English becomes a mandatory subject from grade 1
The Government's project "Making English the second language in schools in the 2025-2035 period, with a vision to 2045" was announced on October 29.
In high school, all schools have to teach compulsory English from grade 1. Of which, at least 20% of schools have achieved level 1 in teaching this language, 5% have achieved level 2 and 2% have achieved level 3. In the following years, the number of schools achieving level 3 gradually increased to 15%, levels 2 and 1 were 20% and 50% respectively.
Currently, English is mandatory from grade 3. Schools have facilities and teachers, and can teach from grade 1, but are optional subjects with two periods per week.
Levels 1, 2, 3 are based on language and communication environment, educational programs and teaching activities, learning materials, documents, conversion of parameters, application of artificial intelligence, quality of teaching staff, international cooperation...
For preschools, the project sets a goal that in the next 5 years, all schools must ensure the conditions for children to be familiar with English, at least 10% of schools must reach level 1. By 2045, the rate of schools reaching levels 1, 2 and 3 will be 50, 20 and 10% respectively.
At the university level, the goal when completing the project is that 50% of schools will reach level 2.35 or level 3.
The project "Making English the second language in schools" aims to improve the quality of English learning, form a foreign language ecosystem in schools, and contribute to building a generation of global citizens to meet the requirements of international integration.
The solutions are to raise social awareness of the role of English; perfect institutions and policies; develop the teaching staff and improve training quality, innovate teaching methods, test and evaluate; apply advanced technology and artificial intelligence in teaching; strengthen international cooperation.
Need for 22,000 more preschool and primary school English teachers
The project is applied in all preschools, general education, higher education, vocational education, and continuing education institutions nationwide. It is estimated that the Project will affect about 50,000 educational institutions with nearly 30 million children, students, and about 01 million managers and teachers at all levels of education, education and training.
The project implementation period is 20 years (from 2025 to 2045), implemented with 03 main phases. In particular, phase 1 (2025-2030) will build a foundation and standardization - ensuring a solid foundation for regular and systematic use of English in the educational environment; phase 2 (2030-2035) will expand and enhance - promote the use of English more regularly; phase 3 (2035-2045) will improve and enhance - English will be used naturally, developing an ecosystem of English in the educational environment, communication and school administration.
Regarding resource conditions, after the Project is issued, central and local agencies and organizations that are subject to the Project's adjustment are responsible for implementation.
In particular, for preschool education, to successfully implement the Project, there needs to be 01 position as English teacher/01 preschool education institution. Thus, it is expected that there will be additional positions for preschool English teachers in public preschools nationwide by 12,000 people.
For primary schools, to have a solid foundation and ensure the success of the Project's goals, the Ministry of Education and Training proposes to implement compulsory English teaching from grade 1 of the General Education Program (currently mandatory from grade 3). This will create an additional staff of English teachers in primary schools nationwide, with nearly 10,000 English teachers.
In addition, it is necessary to train and foster English and professional capacity and pedagogical skills for at least 200,000 English teachers from now until 2035 to meet the needs and goals of the Project.
