The level of contribution to school construction should be specifically regulated to avoid pressure on teachers and schools.

PV:What is your assessment of the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education presented at this session?

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hien:After more than 10 years of implementation, the Education Law has made an important contribution to the process of developing education and training human resources to serve the country. However, the Education Law has now revealed many shortcomings.

Deputy Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation Nguyen Thanh Hien answers the interview. Photo: Diep Anh

I basically agree with the necessity of promulgating the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education, in order to institutionalize the Party and State's viewpoint on fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training; promote the achieved results, overcome limitations and shortcomings, solve new problems arising in the development of education and training, contribute to improving people's knowledge, developing human resources, and nurturing talents to meet the requirements of national construction and defense and international integration.

In fact, voters also hope that the amendment of the Education Law will overcome the shortcomings of the sector, pay more attention to personality training for students, the goal is to train Vietnamese people with a healthy lifestyle, pure ideals, meeting the requirements of the country's industrialization and modernization and especially having the awareness of global citizenship. Therefore, if the Education Law is not amended in time, our country's education will fall behind.

PV:This draft revised Law has focused on overcoming many "bottlenecks" in current education. Do you have any comments on the points identified by the drafting agency as breakthroughs in this revision?

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hien:Not only me but also other National Assembly members are very interested in this bill because the policies and legal regulations designed in this bill directly affect the education and growth of our children and it will contribute significantly to shaping the future generations of the country...

As I have said, the current Education Law has revealed many shortcomings and limitations. The root of any education must be humanity, humanism, and the liberation of the potentials inherent in each person as an independent individual. In my opinion, the key to fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education is still innovation in the thinking of State management of education, especially innovation in the thinking and management methods of the heads of the education sector, thereby creating systematic innovation.

PV:From that reality, do you have any specific recommendations for the draft Law on Education (amended)?

Mr. Nguyen Thanh Hien:In my opinion, first, to overcome the shortcomings and limitations in the national education system, I strongly agree with the draft which has added regulations on the open and interconnected nature of the national education system, demonstrating the close connection between education levels and training levels, between formal education and continuing education; adjusting the goals, requirements, content, and methods of the education program towards focusing on developing the qualities, abilities, and personal skills of learners.

In fact, in recent years, there are two issues that I am particularly concerned about: student streaming policy and the issue of reducing the load in the general education program.

It can be said that in recent times, the student streaming policy has encountered many difficulties. This is a weakness of the education system. The student streaming rate in localities is very low. Vocational training is not effective, but the draft has not mentioned or supplemented this issue to effectively solve it.

In my opinion, it is necessary to add specific regulations to promote student streaming and conditions for effective implementation of this policy to the draft law...

As for reducing the workload in the general education program, this is always an issue of great public concern. Therefore, to effectively overcome this problem, there must be principled regulations in the Law. The standards and procedures for compiling and editing general education textbooks must ensure both consistency throughout the country and suitability to the conditions of each locality...

Second, about the age in general education. According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 26 of the Draft Law, the age of first graders is 6 years old, the age of sixth graders is 11 years old and the age of tenth graders is 15 years old. In my opinion, there should not be a rigid age limit for each level of education, but only a minimum age of 6 years old for first grade.

In reality, there are many reasons why students cannot attend classes at the prescribed age. On the other hand, there are students with special abilities who can study beyond the curriculum, so they can be considered for special treatment, or there are also cases where students study poorly and have to repeat the same grade...

Furthermore, Clause 13, Article 1, amending and supplementing Article 44 of the Law on Education, stipulates that the goal of education is to “create conditions for everyone to work and study, to study continuously, to study for life in order to perfect their personality, broaden their knowledge, improve their academic level, expertise, and skills to improve their quality of life, find jobs, create jobs for themselves, and adapt to social life. The State has policies to develop continuing education, implement education for everyone, promote adult learning, and build a learning society”. Therefore, the “rigid” regulation of the age of general education is not consistent with the goal of education.

Tuesday,on the standard qualifications of teachers. In Clause 26, Article 1 of the Draft Law amending and supplementing Article 77 of the Law on Education in the direction of raising teacher standards as follows: “a) Having a secondary pedagogical degree for preschool teachers; having a bachelor's degree in pedagogy for primary school teachers. b) Having a bachelor's degree in pedagogy or having a bachelor's degree and a certificate of pedagogical training for secondary school teachers.”

Compared with the above output standards, those who have graduated from a teacher training college will not be qualified to teach primary and secondary school students. On the other hand, the provisions of the Draft Law and the current Law do not clearly define whether teachers with a “teacher training college” degree can teach preschool or not? Therefore, I suggest reconsidering this provision based on an assessment of the impact on the teacher training college system…

Recess of students at Le Loi Primary School. Photo courtesy

Wednesday,related to the policy for those who are allowed to study under the nomination system. In my opinion, in recent times, the implementation of the nomination policy has achieved many important results in training cadres, civil servants and public employees for areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions, with a concentration of ethnic minorities.

However, there is still a situation where the recruitment does not meet the requirements of the profession, field, location, quantity... leading to surplus and difficulty in assigning work to the recruited graduates.

I suggest that the Government needs to summarize the implementation of this policy, including a deep assessment of the quality of human resources trained through recruitment, and at the same time, statistics on the number of graduates who are assigned or find jobs locally.

Only then can we comprehensively evaluate the effectiveness of this policy in order to have a reasonable policy adjustment plan. At the same time, it is necessary to focus on mechanisms, policies, and investment in developing the system of ethnic boarding schools in localities to improve the quality of training, creating conditions for developing the real capacity of ethnic minority children...

Thursday,on financial resources for education investment. In fact, in recent times, in many localities, at the beginning of each school year, the issue of abusing socialization to collect excessive fees in schools has been of great concern to voters and has become a source of frustration for parents and students.

Through contact with voters, many opinions suggested that the National Assembly study adding school construction funds to the rigid regulations in the Education Law; clearly distinguish between school construction funds and socialized education funds...

In my opinion, in the context of limited state budget, school construction should be made a public revenue and there should be a specific level of contribution to school construction money, to avoid pressure on teachers and schools, and to create fair conditions in teaching and learning between regions.