Actively removing 3 "bottlenecks" for preschool education development

The announcement stated: The Party and the State always affirm that education and training is the top national policy, the cause of the entire Party, the entire political system and the entire people, with the consistent viewpoint: people are the center, the subject, the goal, the resource and the driving force for development. Preschool education plays a particularly important role in the national education system, in the strategy of human resource development and human development in Vietnam. Building and developing people must be based on the foundation from the early years of life.

In recent years, preschool education has achieved remarkable results. The network of preschool education facilities has been widely developed, reaching communes, wards and villages across the country, increasingly meeting the needs of sending children to school. The successful implementation of the goal of universalizing preschool education for 5-year-old preschool children has created a mechanism and motivation to promote the development of preschool education, gradually meeting the needs of nurturing, caring for and educating children. Investment in school facilities and teachers and preschool education managers has received increasing attention, demonstrating the great efforts of the Government, the education sector as well as related levels and sectors. Government policies such as: supporting the organization of cooking, supporting lunch for preschool children in difficult areas, supporting teachers in combined classes and enhancing Vietnamese, supporting preschool children who are children of workers... have contributed significantly to improving the quality of preschool education.

However, social awareness of preschool education and the importance of the early stages of development is still limited. Preschool education still faces many difficulties such as the lack of schools, teachers, and teaching equipment that are slowly being overcome; the professional capacity of preschool teachers is still limited, especially in remote, border, island, and ethnic minority areas; support policies for children are slow to innovate; preschool education programs have not been innovated according to the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training. In response to the needs of national development in the new period, preschool education needs to be innovated to meet the requirements. In particular, the goal is to move towards universalizing preschool education for children from 3 to 5 years old; innovate the content of preschool education programs; especially, there needs to be a mechanism to mobilize resources and conditions to innovate and develop preschool education.

Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW dated November 4, 2013 of the 8th Central Conference, 11th tenure affirmed: "Education and training is the top national policy, the cause of the Party, the State and the entire people. Investment in education is investment in development, given priority in socio-economic development programs and plans. Developing education and training is to improve people's knowledge, train human resources and foster talents".

Resolution No. 42-NQ/TW dated November 24, 2023 of the 12th Party Central Committee sets the goal of "completing universal preschool education for children aged 3 to 5 years old" by 2030. Therefore, it is necessary to continue to fundamentally and comprehensively innovate education and training, including preschool education, to continue to realize the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's policies and laws on education and training, serving the development in the period of industrialization and modernization of the country.

The implementation of preschool education innovation must be consistent with the Party's guidelines and policies, the State's laws and policies, consistent with the development trends of the times, consistent with the country's reality and circumstances. Preschool education innovation must be based on innovation in thinking, methodology, and a comprehensive, inclusive, all-people approach, consistent with the requirements of the country's industrialization and modernization period. Innovation must be consistent with the role and position of preschool education, to train and comprehensively develop people in the future.

It is necessary to review and make strong changes in mechanisms, policies, ways of mobilizing and allocating resources to create a breakthrough for the development of preschool education in the coming time, especially policies on taxes, land access, credit and socialization issues. Actively remove 3 "bottlenecks" for preschool education development: financial resources, facilities; human resources of teachers; unequal access to preschool education, especially in remote, border and island areas... There are mechanisms and policies to mobilize human resources for preschool education, paying special attention to policies to develop preschool education facilities under the public-private partnership model.

To continue to innovate and develop preschool education commensurate with its particularly important role in the national education system, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Education and Training to absorb the opinions of the delegates attending the meeting to continue to complete the dossier to report to the Government on the proposal to submit to the National Assembly to issue a Resolution on universalizing preschool education for 3-5 year old preschool children and a Resolution on innovation of the preschool education program in a thorough, quality manner and in accordance with the order and procedures prescribed by law.

The Prime Minister assigned Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha to continue directing this content; relevant ministries, agencies and localities, based on their assigned functions and tasks, proactively coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training to effectively implement the goals, tasks and solutions to promptly remove difficulties and obstacles, contributing to innovation and development of preschool education.

The People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities shall proactively develop programs, plans and specify goals, tasks and solutions to innovate and develop preschool education in their localities; continue to fully and effectively implement mechanisms, policies and tasks according to the Government's regulations, the Prime Minister's direction and the Party and State's incentive policies to attract resources and invest in developing preschool education in the localities; review, research and propose tasks and solutions to remove difficulties for preschool education in the localities in accordance with the provisions of law and local socio-economic conditions.

Prioritize the arrangement of staff and recruitment of preschool teachers according to regulations to ensure the safety of children and the quality of preschool education. Pay attention to arranging the public investment budget for the period 2026 - 2030 in accordance with the principles and criteria for arranging public investment capital and other resources to build, repair, renovate and replace temporary and semi-permanent classrooms to ensure the safety of children and teachers, especially in areas frequently affected by natural disasters and floods; prioritize the arrangement of funds for preschool education development, meeting the requirements of mobilizing children to go to school and to achieve the goal of universalization; effectively use funds from National Target Programs to invest in innovation and development of preschool education.