The new school year must bring real change

Vietnam’s new school year must produce more than ceremonial change, Prime Minister Lê Minh Hưng said as he opened the 2026-27 academic year and inaugurated boarding schools in mainland border communes.

Hưng attended the main ceremony at the Mường Khương Primary and Lower Secondary Boarding School in Lào Cai on Sept. 5. He said the opening carried special significance as nearly 27 million students entered the new school year, while schools in border areas opened after more than a year of concentrated construction.

The prime minister described each new school as more than a building. It should serve as a source of confidence and hope, ensuring that distance or family circumstances do not block children’s educational aspirations. He also presented the schools as a sign of the responsibility shared by the Party, the state, and the people toward the next generation.

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Education must move from the mindset of teaching what we have to teaching what learners and the country need; from simply transmitting knowledge to developing students’ qualities and abilities; and from prioritizing grades to assessing each student’s genuine progress.

Hưng said the 2026-27 year was particularly important because it is the first school year implementing the resolutions of the 14th Party Congress. He called for changes in thinking, methods, and quality that would create substantive and breakthrough progress in education and training.

“Education must move from the mindset of teaching what we have to teaching what learners and the country need,” Hưng said. He also called for a shift from simply transmitting knowledge to developing students’ qualities and abilities, and from prioritizing grades to assessing each student’s genuine progress.

The Politburo’s Resolution 71 says education must ensure that learning goes hand in hand with practice, theory connects with reality, and schools remain linked to society. Hưng said education must move ahead of national development and become a central foundation and driving force.

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Education must move ahead of national development and truly become a foundation and a key driving force.