The Prime Minister requested localities to complete the arrangement of the public preschool and general education system before August 30, aiming to reduce about 30% of public educational institution headquarters.
Prof. Dr. Duong Quy Sy - Member of the National Council for Education and Human Resource Development - said that this policy is not simply rearranging the school system, but an important content in the process of innovating the national governance model towards streamlining, effectiveness, efficiency, and synchronization with the two-level local government model that the Party and State are implementing.
Prof. Dr. Duong Quy Sy analyzed that the important thing to recognize is that the goal of reducing about 30% of focal points is not the ultimate goal of mechanical reform. The core value of this policy lies in restructuring the entire education network according to population size, population distribution and development space of each locality; reducing resource dispersion, increasing the efficiency of public investment, while creating more favorable conditions for learners and improving the quality of education.
If the state administrative apparatus is shifting from a multi-layered three-level model as before to a streamlined, strongly decentralized, clearly decentralized and increased accountability model, education must also transform according to the same thinking.
This is also a shift from education management to modern education governance, taking learners as the center, teachers as the driving force, schools as the foundation and the quality of national human resources as the highest goal" - he said.
In addition to reducing by 30%, the arrangement aims to reduce education management staff and increase direct teaching staff.
Prof. Dr. Duong Quy Sy said that this is consistent with the streamlined, effective national governance model and focuses on direct investment in human resources through education and training. However, for this policy to succeed, he said that 5 conditions must be ensured.
First of all, the resources saved from streamlining the apparatus must be reinvested directly in education, especially the teaching staff. Reducing management focal points does not mean reducing investment in education, but rather increasing investment in teaching, research, digital transformation and professional development.
Second, it is necessary to restructure the team according to the principle of reducing intermediary management, increasing direct teaching teachers and increasing professional support positions such as information technology, artificial intelligence, psychological counseling and school health, inclusive education, school talent development and data management.
Third, it is necessary to standardize educational human resources in a synchronous and advanced manner. Standardization today is not only the standard of qualifications but also the standard of professional competence, digital competence, foreign languages, innovation ability and professional ethics of teachers.
Fourth, it is necessary to innovate the financial mechanism in the direction of budget allocation based on learners, tasks and output results. Difficult areas, ethnic minority areas, mountainous areas, and border areas need to be given more priority to ensure fairness in education.
Finally, it is necessary to build a quality assessment system after arrangement based on actual data such as student attendance rates, school distance, class sizes, academic results, physical health, mental health and the level of satisfaction of learners, teachers and parents.
All results need to be public and transparent so that the whole society can supervise" - a member of the National Council for Education and Human Resource Development emphasized.
