The Ministry of Education will create a nationwide electronic transcript system.

Mr. Nguyen Son Hai, Director of the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Education and Training, announced the above information on October 5.

According to Mr. Hai, this is not something that has just been discussed. In 2019, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the construction of a sector-wide database, which eliminated paper transcripts and grade books. The Ministry encourages schools and localities to use electronic transcript applications. Hai Phong, Nghe An, Khanh Hoa, Tien Giang... have implemented it.

However, each locality implements electronic transcripts according to its own system, which is not unified and does not recognize each other. This leads to some limitations such as students transferring to another province still having to request traditional transcripts and have to submit paper transcripts when applying for university admission.

"The Ministry is researching a pilot implementation of electronic transcripts and gradebooks on a national scale this school year, as a basis for guiding the management and use of unified electronic transcripts nationwide," said Mr. Hai.

The representative of the Department of Information Technology explained that this is an electronic form of the transcript, with the signature of the authorized person and organization, has legal value, can be used like a paper transcript and used in the digital environment. The implementation of the electronic transcript will combine restructuring the creation and management process to make it as simple and convenient as possible.

Mr. Hai said that this brings many social benefits such as convenience in storage and management; reducing pressure on records and books for teachers and schools.

"Electronic transcripts also help create transparency in managing students' learning and training results, limiting shortcomings such as grade correction," said Mr. Hai.

As in Nghe An, the use of electronic transcripts helps to minimize cheating and result correction. Specifically, at the end of each semester, the system is opened for a certain period of time for teachers to enter scores and comments. When the system is locked, if there is an error, teachers must go through the principal, explain the reason, get the school's confirmation and report to their superiors before they can access it to correct it.

In addition, electronic transcripts are a solution to promote the use of information technology and digital transformation in management and operation; limit paperwork, and reduce the number of documents in administrative procedures.

In a survey conducted in March 2022 with more than 2,500 participants, 89% agreed that paper transcripts are outdated and should be replaced by electronic transcripts. Experts say this is feasible. However, the Ministry will need many years to complete the smooth operation of a system with a large amount of data on a national scale.