The PM made the request at a national conference in Hanoi on August 27 to review the 2025-2026 academic year and set out tasks for 2026-2027. The conference, held at Government headquarters, was connected online with 34 provinces and cities.

The 2025-2026 academic year unfolded as the education sector implemented the Politburo’s Resolution 71 on breakthroughs in education and training, operated under the two-tier local government model and carried out major reforms in organisational arrangements, decentralisation and delegation of authority.

The sector made important progress, but several bottlenecks need to be addressed.

Education reform must tackle immediate bottlenecks

One of the immediate priorities is ensuring the essential conditions for the new school year, including enough teachers, classrooms and teaching equipment.

The Prime Minister noted that preparations for the 2026-2027 academic year have been actively carried out, covering admissions, repairs and upgrades to facilities, textbooks, professional support for teachers and the use of information technology.

However, shortages of teachers, classrooms, specialised rooms and teaching equipment remain in many areas.

The structure and distribution of teachers and education managers are also uneven among localities. Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Tien Hai reported that among 3,856 civil servants identified as being responsible for education at the local level, 1,933 have been trained in other fields, while 1,306 were handling duties in two or more areas.

As many as 1,945 communes were identified as having education officials who have not received training in education management.

These figures show that the human resource challenge is not simply about numbers, but also about structure, professional qualifications and management capacity, particularly as responsibilities for education are being reorganised under the two-tier local government model.

Education reform must reach classrooms and exams

The Prime Minister said reform at some educational institutions is insufficient and does not yet match the country’s development requirements.

Teaching and learning, as well as testing and assessment, are too heavily focused on grades and examinations, while some aspects of educational quality, including textbooks, still require improvement.

Exam cheating, in particular, cannot be viewed simply as a problem of achievement-oriented education.

Behind exam violations and cheating are broader issues of legal compliance and professional ethics. For teachers, the Prime Minister said, ethical standards, respect for the law and a strong sense of legal responsibility must come before imparting knowledge to students.

The Government will also continue efforts to address negative practices in examinations, distorted forms of extra teaching and learning, and expenses that place pressure on students’ families.

The direction is consistent with the Government’s priorities for the 2026-2027 academic year, which call for more substantive testing and assessment, reduced examination pressure and stronger measures against cheating.

Changing examinations and assessment is also closely linked to changing how teachers teach and students learn.

The ultimate goal is not to produce higher grades or attractive score tables, but to equip students with knowledge, skills, independent thinking, problem-solving ability and adaptability.

Education reform links schools to future workforce needs

Beyond immediate bottlenecks, the Prime Minister called for continued attention to a longer-term priority that is developing high-quality human resources for national development.

Training programmes in strategic fields such as semiconductors, nuclear power, high-speed rail, artificial intelligence and STEM are to be further promoted.

Education needs to be more closely linked to businesses and the labour market, while scientific research should be translated more effectively into technology, products, inventions and added value, he stressed.

The Government leader underlined the need for stronger links among schools, businesses, ministries, agencies, localities and the market, so that training is more closely aligned with the real needs of the economy.

Digital transformation and AI applications will also continue to expand. According to the conference report, the education database is now connected with VNeID and manages information on around 50,000 educational institutions, 27 million students and 1.4 million teachers. The system has also created about 18 million digital school records.

These foundations are expected to make education management, admissions, learning and data connectivity more efficient. However, technology must serve the goal of improving educational quality rather than replace the role of teachers.

The 2026-2027 academic year will also be the first to follow the theme “Innovate thinking – Make strong changes – Deliver substantive results.” The focus is shifting from institutional and policy development toward implementation, with greater attention to removing bottlenecks and measuring results through student progress, teachers’ working conditions, school performance and the quality of the workforce.

From teacher and classroom shortages to teacher ethics, exam integrity, AI and strategic workforce training, the message for the new academic year is clear that education reform must produce visible results in schools and among students.

The next stage of Vietnam education reform therefore goes beyond putting more policies in place. It is about making students better equipped to learn and adapt, teachers better supported to teach, schools more effective in their operation and the country’s workforce better prepared for future development.