The education policy will take effect from January 2026.

On December 10th, the National Assembly passed three new laws in the field of education and training, including: the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education; the Law on Vocational Education (amended); and the Law on Higher Education (amended).

Previously, on June 16, 2025, at its 9th session, the 15th National Assembly passed the Law on Teachers, consisting of 9 chapters and 42 articles.

In addition, the National Assembly also passed a resolution on a number of special and outstanding mechanisms and policies to achieve breakthroughs in education and training development; and a resolution on the investment policy for the National Target Program on modernization and improvement of the quality of education and training for the period 2026-2035. These laws and resolutions will take effect from January 1, 2026.

New regulations in the Law on Teachers

For the first time in history, the National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam has enacted a separate law fully stipulating the position, role, rights, obligations, and policies for the teaching staff; concretizing the major policy of the Party and the State in honoring, caring for, protecting, and developing the teaching staff.

The Law on Teachers stipulates five key points: affirming the status, protecting the honor and prestige of the teaching profession; teachers' salaries are ranked highest in the administrative and public service salary scale; several policies to better attract and retain teachers; standardizing and developing the workforce – improving the quality of education; increasing autonomy for educational institutions and granting proactive authority to the education sector.

Specifically, the Law on Teachers stipulates that "Teachers' salaries shall be ranked highest in the administrative and public service salary scale system" and assigns the Government to regulate in detail the salary policy for teachers. This is an important basis for the Government to make regulations adjusting teachers' salaries to ensure the principle of "ranking highest".

In addition, according to the law, teachers are also entitled to special allowances, responsibility allowances, preferential allowances, subsidies for disadvantaged areas, allowances for inclusive education, seniority allowances, mobility allowances, etc., contributing to an overall increase in income.

The Law on Teachers stipulates that all teachers, both public and private, are entitled to allowances based on the nature of their work and region; support for training and professional development; support for regular health check-ups and occupational health care; and are provided with official housing or collective accommodation, or receive housing allowance when working in particularly difficult areas.

At the same time, there are policies to attract and utilize highly qualified, talented, and gifted individuals with exceptional skills; to work in particularly difficult areas; and educators in key and essential fields…

Along with salary policies, incentive and support policies to attract teachers are a comprehensive solution to attract talented individuals to the teaching profession, attract talented people from key professions to become teachers, attract teachers to work in disadvantaged areas, ensure consistent quality across regions, and retain teachers for long-term service in the profession.

In addition, the Law on Teachers stipulates that preschool teachers, if they so wish, may retire at an age no more than 5 years younger than that stipulated in the Labor Code and will not have their pension reduced due to early retirement if they have contributed to social insurance for 15 years. Professors, associate professors, doctors, or teachers working in specialized fields may retire at an older age.

According to the Law on Teachers, the heads of public vocational education institutions and public higher education institutions, regardless of the level of autonomy granted, have the right to proactively recruit teachers.

The National Assembly has assigned the Minister of Education and Training the authority to regulate the recruitment of teachers in preschool, primary, secondary, and continuing education institutions. Simultaneously, it has tasked the Government with providing detailed regulations on the authority to transfer teachers, ensuring the role of the education sector in proactively managing the distribution of teachers among educational institutions.

New regulations in the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Education Law.

One of the notable new points of the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education is that from 2026 onwards, junior high school diplomas will no longer be issued, and there will be a unified set of textbooks nationwide; the Government will regulate the provision of free textbooks for students.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training decided to select the "Connecting Knowledge with Life" textbook series published by Vietnam Education Publishing House as the unified national textbook series starting from the 2026-2027 school year.

The law also stipulates the National Scholarship Fund – a completely new mechanism aimed at expanding learning opportunities for students and promoting talent development; and adds a series of new mechanisms for scientific, technological, and innovative activities.

The law also recognizes digital diplomas and certificates; defines "educational support personnel" in the national education system; amends regulations on training for specialized fields in arts, physical education, and sports; and reduces administrative procedures.

New regulations in the amended Higher Education Law

The amended Higher Education Law establishes a unified higher education system with advanced governance, increasing endogenous strength; ending the operation of the School Council in public higher education institutions and strengthening the leadership role of the Party organization in higher education institutions.

The law guarantees the full autonomy of universities in terms of academic space, staff, scientific research, innovation, finance, and international cooperation.

The law creates a breakthrough in grassroots governance, synchronizing training levels and increasing the decision-making power of higher education institutions. The state manages the system according to standards, applies information technology, and seamlessly combines post-audit and pre-audit to ensure quality.

The law aims to reform higher education by promoting lifelong learning, modernizing curricula, learning materials, and technology, narrowing the gap with the labor market, and strictly controlling the fields of teaching, health, and law.

The investment policy aims to improve the standards of higher education institutions; to establish excellent universities to lead the system; to mobilize all resources and create a level playing field for competition between public and private institutions. The law opens a corridor to attract talented lecturers, support students from undergraduate to postgraduate levels; and promote training linked to scientific research and new technologies.

New regulations in the amended Vocational Education Law

One of the most notable points in the amended Vocational Education Law is the addition of the vocational high school model and the expansion of the target group for vocational education activities, aiming to perfect the national education system in an open, flexible, and interconnected direction, creating lifelong learning opportunities for all citizens.

Another important aspect is the innovation of curricula, training organization, and quality assurance in vocational education through the establishment of program standards and training institution standards; managing registration activities on a digital data platform; and recognizing accumulated knowledge and skills to enable learners to participate in other programs.

The law supplements preferential policies regarding taxes, land, and policies for enterprise personnel participating in vocational education in the roles of visiting lecturer, co-employee, or full-time teacher.

In addition, the Law also promotes decentralization and delegation of power to improve the effectiveness of state management in vocational education, ensuring the serious and synchronized implementation of the Party and State's policies.

Resolution of the National Assembly on a number of special and outstanding mechanisms and policies to achieve breakthroughs in education and training development.

The National Assembly's resolution on some special and outstanding mechanisms and policies to achieve breakthroughs in education and training development consists of 9 articles, focusing on stipulating 5 groups of outstanding policies.

Specifically, regarding the mechanism for recruiting, employing, and managing human resources in the education sector, the Resolution stipulates that the Director of the Department of Education and Training has the authority to recruit and appoint teachers, educational administrators, and staff in public preschools, primary and secondary schools, continuing education institutions, special schools, and vocational high schools (public educational institutions) within the province;

To exercise the authority to assign, transfer, second, appoint, and change job positions for teachers, educational administrators, and staff in public educational institutions under its management authority, and for public educational institutions involving two or more commune-level administrative units within the province.

The Chairman of the People's Committee at the commune level has the authority to transfer, reassign, second, appoint, dismiss, and change job positions for teachers, educational administrators, and staff in public educational institutions under their management.

Vocational and higher education institutions have the autonomy to determine job positions, recruit, and sign labor contracts with foreign experts and scientists with doctoral degrees, as well as Vietnamese citizens residing abroad, according to their internal regulations; they also decide and take responsibility for the recruitment and confirmation of eligibility for work permit exemptions for foreign experts and scientists for a period not exceeding 3 years to carry out teaching and scientific research.

Regarding remuneration for personnel in the education sector, the resolution stipulates: Professional incentive allowances will be implemented according to a roadmap prescribed by the Government for public preschool and general education institutions, with a minimum rate of 70% for teachers, a minimum rate of 30% for staff, and 100% for teachers working in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions, ethnic minority areas, border areas, and islands.

Vocational and higher education institutions have the autonomy to determine the additional income for teachers, staff, and employees from legitimate sources of revenue outside the state budget that are retained according to the law, in accordance with internal spending regulations and the unit's performance.

Resolution on the investment policy for the National Target Program on modernization and improvement of the quality of education and training for the period 2026 - 2035

The Resolution on the investment policy for the National Target Program on modernization and improvement of the quality of education and training for the period 2026-2035 stipulates the objectives, scope and time of implementation of the Program, beneficiaries, implementation costs, urgent issues that need to be focused on, principles of allocation of central budget funds, specific mechanisms and policies in the implementation of the Program, and solutions and mechanisms for managing and operating the Program.

The resolution also stipulates the responsibilities of the Government and the Prime Minister; the responsibilities of the Ministry of Education and Training (the lead agency for the Program) and the responsibilities of the People's Councils and People's Committees at the provincial level; and the responsibilities for monitoring the implementation of the Program.