Completion on schedule
Regarding the arrangement of the school network, Mr. Thai Van Tai - Director of the Department of General Education, Ministry of Education and Training said that after 1 year of implementing the arrangement, all 34/34 provinces and cities have completed the approval of the arrangement plan according to schedule. The total number of public preschool and general education institutions has decreased by 586 schools, and the number of leadership and management positions has decreased by 709 people.
The trend of reducing the number of educational institutions is mainly concentrated in small-scale, scattered, and ineffectively operating institutions; remote school sites that do not meet minimum standards; vocational education - continuing education centers with overlapping functions and tasks in the same area.
The Ministry of Education and Training assesses that the arrangement does not affect teaching and learning activities, does not interrupt students' learning, and basically maintains the stability of the preschool and general education systems nationwide.
The arrangement of the school network has achieved basic goals in reducing management focal points, gradually overcoming the situation of small-scale, scattered schools, while increasing the efficiency of using facilities and investment resources; creating favorable conditions for regulating and arranging the teaching staff, maintaining the stability of the education system and ensuring students' learning rights and initially forming a school network suitable for the two-level local government model.
However, according to Mr. Tai, the arrangement of the school network in localities still has shortcomings and limitations, not suitable for the development space and population size of commune-level administrative units after arrangement.
Pilot roadmap for organizing and arranging the school network in localities
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy - Director of Quang Ninh Department of Education and Training said that after 1 year of implementation, Quang Ninh province has reduced 280/570 schools and 825 education managers. According to Ms. Thuy, the arrangement of the school network initially presents certain difficulties, but "this is also an opportunity to improve the quality of the staff, which is the greatest efficiency" - Ms. Thuy assessed.
Lang Son province is a locality ready to participate in piloting the arrangement of the school network in the coming time. According to Mr. Hoang Quoc Tuan, Director of Lang Son Department of Education and Training, the arrangement of the school network needs to ensure regimes and policies for teachers to both streamline the apparatus but still solve the current teacher shortage problem in localities. Along with that, Mr. Tuan said that it is necessary to promote the role of commune-level education management in implementing the pilot model to increase management and supervision mechanisms.
Regarding the arrangement and merger, Director of Dak Lak Department of Education and Training Le Thi Thanh Xuan proposed that it is necessary to synchronize directions and documents at all levels, creating a solid legal corridor for localities in the implementation process. In addition, it is necessary to soon build data in digital transformation, unified, synchronized, creating favorable conditions for connection throughout the industry and society.
In Hanoi, to solve the situation of teacher shortage and school shortage, the Department of Education and Training has implemented a project to arrange the school network according to two models: merging educational institutions at the same level or building a multi-level school model. According to Director of Hanoi Department of Education and Training Nguyen Van Hien, the arrangement is carried out in no more than 3 educational institutions into 1 educational institution to ensure the quality of education management.
Standing Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong affirmed that in the coming time, continuing to arrange the apparatus and network of schools and classes is necessary, mandatory and must be done in a reasonable, roadmap-based, piloted manner, in accordance with the context and reality.
The Standing Deputy Minister noted that arranging and organizing the apparatus is to reduce staff but increase efficiency, pilot first, mass-produce later, assess advantages and limitations with a common spirit and must discuss difficulties to forecast and have solutions to remove obstacles.
In the past year, there have been effective implementation models, and there have been lessons learned. Therefore, it is necessary to unify the awareness of the entire sector, prioritizing efficiency, convenience and common benefits of the entire sector and society.
The Standing Deputy Minister also requested Departments of Education and Training to proactively coordinate with the Department of Home Affairs, Department of Finance, and communes and wards to have unity, coordination and implementation, and have a full impact assessment of the arrangement project to ensure maximum access to education for students.
It is expected that the pilot roadmap for organizing and arranging the school network in localities will be implemented in 15 provinces and cities before December 2026 and widely deployed in the first quarter of 2027.
