Decision No. 1951/QĐ-TTg on the development of education, training, and vocational training in the Central Highlands and mountainous districts bordering the Central Highlands for the period 2011-2015

Pursuant to …;

On the development of education, training, and vocational training in the provinces of the Central Highlands and mountainous districts of bordering provinces for the period 2011-2015

the mountainous districts of provinces bordering the Central Highlands during the period from 2011 to 2015

_______________________________

PRIME MINISTER

Pursuant to the Law on Organization of the Government dated December 25, 2001;

Considering the proposal of the Minister of Education and Training in the report No. 933/TTr-BGDĐT dated September 8, 2011 regarding the issuance of the Decision on the development of education, training, and vocational training in the provinces of the Central Highlands and mountainous districts of bordering provinces for the period 2011-2015,

DECISION:

Article 1. The objectives of developing education, training, and vocational training in the provinces of the Central Highlands and mountainous districts of bordering provinces (referred to as the Central Highlands region, attached list) for the period 2011-2015 aim to create comprehensive development at all levels of education, particularly early childhood education, general education in ethnic minority areas, difficult regions, and human resource training to serve economic and social development, contributing to political stability, national defense, and security in the Central Highlands region and throughout the country.

Article 2. Specific targets:

1. Early Childhood Education: By 2015, mobilize 12-15% of children under three years old to attend daycare centers; 75-80% of children aged 3-5 to attend kindergarten, with over 98% of five-year-old children attending kindergarten to prepare for primary school; all provinces in the region achieve the standard of universal preschool education for five-year-olds.

2. General Education: By 2015, the rate of students of compulsory education age attending school reaches 98-99% at elementary level, 87-90% at lower secondary level, and 60% at upper secondary level.

3. Ethnic Education: By 2015, 100% of counties with large ethnic minority populations have boarding schools; 7-9% of ethnic minority students in total ethnic student enrollment in secondary education will be enrolled in boarding schools; 96-98% of five-year-old ethnic minority children will be well-prepared in Vietnamese before entering primary school.

4. Secondary Vocational Education: By 2015, establish an additional 5-7 secondary vocational schools; strive to increase the number of workers with secondary vocational qualifications to 14% of the total workforce trained by 2015; attract 5-8% of junior high school graduates to enroll in secondary vocational schools.

5. Vocational Training: By 2015, the proportion of workers who have received vocational training reaches 35%; the entire region has 05 vocational college institutions, 15 secondary vocational schools, each district-level unit has at least one vocational training center; implement career guidance work effectively to attract 5-7% of junior high school graduates to vocational training.

6. Higher Education: By 2015, average enrollment reaches 180 students per ten thousand people; establish two additional universities (including one private university) and four colleges; the proportion of ethnic minority students in total university and college student enrollment in the region reaches 18-20% or more.

7. Continuing Education: By 2015, establish additional district-level continuing education centers and community learning centers so that all district-level units have continuing education centers, 90% of communes and wards have community learning centers; strive for a literacy rate of 96% among those aged 15 and above.

Article 3. Main solutions for the development of education, training, and vocational training in the Central Highlands region

1. Improve the network of schools, implement solidification and standardization of school facilities at all educational levels, creating favorable conditions for students to attend school and meeting the requirements for improving educational quality.

a) Early Childhood Education:

- Fully implement policies for early childhood education institutions according to Decision No. 60/2011/QĐ-TTg dated October 26, 2011 of the Prime Minister on certain policies for the development of early childhood education during the period 2011-2015 to ensure land reserves and increase investment capital to develop the network of kindergartens to all communes; prioritize the construction of kindergartens in remote villages and hamlets with many ethnic minorities and build new kindergartens in communes without existing ones.

- Construct sufficient classrooms, functional rooms, and essential auxiliary facilities towards standardizing school facilities; ensure adequate equipment and toys according to prescribed standards; prioritize material conditions to implement universal preschool education for five-year-olds.

b) General Education:

- Provinces and districts within the region conduct reviews to adjust and supplement the planning of the school network and classes in accordance with the requirements of the 2011-2015 period, ensuring convenience for students to attend school and increasing the rate of student enrollment.

- Continue implementing the Program for Solidifying Schools and Classrooms; the National Target Program on Education and Training; mobilize and integrate funds from other programs and projects to realize the planning of the school network and classrooms, gradually standardize school facilities, and increase the proportion of schools reaching national standards.

- Focus on directing and implementing the Prime Minister's decisions on ethnic education development to consolidate and expand the scale of provincial and district-level boarding schools in areas with many ethnic minorities; prioritize investment in boarding schools, ensuring living conditions for boarding students; construct dormitories for ethnic minority students studying secondary education in difficult areas. Invest comprehensively in facilities for schools and teachers' residences in border communes and areas with many ethnic minorities to promote social welfare, political stability, and national defense and security. The Prime Minister on developing ethnic education to consolidate and expand the scale of provincial and district-level boarding schools for ethnic minorities in areas with many ethnic communities; prioritizing investment in half-day boarding schools to ensure living conditions for boarding students; constructing dormitories for ethnic students studying general secondary education in difficult areas. Investing comprehensively in physical infrastructure for schools and teachers' residences in border communes and areas with large ethnic minority populations to develop social welfare, stabilize politics, and ensure national defense and security.

c) Continuing Education:

Complete the network of district-level continuing education centers towards performing multiple functions, organizing separate centers or combining continuing education, career guidance, and vocational training based on specific local conditions; strengthen teaching facilities and equipment for continuing education centers. Diversify the activities of community learning centers in practical and effective ways.

d) Secondary Vocational Education:

- Mobilize investment resources to develop intermediate vocational education, encourage and create conditions for enterprises, organizations, and individuals to establish intermediate vocational schools, prioritizing fields of training such as healthcare, forestry, agriculture, industry, and civil construction to meet local human resource needs.

- Ensure material conditions, equipment, and teaching staff to meet requirements for increasing scale, fields of study, and improving the quality of intermediate vocational education.

d) Vocational training:

- Consolidate and improve the network of vocational training institutions to ensure they meet human resource requirements in terms of quantity, structure, and quality.

- Prioritize comprehensive investment in factors ensuring the quality of vocational training for certain trades at Dalat College of Vocational Training and Central Highland Ethnic Youth College to reach international standards; other vocational colleges and intermediate vocational schools will be comprehensively invested in 2 to 5 trades to achieve national standards. Develop and support investment in ethnic minority boarding vocational schools and ethnic minority boarding departments within vocational colleges and intermediate vocational schools. Continue to support investment in existing county-level public vocational training centers.

e) Higher education:

- Prioritize investment in the Central Highlands University and Da Lat University to develop them into multi-disciplinary institutions, gradually opening new fields of study according to regional human resource training needs, striving to become strong training and research bases in the Central Highlands region. Expand the scale of preparatory department training at the Central Highlands University and Nha Trang Ethnic Minority Preparatory Department of Da Lat University to provide university-trained cadres for ethnic groups in the region; focus on developing the Medical and Pharmaceutical Department of the Central Highlands University as a basis for establishing a Medical and Pharmaceutical University when conditions are met. Improve the quality of training at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry branch in Gia Lai and the Danang University branch in Kon Tum to meet local human resource needs.

- Review, reorganize, and establish universities and colleges in accordance with the planning of the higher education network of the region, based on ensuring all criteria and conditions for establishing educational institutions as prescribed; strengthen comprehensive investment, gradually modernizing existing universities and colleges towards occupational application.

2. Develop the teaching staff and educational management cadre

a) Each locality and each educational institution shall develop plans to develop teaching staff, lecturers, educational management cadres, and vocational training instructors at all levels, sufficient in number, reasonable in structure, and ensuring quality.

b) Consolidate the network, enhance the capacity of teacher training institutions to meet new training needs, standardization training, upgrading standards, and regular training for teachers, educational management cadres, and vocational trainers throughout the region, including: Prioritizing the training of teachers for the Bahnar, Jrai, Ede, Mnong languages, and other languages in each locality, defense and security education teachers, and specialized subject teachers. Continue the policy of localizing teachers; strengthen master's and doctoral training, prioritizing ethnic minority candidates.

c) Reform the management training program for vocational training management cadres at all levels and in vocational training institutions; apply training programs from developed countries.

d) Implement professional qualification assessments for teachers to plan for enhancing their professional and vocational skills to improve the qualifications of the teaching staff in each locality.

3. Implement reforms in management, improve educational quality, reform curricula, teaching methods, and evaluation

a) Direct and organize the effective implementation of Decree No. 115/2010/ND-CP dated December 24, 2010, of the Government stipulating the responsibilities for state management of education, and Decree No. 70/2009/ND-CP dated August 21, 2009, of the Government stipulating the responsibilities for state management of vocational training; implement decentralization tied to the authority and responsibility of People's Committees at all levels and educational management agencies; strengthen the autonomy and self-responsibility of educational and vocational training institutions.

b) Roll out the new preschool education curriculum widely; focus on directing teaching according to knowledge and skill standards, reforming teaching methods at all levels in line with the characteristics of each group of students, especially for ethnic minority students with below-average academic performance; implement special management measures for difficult areas and ethnic minority regions.

c) Promote the organization of two daily sessions of schooling in preschool, primary school, and secondary education where conditions permit; effectively implement measures to strengthen Vietnamese language learning for ethnic minority students; maintain discipline and professional management rules.

d) Implement training programs that meet learners' requirements; update knowledge and skills, transfer technology at continuing education institutions, creating conditions for people to participate in learning to improve labor productivity, living quality, contributing to building a learning society.

đ) Continue to reform intermediate vocational training programs and student assessment linked to professional standards. Develop vocational training curricula and materials suitable for the characteristics of ethnic minorities in the Central Highlands; revise and supplement vocational training programs according to advanced countries' training programs in the region and worldwide.

4. Socialization solutions for education, training, and vocational training

- Party committees and governments at all levels shall build a comprehensive system of measures to raise societal awareness about the development of education, training, and vocational training; mobilize citizens' participation in supervising, managing, and implementing activities; create strength to achieve equality in education, providing learning opportunities for everyone, particularly ethnic minority groups.

- Localities shall develop land use plans and programs for educational and vocational training facilities of various types; issue local policies to encourage the expansion of socialized education and vocational training forms in accordance with Decree No. 69/2008/NĐ-CP dated May 30, 2008 of the Government on policies to encourage socialization in the fields of education, vocational training, healthcare, culture, sports, and environment.

- Continue to implement targeted support mechanisms for local budgets to compensate for land clearance for school construction. Vigorously mobilize resources outside the state budget to develop education and vocational training, especially human resource training.

5. Financial solutions

- Implement preferential investment policies for education, training, and vocational training in the Central Highlands region; increase funding from national target programs, basic construction funds, and project loans from ODA and international aid to integrate the implementation of education, training, and vocational training goals in the region.

- Strengthen investment in building dormitories during the period of 2011-2015 to meet the accommodation needs of students and trainees at vocational education and higher education institutions in the region; ensure residential accommodation for at least 60% of students and trainees.

Article 4. Continue to implement and supplement some policies

1. Policies for learners

- Fully implement policies on tuition fee exemptions and reductions, financial support for learning expenses as stipulated in Decree No. 49/2010/NĐ-CP dated May 14, 2010 of the Government; policies for children and kindergarten students as provided in Decision No. 60/2011/QĐ-TTg dated October 26, 2011 of the Prime Minister regarding certain policies for developing preschool education during the period of 2011-2015; student and trainee credit loans as stipulated in Decision No. 157/2007/QĐ-TTg dated September 27, 2007 of the Prime Minister, and other policies as currently prescribed by the State.

- Implement support policies for students as prescribed by the State; People's Committees of provinces in the region shall decide on flexible forms of study support for students (in cash or in kind) suitable to the actual conditions of their locality.

- Continue to implement preferential admission policies for universities, colleges, preparatory schools, and specialized schools for high school graduates from boarding schools.

- Supplement the beneficiaries of vocational training policies for minority students residing in boarding schools according to Decision No. 267/2005/QĐ-TTg dated May 31, 2005 of the Prime Minister.

2. Policies for the teaching staff and educational management personnel

- Implement policies to encourage teachers to teach in difficult areas, ethnic minority regions, and inclusive education as stipulated in Resolution No. 35/2009/QH12 of the National Assembly of the XIIth term dated June 19, 2009 on the policy orientation for financial mechanism reform in education and training from the 2010-2011 academic year to the 2014-2015 academic year; policies for kindergarten teachers as provided in Decision No. 60/2011/QĐ-TTg dated October 26, 2011 of the Prime Minister regarding the development of preschool education during the period of 2011-2015.

- Supplement the category of vocational teachers who regularly go down to villages and hamlets to teach and receive mobility allowances like those who eradicate illiteracy and promote universal education; vocational teachers who teach resident students receive the same policies as specialized school teachers; vocational teachers working in vocational training centers that combine theoretical and practical teaching receive job-related allowances.

Article 5. Implementation

1. People's Committees of provinces in the region

Shall be responsible for planning and ensuring the minimum land fund as prescribed for educational, training, and vocational training facilities; develop programs and plans to implement this Decision in accordance with current regulations on the decentralization of educational, training, and vocational training management.

2. Ministry of Education and Training

Shall take the lead, coordinate with relevant ministries, sectors, and localities in the region to direct, guide, inspect, compile, and periodically report on the implementation situation. To the Prime Minister; coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance to balance the budget to implement the objectives of this Decision; coordinate with related ministries and sectors to research and propose policies for students, trainees, teachers, and educational managers and provide guidance on implementation.

3. Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs

Shall take the lead, coordinate with relevant ministries, sectors, and localities in the region to direct, guide, inspect, compile, and periodically report on the implementation situation. To the Prime Minister; coordinate with related ministries and sectors to research and propose policies for vocational training institutions, trainers, learners, and managers in the field of vocational training and provide guidance on implementation.

4. The Ministry of Planning and Investment

Shall take the lead, coordinate with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs, related ministries and sectors, and localities to compile and build support investment plans to submit for approval by competent authorities.

5. The Ministry of Finance

Shall take the lead, coordinate with the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs, related ministries and sectors, and provinces to balance the regular budget for education, training, and vocational training for localities in the region in accordance with current regulations.

6. The Ministry of Home Affairs

Shall take the lead, coordinate with the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids, and Social Affairs, and related ministries and sectors to issue new policies for teachers, lecturers, educational managers, vocational trainers, and various types of schools.

Article 6. This Decision shall take effect from the date of signing.

Article 7. Ministers, heads of ministerial-level agencies, heads of government agencies, and Chairmen of provincial People's Committees directly under the central government shall be responsible for implementing this Decision.