Agree to convert secondary school into vocational secondary school
On May 29, the Ho Chi Minh City Vocational Education Association (VET) held a workshop on Comments on the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Education Law and the policy of the VET Law (amended).
Colleges and intermediate schools in Ho Chi Minh City give comments on the draft of the new vocational education policy (Photo: Tung Nguyen).
According to the organizers, since March, the vocational education sector has been officially assigned to the Ministry of Education and Training for unified management. Therefore, the amendment of the Education Law and the Vocational Education Law policy carries a new responsibility: Restructuring the vocational education system into a unified and modern whole.
Therefore, the comments of schools and businesses are very important to jointly create a synchronous, feasible legal framework and sustainable development orientation for Vietnam's vocational education in the era of digital transformation and global integration.
At the workshop, the content that received the most comments from delegates was about the national education system. The drafting unit proposed to build the national education system's levels including: preschool education; general education; vocational education and higher education.
In which, vocational education includes vocational secondary schools and colleges; training at elementary, intermediate and college levels. Thus, the draft no longer mentions secondary schools but changes them to vocational secondary schools. Intermediate level is only one level of vocational training.
In the introductory report, Dr. Dang Minh Su, Standing Member of the Ho Chi Minh City Vocational Education Association, agreed with the establishment of the legal status of the vocational secondary school program.
He said: “This is a step forward in line with the practices of countries such as Germany, South Korea and Thailand; at the same time, it meets the need for early vocational training, shortens training time but still ensures output capacity.”
Mr. Tran Anh Tuan, Vice President of the Ho Chi Minh City Vocational Education Association, also agreed with the proposal to remove the concept of secondary schools in the draft law.
Mr. Tran Anh Tuan agrees to abolish secondary school and replace it with vocational secondary school (Photo: Tung Nguyen).
According to Mr. Tuan, we should unify a training organization, merge vocational education centers, continuing education centers and current secondary schools into one level of education called "Vocational Secondary School".
Vocational high schools will integrate vocational knowledge and high school curriculum knowledge, a form of specialized vocational training, focusing on equipping practical skills and professional knowledge.
The most difficult is the interconnection mechanism.
According to Mr. Tran Anh Tuan, the name of the level of education is not important, the most important thing is that the bill needs to stipulate that graduates of vocational secondary schools and vocational high schools can transfer to colleges and universities.
He said: "We should not maintain the current distinction between vocational secondary school diplomas and high school diplomas."
Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Van Hong, Director of the Institute of Technical Education (Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education), also agreed that the draft law needs to specify what a vocational secondary school diploma is to avoid controversy like the current 9+ secondary school diploma.
According to him, the current Education Law has the concept of “high school graduation or equivalent” to determine the conditions for higher education. However, there are currently no specific regulations on whether a secondary or vocational secondary school diploma is considered equivalent to a high school diploma.
Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Van Hong requested clarification on what a vocational secondary school diploma is (Photo: Tung Nguyen).
Many vocational schools attending the workshop also complained about this discrimination.
Mr. Mai Hoang Loc, Vice Principal of Nguyen Tat Thanh College, said: "Currently, many students with intermediate degrees find it difficult to get a job, and it is very difficult to transfer to university. Although the school issues certificates of completion of the general education program to students, they cannot enter state agencies, which require a high school diploma."
Dr. Le Lam, Principal of Dai Viet Saigon College, confirmed that in reality, they have issued certificates to students for completing the 4-subject cultural program, but workplaces and universities require a high school diploma.
According to Mr. Nguyen Tung Lam, Principal of the College of Architecture and Construction, the Education Law can eliminate both intermediate and college levels, and combine them into one level: vocational training and technician training, which is the intermediate level between common laborers and engineers.
However, the most important condition is to determine that the degree is equal to a high school diploma so that students can transfer to university and work without being discriminated against.
He said: “It is very difficult to define equivalent degrees, because the word equivalent depends on the employer. The system should be clear and transparent. If it is not standardized from the beginning, the degree system will be in a roundabout way like it has been for decades.”
Many schools report "discrimination" against secondary school diplomas (Photo: Tung Nguyen).
Dr. Nguyen Hoang Hung, Vice Principal of Saigon Polytechnic College, affirmed: “Clear the transfer mechanism so that students know which path they choose to transfer to a higher level. It is necessary to identify vocational education as a training level with an important role in the national education system. Only then can vocational education develop.”
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/trung-cap-hay-trung-hoc-nghe-deu-khong-quan-trong-bang-lien-thong-20250529133058692.htm
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