Amendments and supplements to the Law on Education: Consider abolishing the issuance of junior high school diplomas

Establish vocationaleducation as a level of education

At the recent Workshop on Comments on the Amended Law on Education, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc said that the Law on Education No. 43/2019/QH14 was passed by the 14th National Assembly on June 14, 2019, and officially took effect from July 1, 2020. During the implementation process, the Law on Education has contributed to creating an important legal corridor for the development of the national education system.

However, after 5 years of implementation, practice has shown some shortcomings and limitations that need to be further reviewed, revised, supplemented and adjusted to suit the actual situation. “This is an extremely important task because the Education Law is considered the original law when building laws related to the education sector,” the Deputy Minister emphasized.

According to Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Phuc, the addition and adjustment of a number of articles of the Education Law must closely follow and be consistent with the Party and State's policy of educational and training innovation; resolve problems in practical implementation; be consistent with international experience and ensure scientific basis.

Director of the Legal Department Mai Thi Anh said that the new point in the draft Law is to establish vocational education as a level of education, including two levels: vocational secondary school and college. This design ensures the structure of the national education system in the direction of clearly distinguishing levels of education, clearly classifying training levels and enhancing openness and connectivity, in accordance with the National Qualifications Framework and international practices.

The draft Law stipulates the abolition of the junior high school graduation certificate and assigns 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 Department of Education and Training granting the junior high school graduation certificate; assigns the authority to the principal of the high school/head of the educational institution implementing the high school education program granting the high school graduation certificate instead of the Director of the Department of Education and Training granting the high school graduation certificate.

The draft Law also amends the direction of eliminating the School Council (SSC) in public preschool and general education institutions to streamline the apparatus, increase enforcement effectiveness and create conditions for substantial innovation in school activities based on existing democratic institutions such as Party committees, trade unions, Parents' Representative Boards, Pedagogical Councils, etc.

The Ministry of Education and Training explained that 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 policies of the Party and the State, meet the practical situation of education management and approach international practices. Accordingly, the empowerment of the head of the educational institution in confirming and granting certificates is a concrete step in clearly defining the authority and responsibility between the central and local levels, between the management agency and the implementing agency. At the same time, it is consistent with the nature of universalizing junior high school education as 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, and it is not necessary to maintain the administrative degree granting mechanism. Importantly, replacing the issuance of certificates with confirmation of program completion still ensures full legal basis for learners to transfer levels, learn a trade or continue their studies as desired...

Changes need to be practical and feasible .

Former Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Huu Do stated that the amendment and supplementation of a number of articles of the Law on Education is necessary, consistent with the goal of education and training innovation. The former Deputy Minister also noted the new points added to the draft. In particular, with the content of legalizing the regulation on universalizing preschool education for children from 3 to 5 years old, the former Deputy Minister paid special attention to the implementation roadmap, funding, and conditions to ensure implementation, consistent with practical conditions and feasibility.

Regarding the training program, in the summary report on the implementation of the 2019 Education Law, many localities have reflected the current situation of training programs in public kindergartens and general schools operating in a perfunctory manner. Maintaining training programs in that context is not only ineffective but also increases administrative burden.

Therefore, in the spirit of streamlining the organization and increasing the self-responsibility of principals for public schools, removing the regulation on the Board of Directors in public kindergartens and general schools in the draft Law 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 such as Party committees, trade unions, Parents' Representative Boards, Pedagogical Councils, etc.

Regarding this issue, teacher Nguyen Thi Minh Thuy, Principal of Nguyen Sieu Secondary and High School (Hanoi) proposed to supplement regulations on the Board of Directors for the system of private educational institutions to avoid overlap between the positions of Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Board of Directors and Principal of the school.

The President of Hanoi National University of Education, Nguyen Duc Son, also had some notes for the Drafting Committee to review regulations on teachers, training institutions, educational services, and program evaluation to avoid overlapping with the laws currently being implemented... For example, the regulations on "educational support services" need to be clarified and specified to ensure both feasibility and consistency with the autonomy of higher education institutions as stipulated in the Law on Higher Education...

Uyen Na

Source: https://baophapluat.vn/sua-doi-bo-sung-luat-giao-duc-can-nhac-viec-bo-cap-bang-tot-nghiep-thcs-post548581.html