Today, in the joyful and excited atmosphere of the entire education sector celebrating the 42nd anniversary of Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20, I am very pleased to attend the meeting with representatives of teachers, education managers, and scientists. With all my deep feelings, on behalf of the leaders of the Party and State, I cordially send to the teachers, education managers present here as well as generations of teachers across the country my respectful greetings, warm greetings and best wishes. Congratulations to the University of Economics - Vietnam National University, Hanoi on being honored to receive the Third Class Labor Medal on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the University's founding.
Dear scientists, teachers and comrades!
Throughout the revolutionary process, our Party and State have always affirmed that education and training are the top national policy, the future of the nation; always paying special attention and care, having many policies and investment policies for education, identifying it as investment for development and giving priority, ahead of other fields. The history of the Vietnamese revolution shows that education and training play a particularly important role in the development miracles of the nation. The Popular Education Movement with the Party's wise policy of "forcing to learn the national language without paying" headed by President Ho Chi Minh, after 13 years and 20 years respectively, has basically eliminated illiteracy in the plains, midlands and mountainous areas of the North - the consequence of the policy of keeping people ignorant by the invading French colonialists. The achievement of eliminating illiteracy is the first and most fundamental foundation for the Vietnamese revolution to rise to new heights, gain one victory after another, liberate the nation, unify the country and achieve great achievements after 40 years of national renovation.
In the process of national renewal, the Party has focused on leading and directing the innovation of education and training and achieved many positive results. The national education system has been gradually improved in an open direction, building a learning society; the scale and network of educational and training institutions have developed, better meeting the needs of regular and lifelong learning of the people. The whole country has completed universal education for 5-year-old children; universal primary and secondary education has continued to be consolidated, maintained and gradually reached higher standards. The quality of general education, both mass and spearhead, has changed positively, recognized by the world. Continuing education has developed in a variety of content and form. Innovation of higher education associated with increased autonomy has been implemented, training is more closely linked to the needs of the labor market; scientific research and technology transfer have been promoted; International scientific publications have increased sharply, and more and more universities and training groups are emerging that are highly ranked in the region and the world.
The above achievements and results were achieved under the regular and close leadership and direction of the Party and the State, the participation of the entire political system and the entire people, and were the result of solidarity, unity, and efforts to overcome all difficulties of the entire education sector, especially the team of teachers and education managers - the force directly carrying out the glorious task of "growing people".
On behalf of the Party and State leaders, I warmly congratulate and commend the achievements in educational innovation and training in recent times of the entire education sector, of the team of teachers and educational managers; I would like to express my sincere and deep gratitude and best wishes to generations of teachers across the country on the occasion of Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20.
Dear comrades and teachers!
In addition to the results, frankly admitting that although education and training innovation has been implemented for decades, it has not fundamentally created strong changes, has not really changed in quality, and has not met the expectations of the Party, the State and the People. Human resources are still one of the three biggest bottlenecks today. Some limitations of education and training have lasted for many years and have not been completely resolved, such as: The implementation of fundamental and comprehensive education and training innovation is not synchronous, lacks systematicity, and is still confused. The quality of education at all levels is still limited; university education still lags behind other countries in the region and the world; "heavy" on theory, "light" on practice; training is not closely linked with scientific research, with production, business and market demand. Tens of thousands of bachelors, engineers and masters who graduate cannot find jobs, or do not work in the profession they were trained for, not only causing great waste, but also clearly reflecting the limitations of education and training. The educational method has not promoted the positivity and creativity of learners, has not focused on training skills and qualities for learners; the effectiveness of educational investment is not commensurate with the policy of education as the top national policy. The situation of lack of schools and classes in some big cities, industrial zones, densely populated areas, mountainous areas, illiteracy, re-illiteracy in remote areas is very worrying. The teaching staff is still lacking in quantity, a part is weak in professional capacity, not actively innovating, a small part still shows signs of violating ethics, causing negative influence on public opinion. Investment from the state budget for education and training is not commensurate with the requirements of educational innovation and development, while the socialization of investment resources still faces many difficulties.
Dear comrades and teachers!
The world is in a period of epochal change, competition between major countries is increasingly fierce, in which competition over the quality of human resources determines the development opportunities of each country and is identified as the core. The 4th industrial revolution, the formation of a knowledge-based economy, a knowledge-based society; the requirement to transform the economic model from breadth to depth, restructuring the economy towards quality, efficiency, and high competitiveness... have promoted educational innovation to become a global trend and Vietnam cannot stand outside that trend. To complete the strategic goals of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party, the 100th anniversary of the founding of the country, bringing the country firmly into the era of rising up, the era of prosperity, standing shoulder to shoulder with the world powers, high-quality human resources continue to be identified by the 10th Central Conference of the 13th tenure as a strategic breakthrough and educational innovation is the task and strategic solution of the 14th Congress. The issues of human resources and education and training innovation are not new, they have been identified by our Party in documents of many Congresses from the 11th Party Congress to the present, showing difficulties, also requiring great solidarity and determination of the team of teachers and education managers to successfully carry out these tasks and strategic breakthroughs. I would like to suggest to you the following 3 issues:
Firstly, the highest goal that must be focused on at all costs is to "complete the cause of education and training innovation, complete the goal of creating human resources for national construction and defense in the era of national development during the 14th Party Congress term". There are 04 specific contents: (i) Regarding the basis for setting the goal: Completing the cause of education and training innovation from now until the end of the 14th Party Congress term is a difficult and challenging task, but from the lessons that are still valuable from the popular education movement, strengthening the firm belief that we will succeed when we have clear goals, smart policies and creative ways of doing things. The Central Propaganda Department coordinates with the Ministry of Education and Training to promptly study thoroughly the popular education movement, on the basis of lessons that are still valuable and practical today, to propose this issue to the Politburo. (ii) The top priority in implementing that goal is to focus on building socialist people. Focus on educating personality, ethics, lifestyle, legal knowledge and civic awareness. Focus on the basic values of culture, traditions and national ethics, the quintessence of human culture, the core and humanistic values of Marxism-Leninism, Ho Chi Minh thought, the Party's platform and guidelines. Pay attention to teaching the languages and scripts of ethnic minorities; teaching Vietnamese and spreading national culture to overseas Vietnamese. (iii) Regarding measures and methods of achieving goals: Closely following the viewpoints and goals of national development (we determine to develop the country quickly and sustainably based mainly on science and technology, innovation, digital transformation and green transformation) to determine the needs and training content, based on orders from each agency, unit, organization, and enterprise using labor with the school; Closely combine teaching and scientific research in higher education and postgraduate education, in which teachers are also scientists in their field of study. Strongly innovate educational content and methods in the direction of streamlining, modernizing, and practicality, increasing knowledge, skills, and qualities of learners, increasing practice and applying knowledge into practice; focus on practical learning, and combating the disease of achievement. Strongly shift university education from focusing on equipping knowledge as the main goal to teaching skills, teaching how to learn, and how to think as the main goal. (iv) Strive to increase the ranking of Vietnamese education on the regional and international education map, specifically by 2030, Vietnam will be in the top 3 ASEAN countries in terms of the number of international publications and the impact index of scientific research works; have universities in the Top 100 leading universities in the world.
Second, regarding some urgent tasks: (i) Have solutions to completely eliminate illiteracy, especially in remote areas, among ethnic minorities. (ii) Launch the implementation of the "popular digital education" movement. In reality, a large proportion of people, including officials in state agencies, do not have a firm grasp of digital transformation; meanwhile, the Politburo has discussed and decided to issue a Resolution on national digital transformation. To successfully implement this Resolution, the requirement to quickly popularize basic knowledge about digital transformation for all people is urgent. (iii) Focus on reviewing and completely resolving the shortage of schools and classrooms in some large cities, industrial parks, densely populated areas, and mountainous areas; solidify schools and classrooms, and ensure accommodation for teachers in remote areas, and ethnic minority areas. (iv) Ensure that the state budget for education accounts for at least 20% of the total state budget expenditure in accordance with the Resolution set forth by the Party. Have mechanisms and preferential policies to attract non-state resources to invest in education and training development. Rely on the people, mobilize the people's strength, and organize the people to do education together at the lowest cost and with maximum efficiency.
Third, focus on building a team of teachers and educational managers who are virtuous and talented, who are passionate, enthusiastic, skilled, knowledgeable, capable of imparting knowledge, eager to learn, and innovative, and who are truly role models for students to learn and follow; sufficient in number and consistent in structure. Research and propose mechanisms and policies for mobilizing and rotating teachers to solve the problem of local teacher surplus and shortage; attract talented people to the education sector and motivate teachers and educational managers to work with peace of mind, especially teachers working in mountainous areas, areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions, and islands. Have breakthrough solutions to develop a team of leading experts and scientists who work in the education sector while also contributing to other sectors and fields. Building a truly healthy learning environment, with close and regular coordination between the school and the family, the government and local socio-political organizations; clearly defining the responsibilities of the school, the family and the society.
For Hanoi National University, on behalf of the Party and State leaders, I would like to congratulate the achievements that teachers and scientists have achieved over the years, contributing to training high-quality human resources, nurturing talents for the country, bringing the brand of Vietnamese higher education to the region and the world; hoping that you will continue to promote the achievements you have achieved, maintain the mission of being the cradle of training talents and talented scientists; pioneer and lead the higher education system in international integration, strive to become the leading scientific research center of the country, moving towards the top in the region and internationally, a cooperation destination for large domestic and foreign enterprises, and a place to incubate science and technology enterprises in the future.
Dear teachers and comrades,
President Ho Chi Minh advised, “For the benefit of ten years, we must plant trees; for the benefit of a hundred years, we must cultivate people.” “Whether Vietnam can become glorious or not, whether the Vietnamese people can step up to the stage of glory to stand shoulder to shoulder with the great powers of the five continents or not, depends largely on your studies.” We are standing at the door of history to fulfill the wish of the great President Ho Chi Minh; we can only successfully fulfill his wish when and only when we successfully complete the task of educational and training innovation. The glorious responsibility requires great efforts, strong breakthroughs, and the united efforts of our entire Party, people, and army, first and foremost, the team of teachers and educational managers under the leadership of the Party.
I believe that, with a country and a people with a tradition of loving learning and respecting talents; a team of dedicated teachers who love their jobs, are willing to sacrifice and are committed to their jobs; and with the decisive and synchronous participation of the entire political system, the entire education sector will overcome all difficulties, overcome all challenges, and successfully carry out the reform of education and training.
Finally, I wish all teachers and educational administrators good health, happiness, and many successes in work and life.
Thank you very much.
