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| Mr. Nguyen Tan, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Hue City |
Sir, 2025 is considered an important milestone for Vietnamese education, with many major policies issued to restore education to its position as a top national priority. How do you evaluate these changes?
The year 2025 marks many important events for Vietnamese education as the country enters a new phase of development. Along with the policy of streamlining the administrative system, the education sector is undergoing fundamental adjustments in management methods.
One of the major changes is the shift from a three-tier local government model to a two-tier model, reducing intermediate levels in the management of general and preschool education. This is being done gradually, aiming to streamline the organizational structure while ensuring the best working conditions for teachers and the best learning conditions for students. This transition is also an opportunity for the sector to clarify roles, responsibilities, and coordination mechanisms between sectoral professional management and local administrative management.
Therefore, this year’s Teachers’ Day holds particularly special meaning, doesn’t it?
The education sector nationwide is facing many opportunities for development, creating motivation for each staff member and teacher to constantly strive. In that context, teachers are the pioneering force that spreads to society the importance and position of the sector, while shouldering increasingly great responsibilities in meeting the nation’s development needs.
This year’s November 20 celebration is not only a traditional commemoration; more importantly, it embodies society’s pride, trust, and expectations placed upon teachers. As education is entrusted with greater responsibilities, each teacher must continue to be creative, innovative, and persistent in contributing to meet the nation’s expectations.
For preschool and general education, many viewpoints and directives are to emphasize the teacher workforce, policies, roles and responsibilities of teachers. These include addressing localized teacher shortages and surpluses, ensuring teacher quantity and quality, decentralization and sectoral accountability. Most importantly, foundational policies must be issued to resolve bottlenecks and obstacles that the Law on Teachers and Resolution 71 of the Politburo aim to address.
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| Teacher and students of Le Loi Primary School. Photo: Le Loi Primary School |
How do you assess the contributions of Hue City’s teachers to the education reform process?
In the journey of fundamental and comprehensive education reform, Hue City’s teachers are the core force, the “heart” of every change. They not only impart knowledge but also inspire creativity, preserve traditions, and nurture the humanistic values, ethics, and cultural identity of Hue in students. At any educational level, the responsibility and dedication of teachers have always been a firm foundation for the sector’s development.
Many teachers have overcome difficult circumstances to make silent contributions. Examples include Mr. Nguyen Van Khuyen of Phong Hoa Lower-Secondary School, passionate about scientific and technical research; Mr. Nguyen Van Can of Thuy Phuong Lower-Secondary School, honored twice with a Certificate of Merit from the Prime Minister, four Creative Labor Awards from the Vietnam General Confederation of Labor, ten national-level commendations, and twelve provincial-level commendations; Ms. Le Thi Phuong Chau of An Cuu Primary School, known for her dedication in televised teaching lessons and creative STEM instruction; and Mr. Tran Dinh Phuong of Hong Van Lower-Secondary & Upper-Secondary School, a young teacher devoted to education. These stories portray the image of Hue teachers: intelligent, humanistic, dedicated to their beloved students. They are the “warm flame” spreading love and commitment throughout the educational community.
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| Teachers and students at Vinh Ninh Primary School (Thuan Hoa Ward) on the opening day of the 2025–2026 school year |
In today’s context of educational reform, what challenges are teachers facing?
The pressure on teachers and the entire education sector is to meet the increasingly high demands of development. From another perspective, this is also an opportunity, because the overarching goal of education is to serve and accompany national development.
Educational reform is not merely changing the curriculum or teaching methods; more profoundly, it is a transformation of professional mindset. Teachers must continuously update and adapt to the new general education curriculum; meet higher requirements in digital competence, pedagogical skills, integrated teaching methods, and adapt to rapidly changing social life.
Meanwhile, in many suburban or disadvantaged areas, teaching infrastructure and digital learning conditions remain limited, creating gaps in reform implementation. In addition, the redistribution of human resources, especially during administrative boundary adjustments, requires teachers to be ready to serve the common good.
The strong development of digital technology brings both opportunities and challenges. Technology provides modern teaching methods that make lessons more engaging and effective. But it also requires teachers to continually learn, update new knowledge, master digital tools, and innovate teaching methods to best fulfill their guiding role in the digital age.
To help teachers truly meet society’s expectations, what solutions is the Hue education sector implementing for workforce development?
A consistent viewpoint of Hue City’s education sector is to build a teaching workforce that is sufficient in quantity, properly structured, and strong in quality, meeting development requirements in the new era. The DOET is implementing a teacher-development plan focusing on: enhancing competencies for fostering students’ qualities and capacities; strengthening digital skills and lifelong learning; applying artificial intelligence in teaching; and emphasizing professional ethics and pedagogical culture.
A strategic solution is the scientific, transparent, and public reassignment and reallocation of teachers. This not only balances teacher distribution across regions and grade levels, solves local shortages and surpluses, and avoids resource waste, but more importantly, motivates teachers and staff.
Recently, the 2025–2026 school year staff reassignment was the first time the DOET directly managed teacher allocation citywide under the two-tier local government model, addressing issues unsolved under the previous three-tier model. This is a strategic step, demonstrating unified management and a long-term vision in planning and utilizing education human resources.
The sector is also focusing on policies that encourage, recognize, and honor exemplary teachers; building a humane, creative, motivating working environment; and spreading the spirit of “Each teacher is an example of ethics, self-study, and creativity.”
With the unity of the entire sector and the support of the government and citizens, I believe that Hue’s teachers will continue to uphold their tradition and assert their role as the decisive factor in the quality and distinctive character of the education of the ancient capital - a system both modern and deeply rooted in Hue’s cultural identity.
Thank you!