Education policies effective from February 2025
Many new policies and regulations in the education sector will officially take effect from February 2025, including important regulations on extra teaching and learning, procedures and requirements related to the high school graduation exam...
Teachers are prohibited from collecting extra money for tutoring regular students.
On December 30, 2024, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) issued Circular No. 29/2024 regulating extra teaching and learning, effective from February 14, 2025, replacing Circular No. 17/2012. This Circular provides detailed regulations to manage extra teaching and learning activities in educational institutions.
According to Circular 29, teachers are not allowed to organize extra classes for primary school students, except in cases related to arts, physical education, sports, or life skills training. For students at other levels, Article 4 stipulates that teachers who are teaching at schools are not allowed to teach extra classes outside of school hours with students they are teaching at school, if they charge a fee.
The Circular also clearly stipulates the provision of extra teaching and learning in schools in Article 5, stating that no fees may be collected from students for these extra teaching activities. Extra teaching only applies to students who voluntarily register to take extra classes in certain subjects, including: students with unsatisfactory academic results, students selected for training of excellent students, or final year students participating in entrance exams or graduation exams according to the school's plan.
For extra-curricular tutoring with fees, organizations and individuals must register their business and operate under the management of the Enterprise Law. Teachers who participate in extra-curricular tutoring must also notify the principal about the subject, location, form and time of their tutoring.
10th grade entrance exam has 3 fixed subjects, 6th grade admission by selection
On January 8, 2025, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular No. 30 on regulations for admission to secondary and high schools, effective from February 14, 2025. This Circular stipulates methods of admission to grade 10, including entrance exams, admission selection, or a combination of entrance exams and admission selection. The choice of specific admission methods will be decided by localities.
With the entrance exam method, the exam will include 3 subjects: Math, Literature and a third subject/exam. The third subject will be selected and announced by the Department of Education and Training after the end of the first semester, but no later than March 31 every year. In particular, to ensure fairness and diversity, the same third subject cannot be selected for more than 3 consecutive years.
In addition, the Circular also stipulates that admission to grade 6 is only conducted by selection method, and there is only one admission round for junior high school each year. The selection criteria will be specifically guided by the Department of Education and Training, ensuring fairness, objectivity and transparency, while being suitable to the actual situation of each locality.
High school graduation exam from 2025 will have only 4 subjects
Circular No. 24/2024 issued by the Ministry of Education and Training regulating the high school graduation exam regulations will officially take effect from February 8, 2025. The 2025 high school graduation exam will be held in 3 sessions, including: one Literature exam, one Math exam, and one optional exam. Candidates will be arranged according to the optional exam combination to optimize the exam room and exam score.
Compared to previous years, the 2025 exam has significant changes: the number of exam sessions is reduced by 1, and the number of exam subjects is reduced by 2. Candidates will take 2 compulsory subjects: Math and Literature, and can choose 2 more subjects from the list of subjects of the general education program, including: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geography, History, Economic and Legal Education, Information Technology, Technology, and Foreign Languages (English, German, Russian, Japanese, French, Chinese, Korean).
The Circular also stipulates that the graduation recognition will use a combination of process assessment scores (report cards) and exam results at a ratio of 50-50. The average report card score of the school years will be calculated based on the weight.
Foreign language certificates will continue to be recognized for exam exemption in graduation recognition, however, these certificates will no longer be converted into 10 points as before. The graduation score calculation formula in this case will not include foreign language points.
Inspection of management of extra teaching and learning
Circular No. 28/2024 issued by the Ministry of Education and Training regulates the contents of specialized inspections in the field of education and internal inspections at educational institutions, effective from February 10, 2025. This Circular provides specific regulations on inspections of preschool, general education and continuing education institutions.
Specifically, the inspection contents include checking documents and regulations on internal management and dissemination and education of laws; building organizational apparatus; implementing regulations on publicity in the field of education; internal inspection work and compliance with regulations on organization and operation according to the charter and regulations on organization and operation of educational institutions.
In addition, the Circular also regulates the inspection of socialized education work, management of extra teaching and learning activities; conditions for ensuring educational quality; compliance with regulations on educational quality assessment; and implementation of regulations related to the collection, management and use of tuition fees and other financial resources.
