10 highlights of the education industry in 2021

Minister Nguyen Kim Son takes on the role of "industry commander" and makes impressive statements

On April 8, 2021, at the 11th session, the 14th National Assembly passed a Resolution approving the Prime Minister's proposal to appoint Associate Professor Nguyen Kim Son - Member of the Party Central Committee, Party Secretary, Chairman of the Council, Director of Hanoi National University to hold the position of Minister of Education and Training.

Immediately after taking office, Minister Nguyen Kim Son shared his impressive views on "real learning, real exams, real talent". This is the direction of the Prime Minister requiring the education and training sector to implement.

On April 8, 2021, at the 11th session, the 14th National Assembly passed a Resolution approving the Prime Minister's proposal to appoint Associate Professor Nguyen Kim Son - Member of the Party Central Committee, Party Secretary, Chairman of the Council, Director of Hanoi National University to hold the position of Minister of Education and Training (photo: The Dai)

According to the head of the education and training sector, another very important social reality that is directly eliminating the motivation for real learning and real exams is that many units and organizations recruit, employ, and evaluate people based on degrees without paying attention to actual qualifications.

In other words, making learners learn for real, practice for real, an important part lies in the use of educational output products, which is the use of people, recruitment, and evaluation of people. If somewhere recruiting people is based only on paperwork, relationships, and is influenced by non-substantive factors, learners will tend to only care about making their profiles look good, meeting the conditions, without worrying about the substance.

If recruiting, using, and evaluating people are based on real abilities, those with real talents are respected and evaluated correctly... then students in schools will compete to study and take real exams. Using people is based only on ability and real qualities, then teaching and learning will move quickly. On the basis of real learning, people are used according to their abilities, then talented people will appear, talented people will be nurtured. When people are used according to their abilities, and their qualities are evaluated correctly, then real talents will flourish.

Real learning and real exams are first and foremost the work of the education sector, but also of the whole society. If everyone is united for real education, for a quality life and the development of the country, then one of the first things that the whole society will do together is to all work together for real learning!

In addition, at the conference to summarize the 2020-2021 school year and deploy tasks for the 2021-2022 school year for secondary education, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son assigned the task that, specifically for Literature, it is necessary to stop studying according tosample text, sample papers, leading to the elimination of creativity of teachers and students.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son’s opinion quickly received a response from the public because it “touched” the concerns of many people. Because everyone realized the “side effects” of teaching according to model texts and sample lessons, in the long run affecting students’ thinking, leading to the elimination of creativity of teachers and students. Because only when there is a drastic intervention, the story of ending learning according to model texts and sample lessons to open up for students’ creativity will achieve positive results.

The longest online teacher-student learning time in history

Nearly 2 years ago due to the influence ofCovid-19 pandemic, the school year plan was interrupted, the educational program and content had to be changed; many educational activities could not be carried out as planned. Nearly 20 million students and more than 1 million teachers and lecturers were not able to go to school for a very long time. Thousands of teachers working in non-public schools were unpaid, and their lives were facing countless difficulties.

During that difficult period, the Ministry of Education and Training encouraged all managers, teachers, and employees in the sector to overcome difficulties, promote a sense of responsibility for the profession and students to unite and respond to the epidemic; all for the sake of beloved students.

Thus, since May 2021 (the end of the old school year), students in many localities, including the capital Hanoi, have been staying at home and studying online for many consecutive months, an unprecedented event in history.

Successfully organized the high school graduation exam and enrollment in 2021

In the context of the complicated developments of the Covid-19 pandemic, based on the assessment of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on education and training, implementing the direction of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Education and Training decided to organize the 2021 High School Graduation Exam in two rounds: Round 1 from July 6-9, 2021; Round 2 from August 5-7, 2021, about 1 month after round 1 based on the proposal of 38 provinces and cities that must implement social distancing and localities with candidates who have not taken the first round of the exam due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic; to be conducted at a place that ensures safety for exam organization.

The 2021 high school graduation exam was successfully organized, ensuring objectivity, seriousness, fairness and safety in the context of the complicated and unpredictable developments of the Covid-19 pandemic. The basic statistics have not changed much compared to 2020, affirming that the exam is gradually stabilizing, increasingly true to the nature of the high school graduation exam.

The test questions closely followed the knowledge and skills standards, were suitable for teaching and learning conditions during the period of Covid-19 prevention and control, had appropriate differentiation, and objectively reflected the learning outcomes of candidates. The test results objectively reflected the quality of teaching and learning in localities by region, meeting the purpose of high school graduation and university and college admissions, and served as a basis for localities to refer to and adjust teaching, testing and assessment activities.

Maintain achievements in Olympic competitions

The annual International Olympic results report shows that over the years, Vietnam's national teams have continuously achieved excellent results and improved through each stage.

The international Olympic results of Vietnam's national teams are excellent in all subjects, from Mathematics - the traditional Olympic subject - to subsequent subjects such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Informatics.

In the 2021 regional and international Olympic competitions, Vietnam had 37 students participating in the competition, all 37 of whom won prizes: 12 Gold Medals, 13 Silver Medals, 10 Bronze Medals and 2 Certificates of Merit. At the International Science and Technology Fair (ISEF), 1 project by Vietnamese students won third prize - the official prize of the Competition and 2 projects won 3 special prizes awarded by associations, organizations of science - technology and enterprises.

CPresident Nguyen Xuan Phuc and former Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan presented the Labor Medal to 19 students with outstanding achievements in the 2021 International Science and Technology Olympiad (photo: Ministry of Education and Training)

The achievements of the teams have affirmed the outstanding efforts in studying and training of students, teachers, schools, units assigned to organize the exam and parents, especially in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic; in which many students have overcome their own and their families' difficulties to complete the exam well.

That achievement is also the result of appropriate policies and strategies of the Ministry of Education and Training, educational institutions in gifted education in general; in the work of selecting, training and nurturing excellent students for international Olympic competitions in particular, and encouraging students with achievements in university admissions.

This achievement affirms the correctness of the guiding viewpoint of "education and training development is to improve people's knowledge, train human resources, and foster talents" of the Party and State of Vietnam.

University rankings rise sharply

In November 2021, USNews & World Reports Magazine of the US announced the RankingsBest Universities in the World2022 (Best Global Universities). In Vietnam alone, in addition to the 4 universities that were included in this ranking last year, Duy Tan University was also listed this year, bringing the total number of schools in our country ranked in 2022 to 5.

There are 1,750 higher education institutions globally ranked by US News & World Reports this year. Compared to last year, Vietnamese universities have all increased their rankings significantly. Of which, Ton Duc Thang University increased 236 places (from 623rd in 2021 to 387th in 2022); Ho Chi Minh City National University increased 84 places (from 1,271st in 2021 to 1,187th in 2022).

Hanoi National University increased by 11 places (from 949th in 2021 to 938th in 2022); Hanoi University of Science and Technology alone decreased by 93 places (from 1,356th in 2021 to 1,449th in 2022).

Duy Tan University appeared on the rankings for the first time in 2022 and has a fairly high position: 577.

Vietnam has 28 scientists in the top 10,000 scientists in the world

According to the ranking announced on October 20, 2021, there are 28 Vietnamese scientists working in Vietnam in the ranking.Top 100,000 most influential scientists in the worldin 2021.

The author of this publication is the Metrics group of professors Jeroen Baas, Kevin Boyack and John PA Ioannidis of Stanford University in the United States, researched and published in the US journal PLoS Biology.

Accordingly, the group of authors used the Scopus database from 1960 to August 2021 of more than 7 million scientists and filtered out the top 100,000 most influential people. Scientists are divided into 22 scientific fields and 176 sub-fields (disciplines/specialties). The ranking is based on research on measurement tools and database evaluation of more than 100,000 most cited scientists (from Scopus data source) and their ranking is based on important criteria such as: impact index in the scientific community (composite score); total number of citations (excluding self-citations); Hirsch h-index; Schreiber hm-index; number of citations for articles published as a single author (single author); The citation numbers for articles are the primary author (first author and corresponding author), and the last author.

Notably, in order of the 2021 rankings, Vietnam has 5 scientists in the top 10,000 scientists in the world, including: Professor, Doctor of Science Nguyen Dinh Duc (Hanoi National University) - ranked 5,949 in the world; Associate Professor Le Hoang Son (Hanoi National University) - ranked 6,766; Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung (Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology) - ranked 6,818; Professor Bui Tien Dieu (Duy Tan University) - ranked 9,488; Professor Vo Xuan Vinh (Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics) - ranked 9,528.

Thus, Professor Nguyen Dinh Duc, Professor Nguyen Xuan Hung and Associate Professor Le Hoang Son are the 3 people in the top 10,000 most outstanding scientists in the world for 3 consecutive years 2019, 2020, 2021.

These proud results once again affirm the growth and position of Vietnamese scientists recognized in the international scientific community. And are also the result of fundamental and comprehensive innovation of Vietnam's higher education.

Many policies for teachers are removed.

Recently, many teachers have felt a lot of pressure because they have to continuously attend training classes, implement self-study and self-improvement programs, and have an additional burden.professional title certificate.

In early December 2021, at a meeting with the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Finance on a number of issues related to the appointment, ranking of professional titles, and salary classification of teachers according to the new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam requested that the amendment of circulars and regulations related to ranking of professional titles and salary classification for teachers be fair, without disadvantages and "there is real innovation in the regime for teachers".

Accordingly, the Deputy Prime Minister requested: "The Ministry of Education and Training shall preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Finance and relevant agencies to urgently review and amend Circulars No. 01, 02, 03, 04/2021/TT-BGDDT dated February 2, 2021 of the Ministry of Education and Training regulating codes, professional title standards and appointment and salary classification of teaching staff in public preschools, public primary schools, public secondary schools, and public high schools in accordance with the provisions of Decree No. 89/2021/ND-CP dated October 18, 2021 of the Government amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree No. 101/2017/ND-CP on training and fostering of cadres, civil servants and public employees; protecting the rights of teachers when classifying and transferring professional titles. civil servant profession, ensuring fairness; there is no too big difference in responsibilities and tasks between professional titles, especially in terms of ethical standards".

Previously, at the question and answer session at the 2nd session of the 15th National Assembly on November 11, regarding the questions of delegates related to the issue of teacher staffing and types of certificates, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra had a number of explanations and proposals to the Ministry of Education and Training, including:

"Most recently, the Government issued Decree 89 on amending and supplementing Decree 101 on training and fostering cadres, civil servants and public employees, in which it was decided to cut 150 certificates for training and fostering, including 2 mandatory certificates of information technology and foreign languages, to 152, of which there are 61 certificates for civil servants and 87 certificates for public employees.

I really hope that the Ministry of Education and Training will soon base on this Decree to review and amend urgently the series of Circulars 01, 02, 03, 04, because currently, in the process of organizing and implementing, we have received many petitions from teachers at the grassroots level regarding the remaining difficulties and inadequacies, because we have not taken into account the transition for many generations of teachers trained through many different training systems.

After the speech of Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra on the National Assembly floor as well as the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam on amending the series of Circulars on teachers' salaries, many teachers thanked the Deputy Prime Minister for his very correct direction on the above issue, especially on the issue of inadequacies and injustices in the salary adjustment according to the series of Circulars 01, 02, 03, 04 above.

Hopefully, with the receptiveness, listening and caring for the teaching staff, in this revision of the Circular series, we will adjust in the best way, when transferring the most equitable salary arrangement, no teacher will suffer when transferring from the old salary to the new salary, ensuring the principle of paying salary according to work efficiency and job position.

The shortcomings and injustices in rank and salary transfer as teachers have reflected will be able to end, there will no longer be luck or bad luck in salary transfer...

Organizing the implementation of the new general education program for grades 2 and 6

Implementing Resolution No. 88/2014/QH13 of the National Assembly, the Ministry of Education and Training has issued the new General Education Program in 2018, ensuring simplification, modernity, practicality, and suitability for students' ages; highly integrated in lower grades and gradually differentiated in upper grades. At primary and secondary levels, related contents of a number of educational fields and subjects in the current program are integrated to form integrated subjects and topics to reduce the load, reduce academic knowledge, overlap, and ensure suitability for primary school students. Initial implementation shows that students are able to study at their ability level, meeting some of the expectations of their families and society.

The 2021-2022 school year is the first year that grade 2 and grade 6 students across the country will embark on the renewal of general education programs and textbooks according to Resolution No. 88/2014/QH13.

The 2021-2022 school year is the first year that 2nd and 6th graders nationwide will start to innovate their general education programs and textbooks according to Resolution No. 88/2014/QH13. (illustrative photo: Thuy Linh)

In the face of the complicated developments of the Covid-19 epidemic, students in many places have not been able to return to school and have to study online or on television. For grades implementing the new general education program, the Ministry of Education and Training requires teaching and learning according to the program, closely following the requirements of the program of subjects/educational activities; enhancing professional activities, exchanging on teaching and learning according to the 2018 General Education Program; evaluating and drawing experience in teaching and promptly adjusting the teaching plan to suit local realities.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son answers questions before the National Assembly for the first time

At the 2nd Session of the 15th National Assembly on November 11, 2021,Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son speaks for the first timeanswer questions from National Assembly delegates.

Accordingly, Minister Nguyen Kim Son answered many questions related to issues of ensuring teaching and learning quality, fundamental innovation in education and training, online teaching and learning, reducing curriculum load, ensuring fairness in teaching and learning, school health safety, organizing high school exams, etc.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son said that over the past two years, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted life, in which education and training are the sectors that have been most heavily affected. The school year plan has been disrupted, the educational program and content must be changed to only the core; nearly 20 million students have not been able to go to school for a very long time; over 70,000 students cannot graduate on time, affecting the supply of human resources. Online learning and learning via television in conditions of many difficulties and shortages in infrastructure have caused many negative consequences and impacts: Students are stressed and tired; teachers are exhausted and under pressure; parents are upset; society is worried; tragic and even heartbreaking stories have occurred.

According to the Minister, although the epidemic is gradually being controlled, a new normal life is gradually being established, the economy and social activities will gradually recover... but the education sector has started a new journey with difficulties still remaining and even greater ones waiting ahead. The consequences caused by the epidemic are long-term and overcoming them will not be overnight...