Clarifying the legal basis for building a separate law on teachers

Receive and adjust delegates' comments and suggestions

According to Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Education Nguyen Dac Vinh, the draft after being accepted and revised consists of 9 chapters and 46 articles, 4 articles less than the draft submitted at the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly. The majority of opinions of National Assembly deputies agreed with the necessity of developing the Law on Teachers, but there were still concerns and requests to clarify the objectives and legal basis for developing a separate law on teachers. In Conclusion No. 91-KL/TW dated August 12, 2024, the Politburo affirmed that it is necessary to "soon develop a law on teachers".

The goal of law-making is to create a favorable and unified legal basis for management, development, and improvement of the quality of the teaching staff, and to overcome limitations and difficulties in practice.

Regarding the role and position of teachers (Article 3), there are opinions suggesting considering the necessity of stipulating that "teachers are high-quality human resources", "are an important part of the intellectual team", and are "protected, respected, and honored by society". The Standing Committee of the National Assembly finds that the opinions of the delegates are valid; it would like to accept and remove the above contents in Clause 1, Article 3; at the same time, add the provision "have an important position in society" to be consistent with the provisions in Clause 2, Article 66 of the current Law on Education.

There are suggestions to add the role of teachers in creating and applying new knowledge; in the formation and development of students' personalities. Incorporating the opinions of delegates, the draft law has been revised in the direction of stipulating that teachers' professional activities "are professional and creative activities that help learners develop their qualities and abilities comprehensively" (Clause 1, Article 7); clearly stating the responsibility of teachers to "apply training and fostering results to teaching, education, scientific research, community service, and innovation" (Point d, Clause 1, Article 33); stipulating that teachers have the obligation to "discover and foster talents, promote the qualities and abilities of learners" (Point d, Clause 2, Article 9).

The majority of Standing Committee members believe that the reception and revision of the draft Law has demonstrated the spirit of innovation in legislative work, only regulating contents and policies under the authority of the National Assembly, whose stability has been proven in practice.

Proposal for preschool teachers to retire early

Regarding the policy of early retirement for preschool teachers (Article 28), the Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Education said: Many opinions agree with the policy of early retirement according to the law for preschool teachers; propose to add the criterion that teachers must have paid social insurance for 20 years or more to be eligible for early retirement and not have their pension rate deducted; there are opinions concerned about the resources to ensure the implementation of this policy and believe that the principle of having paid - having received must be ensured according to the Law on Social Insurance.

Regarding this issue, according to Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh, allowing preschool teachers to retire early compared to the age prescribed by law is a policy built on the characteristics of this subject's professional activities and is suitable for the characteristics of preschool learners. Accordingly, Clause 2, Article 28 of the draft Law has revised and supplemented the regulation that teachers in preschool education institutions, if they wish, can retire at an age lower than the retirement age of employees under normal conditions but not more than 5 years and the percentage of pension benefits is not reduced due to early retirement if they have paid social insurance for 20 years or more; at the same time, the draft Law revises, amends and supplements the provisions of the Law on Social Insurance in the transitional provisions.

Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly Nguyen Thi Thanh suggested that the drafting agency and the reviewing agency should take into account the opinions of the National Assembly Standing Committee to the maximum extent and design them into the draft law. The explanation and acceptance report should be brief, and the agreed points should not be repeated, only the issues that need to be explained should be mentioned to create consensus when pressing the approval button.

The Standing Committee of the Culture and Education Committee continues to complete the draft Law and send it to the Government for comments on the contents of the draft law, and access to the laws being amended, including the Law on Promulgation of Legal Documents, complete the draft law and detailed documents to report to the National Assembly at the 9th Session, 15th National Assembly.