The burden of certificates has been compared to “sub-licenses”, “a miserable and expensive journey”, and “buying certificates” by many National Assembly deputies. Illustrative image.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has just issued Circular 02 to abolish the requirement that civil servants specializing in administrative and clerical tasks must have certificates of foreign language and IT skills as one of the criteria to attend promotion exams. The circular is said to remove the ‘burden’ that has weighed down on hundreds of thousands of civil servants for years.

The burden of certificates has been compared to “sub-licenses”, “a miserable and expensive journey”, and “buying certificates” by many National Assembly deputies.

National Assembly deputies questioned the Minister of Home Affairs at many sessions of the 14th National Assembly. Former Minister of Home Affairs Le Vinh Tan made a commitment to cut unnecessary certificates to reduce the burden on civil servants.

At the 8th session of the 14th National Assembly in November 2019, deputy Nguyen Thi Phuc of Hung Yen Province mentioned the fact that the requirement for foreign language and computer skill certificates is a “formality” because in order to have certificates to fulfil their profile, many civil servants and public employees registered for “urgent” foreign language and computer skill courses, which were held for a very short time, so the quality of training is poor, and thus the certificates are not substantial. Meanwhile, not all public employees need these skills in their daily work. Therefore, the purpose of obtaining certificates to qualify for the promotion exams is formal and costly for civil servants. For these reasons, deputy Phuc questioned whether the Ministry of Home Affairs would remove the requirements.

Deputy Pham Thi Minh Hien of Phu Yen province also presented the opinion of many voters, who complained that it took them a lot of time and effort to get the certificates, which were described as a type of "sub-license".

Responding to National Assembly deputies, Minister Le Vinh Tan said: “I find the requirement for certificates very troublesome. Certificates are not only required for promotion exams, but also for the appointment process. Too many certificates are needed!"

Mr. Tan said that the regulation on certificates was issued in 1993. "I think this regulation should be changed after 20 years. The Ministry of Home Affairs would like to acknowledge this shortcoming. A decision that has not been amended for 20 years, making the procedure cumbersome,” he said.

The Minister of Home Affairs committed to amend the regulation on foreign language and computer skill certificates in 2020 after the Law on Civil Servants and the Law on Public Employees are revised to no longer place a burden on civil servants and public employees.

Deputy Dinh Duy Vuot of Gia Lai province cited a specific example in his province that the hosts of radio shows in ethnic minority languages who did not have foreign language certificates so they then got certificates in ethnic languages. Teachers in remote and isolated areas did the same; otherwise they would be immediately eliminated from the first round of recruitment or promotion exams despite their good expertise.

Deputy Vuot suggested that the Ministry of Home Affairs should specify the positions and titles who need these certificates, and not ask all civil servants to have all kinds of certificates.

A year later, at the 10th session of the 14th National Assembly in November 2020, deputy Nguyen Van Chien of Hanoi repeated the promise made by Minister of Home Affairs Le Vinh Tan to soon remove the requirement for certificates of foreign languages and computer skills.

Prime Minister’s guidance removes difficulties for millions of teachers

Former Minister of Home Affairs Le Vinh Tan.

While the Ministry of Home Affairs has just committed to remove the requirement for certificates of foreign language and computer skills for civil servants, in early February 2021, millions of public employees of the Ministry of Education and Training were “shocked” when this Ministry issued circulars on the appointment and ratings of teachers. Accordingly, teachers were required to have several kinds of certificates.

As a result of these regulations, teachers throughout the country registered for training courses to get the sufficient number of certificates.

"I don't know if I need it or not, but when everyone tries to get certificates, I have to do it too in case I need them one day," a teacher in the central province of Quang Tri told VietNamNet.

Sharing the same thought, hundreds of preschool teachers attended a course held at the Teacher Training College of Dien Bien Province in May despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

VietNamNet readers said that many teacher training colleges and training centers delivered enrollment notices to localities and schools. Depending on the location, the cost for a training course and certification exam is about VND2-VND3,5 million per trainee.

After the media reported the situation, on March 19, former Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc – the State President now - asked relevant ministries and agencies to specify what types of certificates are conditions for civil servants and public employees to be appointed and promoted to professional titles and which certificates are for professional training. The head of the Government also asked for the classification of mandatory and non-compulsory certificates in the management of public employees.

The Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Home Affairs to amend Decree 101/2017 on training and fostering cadres, civil servants and public employees and related regulations, and asked the Ministry of Education and Training to report on the same content.

Certificates no longer for "beautifying profiles"

Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra.

In early June, millions of civil servants were happy when the Ministry of Home Affairs proposed that the Prime Minister remove hundreds of certificates.

The Ministry of Home Affairs’ proposal was then approved by Permanent Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh, under which formal and inappropriate certificates, including certificates of foreign languages ​​and computer skills, would be removed.

On June 11, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued Circular 02 to relieve the burden on hundreds of thousands of administrative and clerical civil servants when foreign language and informatics certificates were eliminated in recruitment process and promotion exams.

Deputy Director of the Department of Civil Servants and Public Employees of the Ministry of Home Affairs Nguyen Tu Long said that this circular not only reduces the burden of certification for administrative employees but also reduces many consequences of requiring unnecessary certificates, such as the buying and selling of certificates, including fake certificates.

Thus, the commitment made by former Minister Le Vinh Tan at the National Assembly has been pursued and completed by his successor, Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra. Many other ministries and agencies have also abolished foreign language and computer skill certificates in recruiting and using civil servants and public employees.

The Ministry of Home Affairs will coordinate with other ministries and agencies to remove unnecessary certificates related to millions of civil servants and public employees in the coming time.

“It must be affirmed that the reduction of certain types of certificates does not mean a reduction in the requirements for improving the capacity and qualifications of public employees. But we have to renew content, programs, and forms of training for civil servants and public employees to be more practical, to directly serve the work and meet the requirements of the job position," said Minister Pham Thi Thanh Tra.

Thu Hang

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A representative of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) says the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) needs to show its official view about whether to remove the requirement on a certificate for professional title and why.

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