Expected reduction of 50.5% of educational institutions nationwide
The above content was informed by Standing Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong at the conference summarizing the 2025-2026 school year and deploying tasks for the 2026-2027 school year held on the morning of August 27.
According to Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong, by August 20, 16 localities had basically completed the arrangement of the network of educational institutions; the whole country is expected to complete before August 30. After arrangement, the number of educational institutions is expected to decrease from 37,515 to 18,570, equivalent to a decrease of 50.5%.
This process also forms inter-level general schools, large-scale schools and creates conditions to rearrange staff. According to calculations by the Ministry of Education and Training, it is expected to reduce 32,625 principals, vice principals and 10,041 staff; in which many management officials are arranged to return to teaching. Thanks to that, the need for teacher staff to be supplemented for the 2026-2027 school year is expected to decrease from 104,516 to 43,467 people.
Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong said that if the arrangement is carried out according to plan, plus the number of staff assigned in 2025 but localities have not recruited enough, then " basically in the 2026-2027 school year, there is no need to supplement staff for education".
Hanoi sharply reduces focal points, generating new requirements for governance
Mr. Vu Dai Thang, Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee, said that the city currently has about 2.3 million students; in the 2026-2027 school year, it is expected to add about 37,800 students with more than 1,000 classes. In the context of large education scale, rapidly increasing mechanical population in many areas, classroom conditions, teaching staff and access to quality education are still different between localities.
After reviewing and reorganizing the entire system of public educational institutions, the number of educational institutions in Hanoi decreased from 2,343 to 1,092 units. Along with reducing direct management focal points, the city increased the scale of schools, formed models of multi-campus schools, multi-level general schools, and at the same time continued to maintain remote school sites in truly necessary areas.
The principle set by Hanoi is not to reduce school places, not to increase the distance to school for students, and at the same time improve the efficiency of using staff, facilities, equipment and public assets after arrangement.
From practical implementation, Mr. Vu Dai Thang proposed that the Government and the Ministry of Education and Training continue to have unified and specific guidelines for multi-campus schools and multi-level general schools, from organizational structure, management official titles, job positions, professional activities to financial autonomy mechanisms, public asset management and data management.
The city also proposed to clarify the recognition of national standard schools after arrangement, especially the mechanism for inheriting and preserving previously recognized results; the use of data, records, evidence and evaluation methods for inter-level schools or schools with many scattered school sites.
Reducing focal points but not reducing classrooms
With a scale of nearly 2.6 million students and an average annual mechanical increase of 50,000-60,000 students, Ho Chi Minh City requires network arrangement to simultaneously ensure the capacity to receive learners.
Mr. Nguyen Manh Cuong, Vice Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, said that the city has completed the arrangement of the school network, reducing 32% of focal points at educational institutions.
The city's overarching principle is to reduce management units but not reduce the number of classrooms. Before the 2026-2027 school year, more than 1,000 new classrooms will continue to be put into use to meet actual needs.
Along with reorganizing the network, Ho Chi Minh City promotes governance on a shared data platform. Specifically, the city operates 10 interconnected nghiệp vụ subsystems, from admissions, digital transcripts, learning management to digital education maps; data of more than 99% of managers, teachers and learners have been synchronized on a identification system.
