After the merger, how are high school and junior high school diplomas issued?

After merging provinces and cities and operating two-level local governments, some parents and students are wondering who/which organization will issue their children's junior high school and high school diplomas.

Sharing with VietNamNet , a parent expressed concern about the case of a child studying in Hai Duong province before, but after the merger of provinces and cities, which unit will issue high school or middle school graduation certificates. Parents of some other provinces and cities that have just merged also have similar concerns.

Regarding this issue, speaking with VietNamNet , a representative of the Department of Quality Management (Ministry of Education and Training) said that in 2025, anticipating that there would no longer be Departments of Education and Training, since May 31, the Ministry has supported the supply of junior high school graduation diploma blanks to 63 provinces and cities. Therefore, all Departments of Education and Training in the 63 old provinces and cities have completed the signing and issuance of graduation certificates to students before June 30.

As for high school diplomas, the authority to issue them is still the Director of the Department of Education and Training. “Now, there are 34 provinces and cities, and 34 Directors of the Department of Education and Training will sign and issue diplomas to students. For example, the three former provinces of Ha Nam, Nam Dinh , and Ninh Binh merged to form the current Ninh Binh province. Thus, the Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ninh Binh will sign and issue high school diplomas to students of the newly established province, including students of the three former provinces,” he said.

Illustration: Pham Hai.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular 13/2025 regulating the decentralization, delegation and assignment of authority to perform state management tasks of local authorities at two levels in the fieldof education . Accordingly, the authority to manage the use of diploma and certificate blanks and to be responsible for the issuance of diplomas and certificates previously belonged to the Department of Education and Training (stipulated in Clause 3, Article 3 of the Regulations on the management of junior high school diplomas, high school diplomas, intermediate and college pedagogical diplomas, university diplomas and certificates of the national education system issued together with Circular 21/2019/TT-BGDDT of the Minister of Education and Training) implemented by the People's Committees at the commune level. This Circular takes effect from July 1.

Thus, the authority to grant junior high school graduation certificates from July 1, 2025 belongs to the Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level.

“Before Circular 13/2025 was issued, the Ministry of Education and Training had already resolved the issue of junior high school graduation certificates for this year’s students. Therefore, this year, the Commune People’s Committee does not have to resolve this issue and will start implementing it from 2026,” he said.

For diplomas and certificates issued by the Department of Education and Training before July 1, the re-issuance; issuance of copies from the original; correction of content recorded on diplomas and certificates; revocation and cancellation of diplomas and certificates will be carried out by the Department of Education and Training.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/sau-sap-nhap-bang-tot-nghiep-thpt-va-thcs-duoc-cap-nhu-the-nao-2421701.html