Education in 2014: Many new challenges and opportunities

The education sector has entered 2013 with many milestones, the most important of which was the Party Central Committee’s Resolution on comprehensive and fundamental reform of education on November 4. Although the Resolution was issued at the end of the year, the sector has had time to initiate many activities for changes.

These changes are expected to take place even more strongly in 2014 because this is the first year the industry officially puts the Resolution into practice.

2013, a pivotal year for innovation

To obtain the Central Party's decision, the education sector has cooperated with the Central Propaganda Department to prepare the project since 2012 with many revisions and improvements.

According to the Resolution, education will be student-centered, shifting from imparting knowledge to teaching people with the goal of educating Vietnamese people to develop comprehensively and best promote the potential and creativity of each individual.

Experts believe that if the resolution is implemented in the right spirit, this will truly be a reform and will bring a new look to the country's education, a new future for Vietnamese human resources. And therefore, it is considered the most anticipated educational project ever.

Professor Hoang Tuy, one of the leading professors in mathematics and one of the people who is very passionate about education, happily expressed: "This is the first time we have a serious project on educational innovation with a progressive perspective.

Similarly, Professor Nguyen Minh Thuyet also shared: “I think this is the best project, it represents a new way of thinking about education. I am happy for those working in education and those interested in Vietnamese education. With this project, the education sector will have the opportunity to strongly innovate.”

Immediately after the Resolution was issued, the industry had many active activities to implement educational innovation such as the draft for universities to be autonomous in enrollment, and the roadmap to end the three-common university entrance exam in 2016. The Ministry also announced a draft to change the high school graduation exam, according to which about 20% of students with good academic performance will be exempted from the exam, and the number of exam subjects will also be reduced to 4 subjects instead of 6 subjects as at present... According to the Ministry's leaders, these changes aim to create a more concise and practical exam while at the same time properly implementing the Law on Higher Education.

Although there are still many conflicting opinions surrounding these drafts and the Ministry's leaders also said that they will listen and absorb them to improve them, it also shows that the Ministry has immediately started implementing innovations, the first of which is innovation in examinations, an issue considered a breakthrough solution in the Resolution.

Along with exams, in 2013, the education sector also had a series of innovations in teaching and learning methods such as expanding the new primary school model to over 1,400 schools, deploying educational technology for first grade Vietnamese to 37 provinces and cities and starting a pilot in second grade. The sector encouraged the abolition of grading for first graders to reduce academic pressure on them.

However, 2013 also revealed many loopholes in the industry, such as the continued occurrence of corruption in high school graduation exams. Preschool education continued to be on red alert with a series of tragic incidents.

Many challenges in 2014

According to Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan, in 2014, his three biggest priorities are: first, to complete the design of the program, on that basis, to compile general education textbooks; second, to change the training of teacher training colleges; and third, to find every way to improve the quality of university education, towards enhancing soft skills and creative skills for students.

The new curriculum and textbooks must focus on the development of learners’ qualities and abilities, not on scientific logic as before. However, many people are concerned about whether “old bottles” can be “new wine” when the experts who write books are mostly long-time professors in the industry. Professor Dinh Quang Bao, one of the editors, also admitted: “There must be a change in the awareness of those who develop the curriculum and compile textbooks so that they can create new content. However, that is very difficult. Currently, the team of textbook compilers in Vietnam has not met this requirement.”

With the new primary school model, classes are organized into groups. (Photo: Quy Trung/VNA)

Changes in training at teacher training colleges are even more difficult when there must be new programs and textbooks to train teachers to meet new requirements. Planning for teacher training colleges and planning for teacher training human resources are also unresolved issues in the industry, causing graduates to have no place on the podium, not to mention the quality of training.

According to Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Vinh Hien, the Ministry will reorganize the teacher training network, possibly turning regional teacher training colleges into 'master machines'. All current teachers will also be reviewed so that training can be organized. Teachers who are not qualified to teach will be considered for transfer to other jobs. "This is a very busy job," said Deputy Minister Hien.

The third important thing that the Minister is determined to do is to improve the quality of higher education. This is also a difficult problem to solve when the Ministry's assessment of the current situation of this level of education in 2013 shows that the material conditions and number of lecturers of many schools have not met the training scale. Teaching methods are slow to innovate, mainly only aiming to impart knowledge, not promoting the capacity of students. The connection between higher education institutions and businesses has not met the demand. Many schools violate current regulations, causing outrage in society such as determining enrollment targets beyond capacity, recruiting beyond targets, unlicensed training cooperation, quality is not guaranteed but still granting regular degrees...

It can be seen that the difficulties and challenges of the education sector in 2014 are very great. As a field directly related to people's lives, the main topic in every family meal, every step of the sector in the new year 2014, the first year the sector introduces the Resolution of the Party Central Committee on fundamental and comprehensive education reform, will be followed by the whole society with much hope./

According to Vietnam+