Arranging schools by region
Implementing the direction of the Central Government and Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee, the education and training sector is urgently preparing the conditions for the new school year, in which arranging and reorganizing the school network is one of the key tasks.
According to the Department of Education and Training of Quang Tri province, in the 2025-2026 school year, the whole province has nearly 900 public preschool and general education institutions. It is expected that after arrangement, the number of school focal points will decrease by more than 50%.
However, the implementation takes place in a tight time, on a large scale and affects a large number of management officials, teachers, staff, and students, so the Department of Education and Training has coordinated with the Department of Home Affairs and localities to develop a plan to ensure progress but not affect teaching and learning activities.
Ms. Le Thi Huong - Director of the Department of Education and Training of Quang Tri province said that the initial desire of the sector is to build a comprehensive project from preschool to high school. However, due to time pressure, the implementation is currently being carried out in parallel at 2 levels.
In which, the arrangement project developed by communes and wards in coordination with the Department of Home Affairs has been completed and submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for approval. The project for units directly under the Department of Education and Training has also been completed and submitted to the Department of Home Affairs for appraisal.
According to Ms. Huong, the strict application of school scale in mountainous areas, remote and isolated areas will face many obstacles. In some places, the distance between high schools is up to 50km, if mechanically merged, it will cause difficulties for students and teachers.
From that reality, the Department of Education and Training proposed to continue to maintain some high schools in difficult areas that have not reached minimum scale, and then develop a roadmap for consolidation suitable for inter-level ethnic minority boarding schools. Some other options are to separate the secondary school block to commune management or add a part of the neighboring secondary school to the high school to ensure scale according to regulations.
Focusing on personnel work
Along with arranging the school network, the personnel issue when merging is being raised by Quang Tri province as a requirement to be resolved soon.
Ms. Le Thi Huong said that the arrangement process affects many subjects, especially related to policies for management officials, teachers, and redundant staff. Therefore, the Department of Education and Training proposed that the Department of Home Affairs soon coordinate to issue specific guidelines on the organizational structure and related regimes and policies.
According to the viewpoint of Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee, the arrangement of schools and classes must prioritize quality instead of just relying on mechanical scale. For the model of inter-level 2-3 schools or merging high schools, the province does not mechanically apply the criteria of class size and scale, but must assess which model ensures better teaching and learning quality.
Mr. Le Hong Vinh - Chairman of Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee said that it is necessary to soon develop and promulgate a framework of standards and public personnel criteria to serve the selection of management officials when merging, especially for the positions of principal and vice principal.
According to Mr. Vinh, the criteria framework needs to be brought down to the grassroots level for officials and teachers to discuss in advance. The person chosen as principal must meet specific standards and criteria. Publicizing from the beginning both ensures fairness and democracy, and reduces pressure on leaders of communes and wards in the process of considering and selecting personnel.
Quang Tri Provincial People's Committee also requested the Department of Education and Training and the Department of Home Affairs to coordinate in developing guidelines on regimes and policies for redundant teachers and staff, ensuring that school arrangement and organizational structure are implemented synchronously.
According to the plan of Quang Tri province, the entire work of teacher transfer, personnel stabilization and completion of the apparatus must be completed no later than August 20, earlier than the Central Government's request, which is before August 30. The finalization of personnel for the school board, including principals and vice principals, before August 20 is identified as a condition for schools to focus on preparing for the new school year.
