Education Minister Pham Vu Luan has stressed the sector needs a dramatic change in its management and examination systems to live up to the public’s expectations and serve as the infrastructure for national development.

What do you think after having sat in the hot seat for the past three years?

I feel everything is alright. There are both advantages and challenges, sometimes pressure. But I have received some consolation knowing that changes are afoot and we are moving in the right direction.

The education sector has worked out solutions to its major weaknesses. What result satisfies you most?

The 2011 National Party Congress and the recent Party Central Committee conference issued resolutions on education reforms, aiming to address the sector’s weaknesses and improve its quality and efficiency.

I think the resolutions have made a basic and drastic change in the thinking of education managers and teachers.  We have gradually separated State management from school administration, and education managers’ work from teachers’ affairs. It is no easy task, and we have faced many obstacles and hurdles. But we are on the right track and are receiving great public response.

Educators and the public are now aware of the need to accelerate education reforms, including improving the quality.

We appreciate assistance and support from relevant ministries, agencies, localities and society that helped us fulfil tasks of the 2012-2013 academic year.

What are primary solutions for realising the recent Party resolution on education reforms?

It is important that education managers and teachers change their thinking and show their commitment by taking meaningful actions.

The sector has designed and compiled new universal textbooks to suit students’ capabilities. It is currently rearranging the system of teachers’ training schools, with a focus on training and re-training of teachers.

Financial and power decentralisation is applied to universities and colleges, meaning these institutions are held more responsible for their decisions, from development strategy to curriculum, training and assessment.

We plan to assign schools to conduct exams, and the Ministry of Education and Training will create a favourable legal corridor for this work.

Do you believe those solutions will help address shortcomings in examination which has been the centrepiece of public concerns over the years?

Those plans are in the cards and we need time to verify them. Educational experts and managers will work on these plans and announce the results in a couple of months.

Why does the ministry adjust the examination regulations at present instead of 2015 after new textbooks are used widely?

If the new curriculum is applied in 2015, we will only assess the quality of the new textbooks and graduates by 2020. We cannot wait till 2020 in the context of global and domestic developments. We need a change, and this process will be carried out gradually.

Our aim is to ease learning pressure on students, especially in exams.

What is your message to teachers on the occasion of the Lunar New Year?

I would like to express my sincere thanks to the Party and people for their thoughtful care for the education sector, including teachers, managers and students.

We need to take action to earn the trust of the Party and people. We must be the vanguard force in realising the Party resolution on comprehensive education reforms.

Source: VOV