The ministry has issued a circular amending regulations on student assessment at primary, lower secondary and upper secondary schools, with the changes taking effect on December 1.

Digital school records introduced

Under the new circular, digital academic records will become part of students' official assessment documentation.

At the primary level, each student's annual assessment file will include a digital academic record and a class-wide summary of educational assessment results. Teachers' comments, overall assessment outcomes and achievements recognized during the school year will be recorded digitally.

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Students at a lower secondary school in Hanoi. Photo: Nguyen Huy

Students completing Grade 5 will have their digital academic records officially marked as having completed the primary education program.

The circular also clarifies teachers' responsibilities for maintaining and verifying academic records.

At primary schools, subject teachers will be responsible for ensuring the accuracy and completeness of assessment data for their assigned subjects and educational activities. They must digitally sign the relevant subject results, after which homeroom teachers will digitally sign the academic records of their classes.

For lower and upper secondary schools, the information and assessment criteria in existing academic record templates will serve as the basis for digital records.

Instructions concerning handwritten entries, corrections in red ink, physical signatures and official stamps will apply only to paper records that remain in use during the transition period.

Computer-based assessments permitted at secondary schools

Under the circular, provincial Departments of Education and Training will be responsible for developing, reviewing and providing standardized periodic tests for selected subjects assessed through numerical scores.

These common assessments will be administered at the end of the first semester and the school year for Grade 5 students, and at the end of both semesters for students in Grades 9 and 12.

Test content must align with the learning outcomes prescribed by Vietnam's general education curriculum and be consistent across schools at the same educational level.

Individual schools will be responsible for supervising examinations, marking papers and compiling results in a manner that ensures objectivity, fairness and accurate assessment of student performance. They will also be accountable for the results.

Schools will continue to prepare their own tests for other subjects and grade levels.

Lower and upper secondary schools may conduct periodic tests and assessments on computers if they meet the ministry's requirements for physical facilities, information technology infrastructure, software and operational procedures.

Schools must inform students and their parents in advance about the assessment format.

Computer-based submissions and test results will have the same legal validity as paper-based assessments, provided they satisfy legal requirements concerning data integrity, authentication, security, storage and retrieval under Vietnam's regulations on electronic transactions.

Reasonable accommodations must be made for students with disabilities taking computer-based assessments.

If a student is unable to participate even with such accommodations, the school must provide a paper-based test or another suitable assessment format, with the results carrying equivalent validity.

Thanh Hung