Policies with great impact on education issued in 2024

(Dan Tri) - Adjusting the basic salary, changing the graduation exam method, and eliminating teacher promotion exams are policies that will have a major impact on the education sector in 2024.

Adjusting the basic salary

On June 30, the Government issued Decree 73 regulating the basic salary and bonus regime for cadres, civil servants, public employees and armed forces. Accordingly, from July 1, the basic salary is 2.34 million VND/month instead of 1.8 million VND/month.

Thanks to this regulation, teachers' salaries from July 1 will reach 4.9-15.87 million VND/month, 1.13-3.67 million VND higher than the old level, excluding allowances.

Grade III preschool teachers are the group with the lowest salary, from 4.9 to more than 11.4 million VND/month.

Primary, secondary and high school teachers grade 1 receive the highest salaries. Those with a salary coefficient of 6.78 receive nearly 16 million VND/month.

Teachers of Nguyen Sieu Secondary and High School (Photo: HH).

Eliminate teacher promotion exams

From December 15, teachers will no longer have to take exams to advance their professional titles. Instead, teachers will be able to register for promotion if they meet the standards of expertise, professionalism, political qualities, professional ethics, and years of service.

This is a new regulation in Circular 13 of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) issued on October 30.

Previously, the requirement for teachers to take exams to be promoted was considered a formality and did not reflect the reality of improving the quality of the teaching staff.

Besides, because each promotion exam limits the number of participants, many teachers who meet the standards and conditions for promotion still have to "wait in long lines", affecting their legitimate rights, especially salary and income.

Salary ranking for student counselors in public schools

On September 18, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular 11 regulating codes, professional title standards and salary classification for student counselors in public general education institutions and specialized schools.

Before this regulation, schools had positions for school psychology counselors but did not have staff, leading to the need to assign part-time teachers. Part-time teachers did not have psychological expertise, so the effectiveness of student counseling was not as expected.

According to a 2023 report by the Ministry of Health, the rate of Vietnamese children suffering from depression is 2%, and the figure for adolescents is 5-8%. In that context, the new regulation helps schools recruit professional and dedicated student counselors, making an important contribution to supporting students with mental health issues.

Teachers of Xa Dan Secondary School in a lesson (Photo: Son Nguyen).

Tighten management of educational and training links with foreign countries

On October 5, the Government issued Decree 124 amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 86 regulating foreign cooperation and investment in the field of education.

Accordingly, the linkage of education and training with foreign countries is tightened in the direction of tightening the subjects.

Specifically, on the Vietnamese side, private preschools and private general education facilities must be invested in by domestic investors and have guaranteed operating conditions, and be established and operate in Vietnam.

On the foreign side, the educational institution is established and operates legally abroad, has been operating for at least 5 years abroad and has been operating to provide preschool or general education programs for at least 5 years.

In addition, this unit must teach directly, have a valid certificate of educational quality accreditation or be recognized for educational quality by a competent foreign educational agency or organization.

Changing the high school graduation exam method from 2025

On December 24, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a Circular on regulations for high school graduation exams from 2025, comprehensively changing this exam according to the 2018 general education program.

Specifically, the exam changed the number of subjects from 9 to 4 and foreign languages ​​are no longer compulsory. This is the first year that information technology and technology have become graduation exams.

Candidates will take exams in math, literature and two elective subjects from the scoring subjects of the new general education program.

The format of the test has changed to not only test knowledge but also focus more on assessing the ability to apply knowledge in practice. The multiple choice questions have new formats such as true/false and short answer.

Candidates taking the 2024 high school graduation exam (Photo: Manh Quan).

In addition, the literature exam will not use materials from textbooks.

The graduation score calculation will only use 50% of the exam results. The remaining 50% will be the academic records of all 3 years of grades 10, 11, and 12.

In particular, candidates using foreign language certificates to exempt from graduation exams cannot convert them to 10 points for graduation consideration.

The Ministry of Education and Training also abolished the addition of points for vocational certificates for all candidates; abolished the addition of points for IT certificates, foreign languages, and intermediate vocational certificates for candidates in continuing education; and at the same time, allowed foreigners to use Vietnamese certificates to be exempted from the literature exam.

University education standards

On February 5, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular 01 on Standards for Higher Education Institutions with 6 standards and 20 criteria.

These standards cover organization and governance, faculty, facilities, finance, admissions and training, research and innovation.

Higher education institutions must provide, update complete and accurate data and assess the level of meeting the criteria of the Higher Education Institution Standards into the higher education database system. The closing date for annual data is December 31. Financial data is closed on March 31 of the following year.

New regulations on awarding the titles of People's Teacher and Meritorious Teacher

On April 2, the Government issued Decree 35 on regulations on awarding the titles "People's Teacher" and "Excellent Teacher".

Regulations on building standards for "People's Teachers" and "Excellent Teachers" according to 7 groups of subjects including: teachers and managers at preschools; teachers and managers at general education institutions, continuing education institutions, ethnic boarding schools, semi-boarding schools for ethnic minorities, reform schools, gifted schools, university preparatory schools, vocational education centers, and secondary schools;

Teachers and managers at colleges, district-level political centers, provincial political schools, training facilities for officials, civil servants and public employees of ministries, departments and branches; teachers and managers at universities, educational research staff;

Managers at education management agencies at department and agency levels; managers at education management agencies at general department, ministry, department and branch levels; teachers and managers at educational institutions working for 5 years or more in areas with especially difficult socio-economic conditions or schools and classes for people with disabilities, and centers to support the development of inclusive education.

Approving the Hanoi Capital Planning for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050

On December 12, the Prime Minister approved the Hanoi Capital Planning for the 2021-2030 period, with a vision to 2050, identifying Hanoi as the country's leading center for high-quality, standardized, and internationally connected education and training.

According to the plan, Hanoi will develop a comprehensive education and training system linked to the socio-economic development needs of the capital and the whole country, responding to advances in science and technology; standardizing, modernizing, and socializing education and training.

The plan also prioritizes the use of land after relocating factories, headquarters, and universities according to regulations to build general schools. Priority is given to land for developing educational services for all levels in suburban areas.

Hanoi will also promote socialization and encourage the development of non-public schools at all levels of education and training. At the same time, it will expand autonomy for public schools to mobilize and effectively use resources for education and training development in general and for the development of high-quality education and training services in particular.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nhung-chinh-sach-tac-dong-lon-toi-giao-duc-ban-hanh-nam-2024-20241230141916802.htm