Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has signed the Directive No.24/CT-TTg about promoting the missions, safe teaching organizing solutions, ensuring education quality, and adjusting the training program to adapt to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Prime Minister request to review, perfect online teaching solution and remote training, develop digital learning material. - Illustration

The directive clearly states that, in recent years, the education sector has drastically organized the implementation of a fundamental and comprehensive renovation of education and training. It applied many mechanisms and policies, innovated education programs, improved lecturers/ teachers quality, promoted IT integrating, improved teaching facilities and instruments… and achieved many positive outputs in teaching and learning.

In the complicated context of the COVID-19 epidemic, the educational system has made great efforts to overcome all difficulties, proactively and promptly organize the synchronous implementation of epidemic prevention and control, effectively implement the motto "pause going to school, but don’t pause learning", ensure the safety of students and teachers, as well as complete proposed professional tasks.

However, the COVID-19 epidemic has had a heavy impact on the education sector. Teachers, students, and parents face many difficulties in life and learning activities, especially applying online learning and teaching for a long time, which greatly affects the school’s programs, methods, plans, activities, and students’  development.

Organizing flexible teaching and learning activities, which is suitable for local Epidemic status

Under predictions that the COVID19 Epidemic will complexly continue, with the goal of organizing safe teaching, ensuring the quality and time of education programs, changing and innovating overall education, Prime Minister commands Ministry of Education to cooperate with other Ministries and local governments to conduct flexible education plan to help students finish school year safely and properly. Safe places in epidemic prevention and control are considered to start as usual.

Parallelly, Ministry of Education needs to identify core requirements and contents of education programs to create the standard for local governments and education institutes to conduct flexible education plan, suitable for local COVID19 Epidemic status, especially places where the Epidemic significantly devastated.

Besides, the educational system also has to observe and perfect the online teaching and remote training methods, develop digital learning material, improve teachers/lecturers’ capacity to meet the requirement of the above methods. The education system also needs to observe the requirements of the new secondary - high school program specific solutions to support teaching and learning for students in grades 1 and 2.

Provinces, central cities People's Committee need to cooperate with Ministry of Health to vaccinate pupils after professional agency guides how to vaccinate against COVID-19 for people below 18 years old; observe and suggest Ministry of Medic to provide vaccine and vaccinate for all the teachers/lecturers. The education system also needs to stimulate the Epidemic fighting spirit with the message “do everything for our children” among all teachers/lecturers, students and parents.

Developing online teaching solutions and platforms

Ministry of Education and Training guides parents in cooperating with education institutes in safely and effectively caring, educating children and students during online learning time. It also commands publishers to properly and conveniently provide national textbook (digital copy available) for students in new school year at provinces where online learning take places.

Ministry of Education and Training also cares about building examination questions, tests, questions bank system for supporting online examination organization, testing and evaluating in appropriate form. It also is responsible for building plans for High School Graduation Exam in 2022 and following years, which help effectively fight against the epidemic. It also commands higher education institutions to apply IT, digital conversion, gradually change the way to conduct admissions, training, testing and evaluation, and graduation thesis protection to online solutions to adapt to difficulties during the epidemic time.

Ministry Of Information And Communication releases the guide about how to safely use the software and online teaching tools, commanding the IT and telecommunication corporations and enterprises research and develop online teaching and learning solutions and platforms, digital learning materials. These corporations and enterprises are also responsible for supporting institutes, students, teachers access safe, easy-to-use, high-speed digital facilities. They are commanded to reduce or free the internet accessing cost for teachers/lecturers and students, education, training and education management support solution cost for education institutes, remote training support servers, bandwidth rental cost for higher education institutes.

Building specific plans to COVID-19 vaccinate for students

Prime Minister command Ministry of Medic to guide students how to fight and defense against the epidemic and how to stay safe from the plague at schools. This Ministry also have to make a plan to vaccinate all the people under 18 years old (include primary, junior and senior high schools’ students).

Ministry of Labour - Invalids and Social Affairs cooperate with Ministry of Finance, and Ministry of Education and Training to research the policies to properly support teachers/lecturers and students in some specific cases and the policies to support preschool and high school educational institutions improve the day schools’ meals quality for better students’ physique.

Vocational education institutes promote the media and online admission, put effort into online training for suitable majors.

Education system conducts the support for COVID19 affected teachers/lecturers, staff, labours in education institutes, public and non-public vocation education institutes.

The students without the equipment for online learning are priorly supported  

 Prime Minister command Provinces, central cities People's Committee to flexibly conduct 2021-2022 schoolyear plan to adapt with local epidemic status and promote the COVID19 Epidemic fighting and defensing method in education institutes. The provinces in the process of social distancing or social distancing plus must prepare the specific plan to effectively conduct the 2021-2022 schoolyear mission in the fastest way.

Education system in provinces where the COVID 19 Epidemic is under control actively begins new schoolyear and often detect infected students and check the Epidemic fighting policies execution. It also supports international students in local education institutes getting vaccinated against COVID19.

Education system of provinces under effect of the epidemic and in process of applying Directives No. 15/CT-TTg and 16/CT-TTg of Prime Minister: education system conducts online teaching and learning, support students without equipment for online learning and ensure the fairness in approaching new teaching and learning method.  It also has to care about preparing the condition for online teaching and digital conversion in education; innovate the teaching methods for helping students find it funny and attractive to learn.

Education system tensely conducts Directive No. 81/2021/NĐ-CP of the Government about learning cost reduction, freeing and support policy, Directive No. 86/NQ-CP on August 6^th 2021 of the Government about emergency solution for COVID19 Epidemic fighting to ensure every student can go to school after the Epidemic and reduce the difficulties for teachers/lecturers who are affected by the COVID19 Epidemic, especially preschool teachers.

Education system priorly funding the investment for IT facility, software system support educational digital conversion, prepare solutions to support remote areas’ students and teachers/lecturers, who can not access online learning and teaching, teach and learn by TV programs.

Education system also supports students moving to new education institutes because of changing living location for COVID19 Epidemic, research to increase number and quality of civilians support boarding schools based on local practical conditions.

Minh Duc

Take a look in to Directive No.24/CT-TTg here: 24_CT-TTG_03092021-signed.pdf