Will all public school students in Vietnam be entitled to exemption from tuition?

Will all public school students in Vietnam be entitled to exemption from tuition?

During the Politburo meeting on February 28, to review and evaluate the initial implementation results of Resolution 18 by the Central Executive Committee of the 12th Congress regarding ongoing reforms, streamlining the political system's organizational structure for greater effectiveness and efficiency, the Politburo reached a strong consensus on aggressively and rapidly implementing the contents of Resolution 18-NQ/TW 2017 by 2025.

After hearing the report from the Government of Vietnam on the financial balancing capability during and after the process of streamlining the political system's organizational structure, the Politburo decided to exempt tuition for all public school students nationwide.

The exemption from tuition will start from the 2025-2026 academic year (from September 2025 onwards).

The Politburo assigned the Communist Party to authorize the Government of Vietnam to instruct the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Finance, some ministries and central authorities, and localities to coordinate in concretizing and strictly implementing the decision on exemption from tuition mentioned above.

Thus, all public school students in Vietnam will be entitled to exemption from tuition from the 2025-2026 academic year.

Will all public school students in Vietnam be entitled to exemption from tuition? (Image from the Internet)

What is the national educational system of Vietnam about?

According to Article 6 of the Education Law 2019, the national education system is specified as follows:

- The national educational system is an open, transferrable educational system consisting of formal education and continuing education.

- Educational levels and training qualifications of the national educational system include:

+ Preschool education including junior kindergartens (for children aged 03 – 36 months) and senior kindergartens (for children aged 3 – 5 years);

+ General education with primary education, lower secondary education, and upper secondary education;

+ Vocational education and training at elementary-level, intermediate-level, or college-level and other vocational training programmes;

+ Higher education with university education, master education and doctoral education.

- The Prime Minister shall make decisions on the approval of the structural framework of the national educational system and the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework; stipulate the training duration, standards of each training level, the minimal learning quantity for qualifications of vocational education and higher education.

- Within the scope of their duties and authorities, the Minister of Education and Training and Minister of Labour - War Invalids and Social Affairs shall provide for the entrance requirements of college-level and university-level pedagogical and health professions.

What are the regulations on education programs in Vietnam?

According to Article 8 of the Education Law 2019:

- Educational programs shall reflect the goals of education; set the standards for knowledge, skills, requirements on quality and capacity of learners; scope and structure of educational contents; methods and forms of organizing educational activities; evaluation methods of educational outcomes for each subject of every grade and level or for each subject, module, specialization of every training qualification.

- Educational programs must ensure the scientific and practical characteristics; inheritability and transferability among different levels and different training qualifications; facilitate the classification of students and exchange between training qualifications, specializations and educational forms in the national educational system in order for localities and educational institutions to proactively implement suitable educational plans; satisfying the goal of gender equality and demands of international integration. Educational programs are the basis of comprehensive education quality assurance.

- Requirements on knowledge, skills and on dignity and capacity of learners defined in educational programs must be concretized in textbooks used for general education, in syllabi and teaching materials used for vocational education and higher education. Textbooks, syllabi and teaching materials must meet the requirements on educational methods.

- Preschool education and general education shall run year-based programmes; vocational education and higher education may run year-based, module-based, credit-based programmes or combined programmes.

Study results of subjects or credits/modules accumulated by learners after pursuing an educational program are considered for transferable values for respective subjects or credits/modules of other educational programs when learners change their educational specializations/professions, forms of studies, or follow higher educational levels or qualifications.

- Within the scope of their duties and authorities, the Minister of Education and Training and Minister of Labour - War Invalids and Social Affairs shall stipulate the implementation of educational programs and the recognition of the transferable values of study results of higher education and vocational education levels as prescribed in Article 8 of the Education Law 2019.