affect the rights of students. Junior high school graduation certificates are issued by the head of the education department. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out the graduation review steps and approve the graduation recognition list early. The Department of Education and Training prints the certificates in time for the district education departments to complete signing and issuance before June 30, which is convenient for students when enrolling in high school and vocational education.

In the context of abolishing the district level and merging communes, the zoning of admission for grades 1 and 6 will be more convenient and can be completed before June 30. Up to now, provinces and cities have issued guidelines for admission to the primary level of general education for the 2025-2026 school year. Many localities have implemented online admission registration in combination with the geographic information system (GIS). This brings many advantages to parents, students and schools. At the same time, all information about admission is made public to the people, making the admission process quick, scientific, transparent, and reducing negative phenomena.

The high school graduation exam will take place on June 26-27, so the organization of the exam and assignment of papers to the grading council will be completed in June. The grading will take place in July. Thus, it will not affect the university and college admissions of candidates at all.

Another issue that arises after the merger is the transfer of management of kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools to the commune and ward levels, and one commune or ward can handle more schools at the same time than before. This poses a challenge in reorganizing the education system and ensuring teaching quality.

In Lung Thau commune, Dong Van district (Ha Giang), after merging with neighboring communes such as Pho Bang and Pho Cao, schools in the area still basically maintain the same organizational model as before. Mr. Duong Van Nghi, Chairman of Lung Thau commune, said that a principal concurrently managing many schools has been implemented in the locality after the merger. However, the larger area requires tight organizational plans and detailed plans to ensure that the quality of teaching is not affected. According to Mr. Nghi, it is the stability of schools that helps educational activities in the highlands not be negatively affected after the merger.

Which subject textbooks will be affected?

It is noted that in the 2018 education program, after the merger of provinces and cities, the subject of Local Education Content will be most affected, followed by Social Science subjects. Therefore, if adjustments and supplements are not made, it will affect students' awareness because each textbook life cycle is often applied for decades - corresponding to generations of students through each school year.

Specifically, the subjects that are greatly affected when merging provinces are: Local education content; Literature; History; Geography (junior high school and high school); primary school also has some subjects affected, such as: Vietnamese; History and Geography; Nature and Society. Regarding the subject of Local education content, 11 provinces and cities that are not affected by the merger will not have to change. However, 52 provinces and cities affected by the merger may have to change to suit the reality.

Because the Local Education Content subject is a combination of 6 different sub-subjects: Literature; History; Geography; Civic Education; Music, Fine Arts and the textbooks for this subject are edited by the Department of Education and Training. When merging 2-3 current provinces and cities into 1 new province or city, it also means that each new province or city has 2-3 sets of Local Education Content textbooks from grade 1 to grade 12 that are no longer suitable for all students of the new province or city.

Nghiem Hue

Source: https://tienphong.vn/sap-nhap-tinh-xa-khong-anh-huong-toi-tuyen-sinh-xet-tot-nghiep-post1738043.tpo