In Nghe An, there is no school that can be considered an 'international school'.

Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporters on the morning of August 27, Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An province said that there is no school in the province that is considered an "international school". However, some schools have "self-proclaimed" themselves or have been established by authorities in violation of regulations.

The Department of Education is proposing to remove the words "international" or "bilingual" from schools that add the words "international" or "bilingual" to attract students. As for the "international schools" that were established by state management agencies in error, the Department is also requesting a review and correction.

According to Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh, to be considered an international school is very difficult, it must meet many criteria. "The most important thing is that the program must be an international curriculum. But this program must also be assessed and licensed by the Ministry of Education and Training. The teaching staff at the school must meet international standards, if not 100%, then at least 2/3 of the teachers must meet and must be regularly trained. The facilities must also meet international standards or have foreign investment elements...", Mr. Thanh affirmed.

Thus, based on only a few criteria set by the leaders of the Nghe An Education sector, there is certainly no school in the province that is an "international school". However, some schools such as the Vietnam - Singapore International Bilingual Kindergarten (Vinh City) even advertise on their website that this is "the first bilingual international school in Vinh City, built according to international standards..."; Sunkid School in Cua Lo Town has the words "Sunkid International Kindergarten" attached.

Viet - Sing International Bilingual Kindergarten in Vinh City

According to the 2005 Law on Education and the 2019 Law on Education (effective from July 1, 2020), the national education system is organized into three types: public schools established by the State; private schools established by local communities; private schools established by domestic or foreign investors. The Government has issued Decree 86/2018 regulating foreign cooperation and investment in the education sector. According to Article 29, the name of a foreign-invested school must include the following components arranged in order: school, grade or training level and proper name. This model can be generally referred to as educational institutions with foreign cooperation and investment activities.

According to these regulations, the existing international kindergartens in Nghe An are not recognized by law as international schools. The word international is only attached to the school name as a noun as a proper name, not as an adjective to show the real class of the school. This can be considered a way of advertising the school that is not true to its nature.

In the world, the term "international school" is a widely recognized type. According to some experts, the criteria of an international school in general are as follows: providing value-based education whose mission statement includes phrases such as "responsible global citizens", "creating a better world", "education for international understanding", "becoming active world citizens". Learning is built on one or more international education programs of organizations such as: International Baccalaureate, Fieldwork Education, Cambridge International Examinations... Degrees and certificates of international schools must be inter-school or recognized by at least one international education organization...

In fact, Vietnam also has a number of international schools established by the United Nations or by diplomatic agencies. In large cities, there are also a number of internationally oriented schools that exist in the form of public or private schools.

In Ho Chi Minh City, 16 out of 21 schools with foreign elements that the Department of Education and Training has publicly announced on its website have the word "international" in their names, for example, Singapore International School or Canada International Primary, Secondary and High School. These schools all have foreign investment, use foreign training programs and have students from dozens of countries.

However, now the name "international school" is being "abused", with the element of attracting parents and students, at the same time the schools also offer very high tuition fees; parents mistakenly believe that their children are studying at an international school so they do not hesitate to invest.