10 outstanding achievements and activities of the education sector in 2024

1. The Party and State continue to pay attention to directing the development of education and training.

The Politburo issued Conclusion No. 91-KL/TW: After 10 years of implementing fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training in the spirit of Resolution 29 of the 11th Central Executive Committee, 2024 marks an important milestone for the development of education and training in the country, which is the Politburo's issuance of Conclusion No. 91-KL/TW on August 10, 2024 on continuing to implement Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW.

Conclusion 91-KL/TW of the Politburo assessed: After 10 years of implementing Resolution 29, education and training in our country have achieved many important results. Conclusion 91 also set out 8 key tasks with the requirement that Party committees at all levels, authorities, the Vietnam Fatherland Front and socio-political organizations continue to thoroughly grasp and seriously and effectively implement the viewpoints, goals, tasks and solutions stated in Resolution 29-NQ/TW, Resolution of the 13th National Congress and other resolutions of the Party on education and training.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training has been assigned by the Government to preside over and coordinate with relevant ministries, branches and agencies to develop an Action Program to implement Conclusion No. 91. The Action Program has been submitted to the Government for consideration and promulgation as a basis for implementation.

Party and State leaders meet, encourage and congratulate teachers on the occasion of November 20: Along with major policies and orientations, 2024 continues to affirm the Party and State's attention to education and training through meetings, recognition and encouragement of teachers and the entire education sector by Party and State leaders.

At the meeting with representatives of teachers and education managers on the occasion of Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20, General Secretary To Lam affirmed: "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 paid special attention and care, had many policies and investment policies for education, determined to invest in development and prioritize, 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."

Acknowledging the specific achievements of the education sector in recent times, and at the same time setting out requirements and suggesting immediate actions to develop education and training, the General Secretary said: “I believe that with a country and a nation with a tradition of loving learning and respecting talents; a team of dedicated teachers who love their profession, are willing to sacrifice and are committed to their profession; 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.”

Also on the occasion of Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met, encouraged and congratulated outstanding teachers; National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man met with National Assembly delegates who are teachers, former teachers, education managers...

2. The President awarded the title of People's Teacher and 1,167 Excellent Teacher in 2024

2024 is the first year that the awarding of the titles of People's Teacher and Meritorious Teacher will be carried out according to the new decree of the Government (Decree No. 35/2024/ND-CP dated April 2, 2024) regulating the awarding of the titles of People's Teacher and Meritorious Teacher.

Compared with Decree No. 27/2015/ND-CP dated March 10, 2015 of the Government regulating the awarding of People's Teacher and Meritorious Teacher titles, Decree No. 35/2024/ND-CP has a number of new points to resolve difficulties in recent practical application and approach the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training.

In particular, the new decree stipulates more clearly the calculation of time, target groups and award criteria; pays attention to specific target groups; adds new criteria to evaluate teachers' pedagogical talent; cuts down on administrative procedures and shortens the award consideration process.

In 1985, the State Council issued a Decree regulating the State honorary titles to be awarded to artists, teachers, and doctors. From 1986 to 2024, through 16 conferrals, the President signed a Decision to confer the title of People's Teacher and 10,248 Meritorious Teacher.

In 2024, the President signed a Decision to confer the title of People's Teacher and 1,167 Excellent Teacher.

3. Developing the teaching force

The draft Law on Teachers has received great support from National Assembly deputies and public opinion. On November 9, 2024, within the framework of the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son, authorized by the Prime Minister, presented to the National Assembly a summary of the draft Law on Teachers with many groups of policies to promote the development of the teaching force.

At the session, the draft law was discussed and commented on in the hall and discussed and commented on in the National Assembly delegation. After nearly 20 years of incubation, more than 1 year of urgent preparation, with the dedication and effort of the team of experts, cadres and specialists assigned to draft the law, along with the determination of the entire industry, the first draft of the Law on Teachers at the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly, received high support and consensus from the National Assembly delegates.

The opinions of National Assembly delegates contributing to the draft Law on Teachers have been accepted and perfected by the Drafting Committee in the spirit of implementing the direction of General Secretary To Lam in the discussion session at the National Assembly group: "We must find a way to make the Law on Teachers when it is born be welcomed by teachers. We must find a way to make teachers receive the Law on Teachers with real excitement, real honor, real favorable conditions for teachers".

Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training is coordinating with the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education to prepare documents for the meetings of the National Assembly Standing Committee and complete the draft Law on Teachers for the 9th Session of the 15th National Assembly. It is expected that the draft Law on Teachers will be considered and approved at this Session.

The 5th Congress of the Vietnam Association of Former Teachers: The teaching force currently working in the education sector is nearly 1.6 million people. In addition to the contribution of the working force, the results of education and training innovation in the recent period also have the contribution of nearly 1 million former teachers nationwide.

In 2024, the 5th Congress of the Association of Retired Teachers (2024 - 2029) was held, which determined the goal of continuing to better promote the intellectual potential and good qualities of former teachers to make positive and specific contributions to local educational activities; actively contributing to the Education sector to continue implementing Resolution 29-NQ/TW on fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training according to Conclusion No. 91-KL/TW of the Politburo.

4. Complete the first cycle of the 2018 General Education Program implementation process for three levels of education synchronously nationwide.

2024 marks the completion of the first cycle of implementing the 2018 General Education Program for three levels of education, synchronously nationwide. The list of textbooks from grades 1 to 12 has completed 4 stages of appraisal and approval.

Strengthening management and ensuring textbooks in the form of socialization is one of the important factors contributing to the completion of the first cycle of general education innovation.

The completion of the first cycle of the 2018 General Education Program is also marked by the successful organization of the final high school graduation exam according to the 2006 program and urgent, active, and high-quality preparations for the reformed exam from 2025.

The Ministry of Education and Training has announced the exam plan, exam format structure, and reference exam questions for the high school graduation exam from 2025 according to the 2018 General Education Program.

Accordingly, for the first time, assessment is based on competency instead of content and knowledge in a national-level exam and achieves three goals: Graduation assessment; assessment of the teaching and learning process; and as a basis for university and vocational education admissions.

Along with the process of innovating high school graduation exams, preparations for innovating high school, university and college admissions have also been implemented by the Ministry of Education and Training in 2024 through amending and supplementing current regulations.

2024 is also the year when the number of candidates applying for and enrolling in universities increases; pedagogical majors and artificial intelligence training majors. In particular, the semiconductor industry has strong attraction, showing initial progress according to the Government's major policies and plans on training human resources in the semiconductor industry.

5. Digital transformation in education continues to achieve many important results

2024 continues to be a year in which the education sector focuses on digital transformation and achieves many important results. Specifically, it has completed the construction of 100% of the sector's databases and successfully connected them to national databases.

The application of information technology to serve the high school graduation exam and university admission has been implemented synchronously and thoroughly, from exam registration, registration of admission wishes, payment of admission fees and confirmation of admission are carried out online for all candidates.

In 2024, the education sector piloted digital report cards at the primary level, which has initially brought positive results in school management and administration, serving as a basis for mass implementation in the coming time. Also in 2024, many seminars, conferences, talks, and training sessions on promoting the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in teaching and learning were held.

To continue promoting digital transformation in higher education and ensuring human resources to promote digital transformation in all fields, the Ministry of Education and Training has completed the pilot project of digital higher education model and the project of training high-quality human resources to serve high technology for submission to the Prime Minister for approval.

In addition, the Ministry of Education and Training has drafted and will soon issue a framework of five digital competencies for learners from preschool to university (including AI application capacity) to improve digital capacity for learners, meeting the requirements of national digital transformation.

It is expected that the above-mentioned projects and digital capacity frameworks will be implemented from 2025, immediately after being approved by competent authorities.

6. Increase the ranking of Vietnamese educational institutions in the region and the world

Following the achievements of previous years, in 2024, the rankings of higher education institutions in Asia and internationally continued to have an impressive increase. According to the announcement of the QS Ranking Organization (Quacquarelli Symonds - UK) on the world university rankings QS World University Rankings: Sustainability 2025; for 1,751 higher education institutions worldwide, Vietnam has 10 higher education institutions participating, an increase of 2 institutions compared to the previous year.

Notably, in this ranking, Hanoi National University has made a strong improvement in position when it was ranked 325th in the world (up 456 places compared to the ranking in the top 781 - 790 in the 2024 ranking), ranked 51st in Asia and number 1 in Vietnam.

In 2024, Vietnam will have 17 universities in the QS Asia Rankings, including 4 in the top 200; 9 universities in the Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, including 4 in the top 1000; 13 universities in the THE Impact Rankings.

7. Vietnamese education continues to make positive marks at international competitions

In 2024, Vietnam had 7 student delegations participating in regional and international Olympic competitions with 38 students participating. The Vietnamese student delegations brought back outstanding achievements when all won prizes, with 12 gold medals, 15 silver medals, 10 bronze medals and 1 certificate of merit; an increase of 4 gold medals and 3 silver medals compared to 2023.

Vietnamese student delegations all achieved high rankings, maintaining their position in the world's top 10; many Vietnamese students achieved scores in the top group, especially their practical exam scores increased compared to previous years.

In 2024, the Vietnamese student delegation participating in the International Science and Technology Competition in the United States also won a second prize - the highest prize since 2013. The outstanding achievements of Vietnamese students in international competitions continue to affirm the quality of general education; the efforts and hard work of students, teachers and schools in studying and training. At the same time, it affirms the right direction in the work of discovering, selecting and nurturing excellent students of the Ministry of Education and Training.

8. Join hands and make efforts to overcome the consequences of natural disasters and floods

In early September 2024, storm No. 3 (Yagi) and its circulation caused very heavy damage to the provinces in the Northern region of our country. The education sector also suffered great damage. According to the total damage of the education sector up to September 16, 2024: 52 students and children died, 3 students were missing, 8 students were injured; 3 teachers died, 1 teacher was missing.

Total damage to facilities and teaching equipment is estimated at 1,260 billion VND. Before, during and after the storm, the Ministry of Education and Training issued timely and synchronous response and remediation instructions. In the context of difficulties and damages, the entire education sector joined hands and made efforts to overcome the consequences to stabilize teaching and learning as soon as possible.

The education sector has also received timely and effective support from many units, organizations and individuals across the country. In response to the timely support and sharing of agencies, organizations, businesses and individuals for the education sector in natural disasters and calamities, on September 19, 2024, Minister Nguyen Kim Son sent a letter of thanks to agencies, organizations, businesses and individuals who have supported, assisted, joined hands and helped the education sector overcome the damage caused by storm No. 3.

In the letter, the Minister wrote: “The cooperation and support of all levels, sectors and the community is a great driving force, encouraging the spirit and will of cadres, teachers, workers and students in the whole sector to overcome this difficult time; soon stabilize life and bring teaching and learning activities back to normal”.

9. Successfully organize major school sports events of national and international scale

Vietnam successfully hosted the 13th Southeast Asian School Sports Festival with the theme "Connecting and Shining Together".

The Games brought together 1,300 student athletes and coaches from 107 countries in the region, including: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and host Vietnam.

Athletes competed in 6 events: Swimming, athletics, badminton, basketball, pencak silat, vovinam with 107 events and 107 sets of medals.

The 13th Southeast Asian School Sports Festival fully demonstrated the message of “Connecting and Shining Together”. The festival is not only a place to honor sports talents but also promotes the connection of students from countries in the region, uniting together for a young generation of Southeast Asian integration and development.

Also in 2024, the 10th National Phu Dong Sports Festival was successfully held. After more than 40 years with 10 congresses, the 2024 National Phu Dong Sports Festival is the largest school sports festival ever, with more than 20,000 student athletes and officials from 63 provinces and cities competing in 15 sports.

10. Promote the emulation movement to build a learning society and lifelong learning

In 2024, the education sector will continue to implement the Project "Building a learning society for the period 2021-2030" and the movement "The whole country competes to build a learning society, promoting lifelong learning for the period 2023-2030".

During the year, for the first time, the National Conference of Directors of Continuing Education Centers was organized by the Ministry of Education and Training, demonstrating a positive spirit in promoting continuing education, building a learning society, and lifelong learning.

Also in 2024, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced a list of 64 cities from 35 countries recognized as members of the "Global Network of Learning Cities", including two Vietnamese cities: Ho Chi Minh City and Son La City, Son La Province.

To date, Vietnam has a total of 5 cities recognized as members of the "Global Network of Learning Cities". This is an international recognition of the efforts of the cities in promoting lifelong learning for all local people. At the same time, it demonstrates specific steps in implementing the policies of the Party and State of Vietnam on international integration, promoting education, promoting talents, building a learning society, and improving the quality of human resources.

To continue promoting the emulation movement to build a learning society and lifelong learning, the Ministry of Education and Training is in the process of researching and proposing to build a Law on Lifelong Learning.