Dong Nai education sector creates a solid foundation to enter the new era

After the merger, the new Dong Nai province (including Binh Phuoc and the old Dong Nai provinces) has a scale of over 1.2 million students and over 1.3 thousand educational establishments. Dong Nai is in the group of 5 provinces and cities with the largest number of students in the country, after Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nghe An, and Thanh Hoa.

Provincial Party Committee member, Director of the Department of Education and Training (DET) Truong Thi Kim Hue said: “In each development stage of Dong Nai and Binh Phuoc provinces in the past, the provincial leaders paid great attention to education. This is an important condition for the merger of the two provinces of Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai (old), the new Dong Nai province has a spacious school system and quite comprehensive education quality. Up to now, the rate of schools meeting national standards in Dong Nai province is 69.78%”.

The STEM Education model has been introduced into schools in Dong Nai. Photo: Cong Nghia

Rise from hardship

After the Liberation of the South and the reunification of the country (April 30, 1975), the border commune of Loc Thanh had a large area but a sparse population, and life was still difficult. Therefore, the development of the school system in Loc Thanh commune became even more difficult. The lack of schools made it difficult for students to access education, and at the same time, the rate of illiterate people, especially ethnic minorities, was very high. This was also a huge challenge for local Party committees and authorities, and a great concern for provincial leaders.

Nguyen Thi Tuyet, Principal of Loc Thien Secondary School (Loc Thanh Commune), shared: Compared to many years ago, today the school has much better conditions to serve, care for and educate students. With the investment efforts of the province and the attention of the commune, the school has just been recognized as meeting national standards level 1 and achieved level 2 education quality accreditation. The school has high expectations that, with new policies for education, in the near future, the school will have better teaching and learning conditions, especially the implementation of the digital transformation model in education, teaching 2 sessions/day.

Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee of Loc Tan Commune, Dieu Khim, shared: “In the past, I was also an ethnic minority student with many difficulties. Thanks to the care of the Party and the State, I was fully nourished and educated, and then went to university. Later, I was assigned to work as a commune cadre, contributing to the construction of my hometown. If I had not had the support of the Party and the State for my education, I certainly would not have had the life and working conditions I have today.”

In the remote and isolated communes of Dong Nai province in the past such as: Ma Da, Phu Ly, Dak Lua, Thanh Son, Xuan Hung... in the first years after the liberation of the South and the reunification of the country, they were all "recessed" communes in terms of education, with many difficulties in terms of schools and teachers. Today, in most of these communes, the school system has been invested in, spacious and modern, 100% of public schools are recognized as meeting national standards.

Talking about the new picture of Dong Nai's education sector after the merger of the two provinces of Binh Phuoc and Dong Nai (old), Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training Do Dang Bao Linh said: The province's education system has been completed, the whole province has over 1.2 million students, over 1.3 thousand preschool and general education facilities. The rate of preschool and general education schools in the province recognized as meeting national standards is 69.78%. Regarding the system of training facilities at college and university level, Dong Nai province currently has 4 universities, 2 university branches, 12 colleges (not including universities and colleges of the Ministry of National Defense and the Ministry of Public Security located in the province).

Along with the high rate of national standard schools, up to now, Dong Nai province has developed a system of specialized high schools with a total of 3 schools, including: Luong The Vinh Specialized High School, Quang Trung Specialized High School and Binh Long Specialized High School. These are schools that play a role in discovering and nurturing students with excellent academic performance to continue to nurture and develop into high-quality human resources for the province. In recent years, students of specialized high schools in the province have made great efforts, with the support of teachers, they have won many high awards in national excellent student competitions, Olympic competitions, becoming the pride of the province.

Pioneer in socializing education

Compared to the national average, Dong Nai province is a locality that has done well in the socialization of education with the rate of non-public students being 20.6%, while the national rate is more than 6.68%. As of the 2025-2026 school year, the network of non-public schools has 190 schools, from kindergarten to high school. Of which, there are 150 kindergarten schools, 6 primary schools, 5 secondary schools and 29 high schools. Non-public schools have mobilized 145,000 students of all levels to attend classes, accounting for about 20.6% of the total number of students in the province.

Dong Nai province is facing many new development opportunities in the new era, therefore, the role of the education and training sector is especially important, deciding the quality of human resources. Dong Nai will continue to pay attention and prioritize resources worthy of investment in education, considering education as a comprehensive breakthrough field. In addition to improving the quality of preschool and general education, secondary schools, colleges and universities must continuously innovate, focusing on opening up professions that the province still lacks, especially new professions such as: aviation human resources, logistics, semiconductor chips...

Comrade Vo Tan Duc , Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the People's Committee of Dong Nai province

The socialization of education in the province has created non-public educational institutions that provide training according to international school models, award international baccalaureate degrees; high-quality schools that enhance foreign languages, information technology, soft skills, and study 2 sessions/day in all grades.

In addition, the construction and operation of kindergartens to serve the children of workers of enterprises has been initially implemented effectively with many kindergartens established such as: Dong Phuong Kindergarten in Song May Industrial Park (Binh Minh Commune); Dona Standard Kindergarten in Xuan Loc Industrial Park (Xuan Loc Commune); Thai Quang Kindergarten (Long Binh Ward); Little Flowers Kindergarten (Bien Hoa Ward)...

Along with local investors, Dong Nai province has also received much attention from investors outside the province, foreign investors investing in educational projects in the area. Socialization of education has contributed positively to reducing the number of assigned staff in the education sector in recent years. With a total of 3,426 non-public classes at all levels, the system of private schools has "shouldered" about 7,052 staff, contributing to the goal of reducing the number of civil servants in the education sector.

Director of the Department of Education and Training Truong Thi Kim Hue said: “We will continue to thoroughly grasp the Party and State's guidelines and policies on encouraging socialization in the field of education and training so that authorities at all levels, mass organizations, economic organizations and people have a correct understanding of socialization and clearly understand and thoroughly implement it. Strengthen propaganda work, assign specific tasks, consider socialization of education as a key, continuous and long-term task in the direction and management of sectors and levels. Create unity in the awareness and actions of sectors, levels, mass organizations and people about the position, role and important significance of socialization of education”.

Continue to implement the tax exemption and reduction policy for non-public establishments according to the provisions of law. Particularly for Dong Nai province, it has been specified in Resolution No. 38/NQ-HDND dated December 15, 2023 of the Provincial People's Council, agreeing on the exemption and reduction of land rent for socialized projects in the province. Implement preferential policies on land and credit according to the law's policy of encouraging socialized education. Create all favorable conditions for investors to access and borrow preferential credit capital for development investment of the State according to current regulations.

Localities base on the list of socialized educational works approved by the People's Committee of Dong Nai province to organize calling for investment in educational works in the area. In areas with high potential for socialization, localities organize to review and propose educational land locations that have been invested in and built in other locations or educational works that are merged or re-planned and no longer in use to organize auctions and call for investment in education according to the socialization policy.

Dong Nai aims to become a high-tech training center

Up to now, Dong Nai has completed a synchronous education system from kindergarten to university, socialized resources have been strongly attracted to education, creating a rich, diverse and high-quality educational ecosystem. Some private high schools in Dong Nai have implemented teaching according to international programs, while universities and colleges not only proactively assess the quality of education according to Vietnamese standards but also aim for international standards.

Dong Nai Province Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities (Hung Thinh Commune, Dong Nai Province) was invested with over 230 billion VND to serve the education of ethnic minority students in the province.

In the Dong Nai Provincial Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 approved by the Government, the education and training sector continues to be identified as having an important position with specific investment steps. In the province's orientation, Dong Nai will have a series of new higher education institutions, including Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy opening a campus in Long Phuoc commune; Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport opening a training facility for aviation and high-speed railway in An Phuoc commune; Ho Chi Minh City Open University opening a branch in Long Hung ward. In addition, the province plans urban areas for higher education in Nhon Trach commune and Long Khanh ward...

Vice Principal in charge of Dong Nai University Dang Anh Tuan said: Immediately after the merger of the province, Dong Nai University visited Dong Xoai ward and Binh Phuoc ward to survey and find a location to build the second campus of the school there. The goal of the school is to train pedagogical human resources for schools and other professions to serve the socio-economic development of communes in the old Binh Phuoc province and the Central Highlands provinces.

Principal of Lilama 2 International Technology College (Long Phuoc Commune) Nguyen Khanh Cuong shared: Although it is only a college training school, over the past years, with the province's attention and support, the school has had many key majors in electronics, refrigeration, and precision mechanics that meet the standards of the UK, the US, and Australia. The school has quickly seized the opportunity to train aviation human resources with leading aviation enterprises in Vietnam such as: Vietnam Airports Corporation (ACV), Vietjet Air, and is moving towards providing aviation human resources for the Long Thanh International Airport Project that is about to come into operation.

Meanwhile, the Principal of Lac Hong University (Tran Bien Ward) Lam Thanh Hien said: Over the past 30 years, the school has strived to grow from the very difficult and challenging first steps and has now become a large-scale university in the province. To contribute to providing human resources according to the development orientation and attracting investment of the province, the school has trained new majors such as logistics, artificial intelligence, semiconductor microchips. In addition, the school constantly standardizes training majors according to ASEAN and US standards.

Dang Cong

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/202509/nganh-giao-duc-dong-nai-tao-nen-mong-vung-chac-tien-vao-ky-nguyen-moi-5cd0e8c/