Some orientations on planning school and class networks in Nghe An

Reduce 231 schools and school locations

Being a large area with a large population, Nghe An has a fairly large network of schools and classrooms (including public and non-public).

Planning and building a reasonable network of schools and classrooms is an important requirement to ensure comprehensive and sustainable development of education and training. This task has been actively implemented by the Nghe An Education and Training Department with many drastic and creative solutions, bringing about many positive results.

In the period from 2021 to present, on the basis of closely following Resolution No. 29, dated November 4, 2013 of the Politburo (11th tenure) on "Fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training, meeting the requirements of industrialization and modernization in the context of a socialist-oriented market economy and international integration" as the "backbone"; the Department of Education and Training has proactively advised the Provincial Party Committee, People's Council, and Provincial People's Committee to issue many resolutions, decisions, and plans to specify policies and guidelines for sustainable development of education and training in the province until 2030, with a vision to 2045 in general and to implement the planning of the network of schools and classrooms in particular.

The Provincial People's Council alone has issued 14 important resolutions; including a resolution stipulating a number of policies to support ethnic minority boarding schools and high schools to pilot the model of ethnic minority boarding schools in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in Nghe An province. This is a resolution that, according to feedback from localities, has promoted the smooth implementation of the planning of the network of preschool and general schools, especially in ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

Because when merging schools, merging separate schools into main schools with organized boarding and semi-boarding models has created a comprehensive educational environment for students to be attached to the school and class, thereby developing more comprehensively, receiving the support of parents and students.

Along with arranging, merging, and reducing the number of small-scale schools and remote schools to focus resources on investing in facilities and equipment, building a good pedagogical environment and promoting comprehensive education for students; Nghe An also creates conditions to encourage the development of non-public educational institutions, meeting the learning needs of students with 84 schools, an increase of 6 schools compared to the 2020-2021 school year.

The province has also actively planned and urged the implementation of a number of new school models and educational activities, creating breakthroughs in fundamental and comprehensive innovation, developing the qualities and capacities of learners. Such as the high-quality key school model; new-style ethnic boarding schools; advanced kindergarten and general school models following the trend of international integration... Of which, the high-quality key school model has been implemented in 9 middle schools and 5 high schools.

From the practice of building a high-quality key school model, teacher Nguyen Ngoc Thien - Principal of Ho Xuan Huong Secondary School (Quynh Luu district) shared: "In addition to being interested in supporting investment in facilities and equipment for modern teaching and learning, meeting integration requirements; for students to have the opportunity to access more comprehensive education, including IT, foreign languages, life skills, contributing to improving good qualities and capacities, ready for integration; for the team of managers and teachers to be aware of self-training and fostering to cultivate and improve knowledge, skills, management and teaching methods; in which some subjects are taught bilingually in English - Vietnamese, such as math and natural sciences".

In addition to improving the comprehensive quality of education for learners, ensuring the improvement of human resource quality, and meeting the requirements of international integration, Mr. Nguyen Trong Dat - Principal of Ton Quang Phiet School (Thanh Chuong district) said: The high-quality key school also becomes a "satellite" spreading the improvement of education quality to other schools in the district.

Regarding vocational education and higher education, the province has also resolutely reorganized. From 2021 to now, the province has reduced 1 provincial center; reduced 13 vocational education institutions; merged Nghe An Pedagogical College into Nghe An University of Economics and renamed Nghe An University. Along with the reorganization, the province has also issued many solutions to improve education and training capacity, gradually adapting to the requirements of the homeland and the country entering a new era, with the rate of trained workers higher than the national average, reaching 71.5%; of which, the rate of having diplomas and certificates reached 31%.

Review for better planning

In addition to the positive results; through the recent thematic monitoring program on planning and arranging the network of schools and classes at educational institutions in the province, the Provincial People's Council also acknowledged many difficulties and challenges.

The most concerning issue at present is that there are still many separate kindergarten and primary schools in the province - according to Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Department of Education and Training: "This is a challenge that needs to be reviewed in the coming period for better planning".

Along with that, the conditions for implementing the 2018 general education program as well as fundamental and comprehensive education reform are still limited in terms of resources. The quality of education in ethnic minority and mountainous areas is still limited, especially the lack of English teachers and IT teachers, making it difficult to implement and improve students' capacity.

Comprehensive education for students such as drowning prevention, school violence, and life skills is not yet synchronized, requiring continued planning and adjustment. The system of foreign language centers and life skills education has developed due to the needs of the people and the development of businesses according to the market mechanism, but management still exists.

Regarding vocational education, planning and arrangement still pose some shortcomings; training quality and effectiveness are not consistent. The rate of workers with intermediate and college vocational qualifications is still low, only 21.6%. The source of highly skilled human resources is still limited, while the demand for highly skilled workers in the current context is urgent.

Regarding university education, enrollment and training in some new social professions are still inadequate in terms of scale and quality; at the same time, research and application of scientific research into practice are limited.

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The planning and arrangement of school and class networks must be consistent with the actual situation after the arrangement of commune-level administrative units and the implementation of the two-level local government model.

Comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council

From the above reality, comrade Nguyen Nam Dinh - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council requested the Department of Education and Training to continue reviewing, advising on planning, and rearranging the school network on the basis of closely following the policies of the Central and the province on sustainable education development, meeting national and international standards; at the same time, it must be in the spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship; education and training must meet the socio-economic development needs of the province and the labor source for businesses inside and outside the province. The planning and arrangement of the school and class network must ensure that it is suitable for the actual situation after the rearrangement of commune-level administrative units and the implementation of the 2-level local government model.

In addition to agreeing on some common views, the Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council also specifically suggested some orientations in planning the network of schools at all levels. In particular, for higher education, it is necessary to focus on building a number of facilities to become "locomotives" of the region; for vocational education, it is necessary to review to plan, arrange, and reduce focal points for focused investment and improve training efficiency; for preschool and general education, it is necessary to pay attention to replicating the current very effective boarding and semi-boarding school models, creating favorable conditions for arranging schools and classes in the next phase.

The Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Council also affirmed: The Provincial People's Council is ready to accompany the Department of Education and Training in reviewing and promulgating policy mechanisms to realize the orientations for sustainable educational development in Nghe An, including the task of planning and arranging the network of schools and classes in the province in accordance with reality.

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