The story of education from the early years of independence until now is considered a miracle story. Looking back at the education system before 1945, under the colonial and feudal regimes, 95% of our country's population was illiterate, the majority of children of farming families and working people could not go to school. On average, each province has only 2 to 4 primary schools, each school has from 100 to a few hundred students. High school is only available in some large cities such as Hanoi, Hue, Saigon. Each school has only about 100 to 200 students. By 1945, the whole of Indochina only had the Indochina University, including 10 member colleges, with 1,575 students compared to the total population of Vietnam at that time of 23 million people.
Right after the success of the August Revolution in 1945, especially after Vietnam became an independent country, imbued with President Ho Chi Minh's teachings: "A poor nation is a weak nation", the Party and State always paid attention to the field of education and training; considered education and training as the top national policy. In each revolutionary period, under the leadership of the Party, Vietnam's education system has been reformed, innovated and achieved many important achievements, contributing to improving the quality of human resources to meet the requirements of the renovation career.
At the first meeting of the provisional Government on September 3, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh mentioned the issue of "detecting the enemy", which was one of the six urgent tasks of the country at that time. On September 8, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh signed the decree establishing Nha Binh Phuoc Hoc.
On September 15, 1945, President Ho Chi Minh sent a letter to students on the occasion of the new school year - the first school year of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. He wrote: Today is the first opening day in the Democratic Republic of Vietnam. I had imagined seeing the bustling scene of the school day in all places. They were all happy because after a few months of school days off, after many unusual changes, they were able to meet their teachers and friends again. But even more happily, from now on, they will start to receive an education that is completely Vietnamese. And He sent a message: In the coming school year, you should try, study hard, be obedient, listen to your teachers, and love your friends. After 80 years of slavery weakening our country, today we need to rebuild the foundation that our ancestors left us with, so that we can keep up with other countries around the world.
In that construction work, the country has high expectations for you. Whether the Vietnamese mountains and rivers become beautiful or not, whether the Vietnamese people can step up to the throne of glory to stand shoulder to shoulder with the world powers is largely due to their studies.
In October 1945, President Ho Chi Minh called for an end to the problem of Illegal learning. After only one year of launching the "extercise" movement, the whole country had 2.5 million unliterate people and by 1948 there had been 6 million unliterate people.
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Education is always considered an important key to changing the lives of each individual, while contributing to the development of the community and the country. For ethnic minority communities, that role becomes even more urgent, because only a learning path can help eliminate backwardness, raise awareness and open up opportunities to integrate into modern society.
The vivid evidence is the story of the changes of the Chu people in Rao Tre village (Huong Khe, Ha Tinh). Thirty years ago, they lived in wild conditions, unwritten, and had many barriers to communicating with the surrounding community. When the border guards and local authorities arrived, they brought not only food and clothes but also the first lessons in letters and knowledge. It is these simple words that have sown the seeds of awareness, helping the Chu people gradually understand the value of learning. For many years, border guards and teachers have persistently taught, sometimes just a few students in a simple room, despite many difficulties when people are still hesitant about change.
At the beginning of the 2025 - 2026 school year, I called teacher Phan Thi Hoai Mo - a young teacher at Huong Lien Kindergarten (Ha Tinh). This school in remote areas near the border is supported by the Golden Heart Social Charity Fund. This is the second year that Ms. Mo has volunteered to go to Rao Tre school, which mainly raises children of the Chut ethnic group. Her voice over the phone was full of enthusiasm: "Wishing to return to teach at the Rao Tre village extraction class, I just hope to contribute to my colleagues in performing well the educational task in disadvantaged areas. Every day I travel nearly 27km to class, my greatest happiness is maintaining the student quota, seeing the innocent smiles of the children of the Hoots when they go to school".
Ms. Mo announced that next school year, there will be 5 more Chu people enrolling in school. She confided: "I hope this school year will have many new points, especially for children in remote areas. As long as they can go to class fully, for us it is a great joy.
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It will be a special school year, not because this is the first school year after the milestone of 80 years of the country's independence, but will be a school year "launching" for Vietnamese education to have more potential, and the country enters a new era.
In the article The future for the generation to rise up, General Secretary To Lam emphasized: The world is entering an unprecedented period of breakthrough development in technology and science and technology. The rapid and strong development of artificial intelligence, biotechnology, big data and automation is shaping the way we work, live and communicate globally. This requires each country, including Vietnam, to carefully prepare a young generation that meets strict human resource standards for integration and sustainable development.
Intellectually, the young generation of Vietnam today needs more than ever to be creative, critical thinking and the ability to quickly handle technological changes. Young people must be trained to become pioneers in mastering new technologies, having enough capacity to research, develop and apply the most advanced achievements in practice. At the same time, the younger generation needs to have a global mindset, international communication skills and outstanding foreign language skills to proactively integrate into the international environment, competing fairly and effectively with world friends.
However, intelligence alone is not enough. Healthy physical condition and strong courage are also indispensable conditions for the younger generation to adapt and develop in an increasingly fierce global competitive environment. A generation of young people with physical health will ensure high-quality labor resources, contributing to the cause of building and defending the country. Therefore, physical education needs to be focused on more, combined with building a community health system and modern sports facilities to improve overall health and enhance the stature of Vietnamese people".
What have we prepared for the future of this rising generation, from the 2025 - 2026 school year?
More than ever, it is necessary to focus all resources on education and training - Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh's speech at the Conference summarizing the 2024 - 2025 school year, deploying tasks for the 2025 - 2026 school year, not only a reminder for the education sector but also a strategic orientation for the entire political system and society.
In the context of the country entering a new stage - the final year of implementing the Resolution of the 13th National Party Congress, preparing to enter the 14th National Party Congress, implementing the Politburo's breakthrough decisions on science - technology, innovation, digital transformation, and the development of the knowledge economy - education is the foundation, the most important endogenous driving force. Without high-quality human resources, any development strategy will hardly be successful.
Looking back at the 2024 - 2025 school year, the education sector has achieved many positive results: from perfecting institutions, policies, innovating teaching and learning methods to promoting digital transformation, successfully organizing the largest high school graduation exam ever. In particular, the education database system has connected more than 24.5 million records, digitized 10 million academic records and 1.5 million certificates, aiming to widely deploy digital academic records and digital certificates in the 2025 - 2026 school year. This is an important foundation for building a learning society, promoting transparency and modernizing education management.
The high school graduation rate in 2025 will reach 99.2%. Vietnam continues to achieve high results in international Olympic competitions, affirming Vietnam's intelligence in the international arena. These results show that Vietnamese education is gradually rising, approaching global standards.
However, besides achievements, education still faces many difficulties. The whole industry still lacks more than 100,000 teachers at all levels, while tens of thousands of assigned positions are not enough. Facilities in many places are still inadequate, especially in remote, isolated, border and island areas. The 2018 general education program has not been implemented uniformly, and is still confused in many localities. Vocational education is still fragile and has not met the requirements of the labor market. The work of educating ethics and life skills is not effective, school violence and social evils still appear, causing anxiety in society.
In that context, the 2025 - 2026 school year is identified as a special school year. This is the first school year to implement Resolution 71 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training.
The education budget in 2026 is expected to reach 630,000 billion VND, an increase of 134,000 billion VND compared to 2025, ensuring a minimum of 20% of total national budget expenditure. Prioritizing large-scale financial resources is an important basis for solving existing bottlenecks, creating momentum to promote fundamental and comprehensive innovation.
On that platform, the education sector aims to promote the popularization of preschools for children aged 3 - 5, making English gradually the second language, while overcoming the shortage of teachers by recruiting, retraining and effectively using the payroll. Investment in facilities, especially in 248 border communes, will be valued to ensure that no student lacks schools or classes.
One of the Prime Minister's strongest messages is: "Just a vote not to let students lack schools, classes, teachers, food, or clothing". This is not only an administrative order but also has profound humanitarian meaning, affirming the goal of fairness in education. The policy of supporting lunch for primary and secondary school students in border communes, exempting and reducing tuition fees for preschool children and primary school students will help poor children access education, while ensuring harmonious development between regions.
The new school year also opens a new chapter on digital transformation. The mass implementation of digital transcripts and digital certificates will create a turning point in education management, helping to save costs, fight fraud, and create maximum convenience for learners. Along with that, making English the second language, promoting human resource training in key areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, high-speed railways, nuclear power, etc. will help Vietnam quickly integrate and catch up with global trends.
President Ho Chi Minh once advised: "Whether the Vietnamese mountains and rivers become beautiful or not... is largely due to the students' studies". That teaching, after nearly 80 years, is still valid. In the new period, when the country aims to become a high-income developed country by the mid-century, education is the decisive pillar. Prioritizing all resources for education and training from the 2025-2026 school year is not only an urgent requirement but also a strategic commitment, so that Vietnam can make a breakthrough, affirming its position on the map of knowledge and human development.
