The education policies will take effect starting in February 2025.

Teachers are prohibited from charging fees for extra tutoring from regular students.

On December 30, 2024, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) issued Circular No. 29/2024 regulating supplementary teaching and learning, effective from February 14, 2025, replacing Circular No. 17/2012. This Circular provides detailed regulations to manage supplementary 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 art, physical education, sports, or life skills training. For students at other levels, Article 4 stipulates that teachers currently teaching at schools are not allowed to provide extra classes outside of school hours to students they teach at the school, if a fee is charged.

The circular also clearly stipulates regulations on supplementary teaching and learning within schools in Article 5, stating that no fees should be charged to students for these supplementary activities. Supplementary teaching is only applicable to students who voluntarily register for additional classes in specific subjects, including: students whose academic results are below par, students selected for advanced training, or final-year students participating in exam preparation for entrance exams or graduation exams according to the school's plan.

For paid extracurricular tutoring, organizations and individuals must register their businesses and operate under the management of the Enterprise Law. Teachers participating in extracurricular tutoring must also inform the principal about the subject, location, format, and time of their tutoring.

The entrance exam for 10th grade consists of three fixed subjects, while admission to 6th grade is based on selection criteria.

On January 8, 2025, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular No. 30 on the regulations for admission to junior and senior high schools, effective from February 14, 2025. This circular stipulates the methods of admission to grade 10, including entrance exams, selection based on academic records, or a combination of both. The specific admission method will be decided by each locality.

Under the examination method, the exam will consist of three subjects: Mathematics, Literature, and a third subject/test. 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 31st of each year. Importantly, to ensure fairness and diversity, the same third subject cannot be chosen for more than three consecutive years.

In addition, the Circular also stipulates that admission to grade 6 will only be conducted through a selection process, and there will only be one admission period per year for junior high school. The selection criteria will be specifically guided by the Department of Education and Training, ensuring fairness, objectivity, and transparency, while also being appropriate to the actual situation of each locality.

From 2025 onwards, the high school graduation exam will only have 4 subjects.

Circular No. 24/2024 issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, regulating the high school graduation exam, will officially take effect from February 8, 2025. The 2025 high school graduation exam will be held in three sessions: one session for Literature, one session for Mathematics, and one session for an elective subject. Candidates will be assigned to elective subject combinations to optimize exam room allocation and scores.

Compared to previous years, the 2025 exam will have significant changes: the number of exam sessions will be reduced by one, and the number of subjects will be reduced by two. Candidates will take two compulsory subjects, Mathematics and Literature, and can choose two additional subjects from the list of subjects in the general education curriculum, including: Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geography, History, Economics and Law Education, Informatics, Technology, and Foreign Languages ​​(English, German, Russian, Japanese, French, Chinese, Korean).

The circular also stipulates that graduation recognition will use a combination of continuous assessment scores (transcript) and exam results at a 50-50 ratio. The average transcript score for all years of study will be calculated according to a weighting.

Foreign language certificates will continue to be recognized for exemption from exams in graduation assessment; however, these certificates will no longer be converted to a 10-point scale as before. The graduation assessment score formula in this case will not include the foreign language score.

Inspecting the management of extracurricular tutoring and supplementary classes.

Circular No. 28/2024, issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, regulates the content 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 for preschools, primary and secondary schools, and continuing education institutions.

Specifically, the inspection content includes examining documents and regulations on internal management and legal dissemination and education; organizational structure; implementation of regulations on transparency in the education sector; internal inspection work and compliance with regulations on organization and operation according to the charter and regulations on organization and operation of the educational institution.

In addition, the Circular also stipulates regulations on the inspection of the socialization of education, the management of extracurricular tutoring activities; the conditions for ensuring the quality of education; compliance with regulations on educational quality accreditation; and the implementation of regulations related to the collection, management, and use of tuition fees and other financial resources.