Chapter 40/2004/CT-BGD&ĐT on Strengthening Socialist Legal System in the Organization and Operation of the Education Sector

DIRECTIVE

On strengthening socialist rule of law in the organization and operation of the education sector.

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Strengthening socialist rule of law is an important requirement to enhance the effectiveness of state management, expand democracy, and promote the people's right to mastery. In recent years, especially after the Education Law was enacted, the education sector has made many efforts to strengthen socialist rule of law in its organization and activities, reflected in the focus on improving the quality of legal document drafting; promoting, disseminating, and educating about the law and organizing the implementation of the law in life; inspecting and handling violations of the law... The legal system organization of the Ministry and the cadre working in legal affairs have gradually been improved.

However, compared with practical requirements, the legal work of the sector still has many limitations and inconsistencies. The legal normative document system on education is still lacking in synchronization, overlapping, and low effectiveness; the promotion, dissemination, and education of the law have not been fully paid attention to, resulting in low efficiency; inspections for law enforcement have not been conducted regularly; there are complex manifestations of illegal acts related to education; a legal organizational system from the Ministry down to localities and educational institutions has yet to be formed; the legal civil servant workforce remains thin. The main cause of these limitations is the insufficient understanding of the role of legal work in strengthening state management through law in the sector, leading to a lack of comprehensive measures to strengthen legal affairs.

The 1992 Constitution stipulates: "The state manages society by law, continuously strengthening socialist rule of law." On November 14, 2003, the Government issued Decree No. 135/2003/NĐ-CP on inspection and handling of legal normative documents; on December 9, 2003, the Central Committee of the Party issued Directive No. 32/CT-TW on enhancing the Party's leadership in the work of promoting, disseminating, and educating about the law, raising the awareness of law compliance among cadres and the people; on May 18, 2004, the Government issued Decree No. 122/2004/NĐ-CP detailing the functions, tasks, powers, and legal organizational structure of Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, specialized agencies under provincial people's committees, and state-owned enterprises; on August 27, 2004, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 9AA/QĐ-TTg approving the project to improve the quality of legal document drafting work of the Government.

To strengthen socialist rule of law in the organization and operation of the education sector, the Minister of Education and Training requests the entire sector to implement the following tasks well:

1. Ensuring progress and improving the quality of legal normative document drafting on education. First, focusing on completing the Draft Education Law (Amendment) and guiding documents implementing the Law. Actively preparing to draft some specialized laws when assigned. Participation in law drafting must comply with the provisions of the Law on Enacting Legal Normative Documents and reflect the development situation of education as well as relevant conditions. Strictly implementing regulations on preparing detailed implementing documents simultaneously with the issuance of the main document, ensuring the synchronization of the legal normative document system. The Legal Department will take the lead, together with functional units, to develop long-term and annual plans for issuing legal normative documents suitable to the conditions of the Ministry, while perfecting the document drafting process of the education sector to gradually complete the legal framework regulating social relations in education. The Organization and Cadre Affairs Department will work with the Legal Department to assess the current status of cadres engaged in legal drafting work to plan supplementation and training to meet job requirements. The Planning and Finance Department will balance the budget, prioritizing annual funding for legal drafting work, coordinating with the Legal Department to allocate and monitor the use of funds for drafting legal normative documents on education and training. Heads of units responsible for drafting documents must directly direct this work to ensure progress and quality according to requirements. Heads of related units and units directly affected by the documents are responsible for organizing comments on the draft documents to ensure that the documents reflect actual situations and comply with legal provisions.

2. Regularly reviewing the legal normative document system related to state management of education to handle or propose to competent state agencies to handle conflicting, overlapping, or outdated provisions. Departments, Bureaus, Office, and Inspectorate are responsible for reviewing all documents drafted and issued by their units and related documents. The Legal Department is responsible for organizing the review of all legal normative documents and documents containing legal norms but not issued in the form of legal normative documents (such as circulars, bulletins, etc.) to promptly propose amendments and supplements to ensure synchronization and consistency in the legal normative document system.

3. Making the inspection and handling of legal normative documents according to the provisions of Decree No. 135/2003/NĐ-CP of the Government dated November 14, 2003 on inspection and handling of legal normative documents a regular practice to identify unlawful contents in documents and promptly suspend their implementation, amend, revoke, or abolish them; ensuring the constitutionality, legality, and consistency of the legal system on education; and at the same time proposing to competent agencies or individuals to determine the responsibility of those who issued unlawful documents. The Legal Department is the focal point for coordinating with units to conduct self-inspection of legal normative documents issued by the Ministry and strengthening inspections of legal normative documents issued by other Ministries, sectors, People's Councils, and People's Committees related to education.

4. Strengthen the dissemination and education of laws among cadres, teachers, staff members, and students in accordance with the spirit of Directive No. 32/CT-TW dated December 9, 2003 of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam and Decision No. 13/2003/QĐ-TTg dated January 17, 2003 of the Prime Minister. Emphasize standardizing the content, programs, materials, and textbooks for teaching mandatory law courses, as well as organizing extracurricular legal education activities through various rich forms. The dissemination and education of laws are tasks that must be carried out continuously, effectively, and appropriately according to the conditions of each institution. From now until the end of 2007, the Institute of Strategy and Education Programs will cooperate with the Department of Legal Affairs and related units to research and improve the curriculum for teaching law at non-law schools. The Department of Student and Youth Work will cooperate with the Department of Legal Affairs to develop extracurricular legal education programs for students and trainees. The Departments of Primary Education, Secondary Education, Vocational Education, Higher Education, and Postgraduate Education will cooperate with relevant units and individuals to ensure the quality of textbook compilation and revision containing legal content. The Educational Publishing House will prioritize printing and distributing textbooks and materials on legal education to serve the dissemination and education of laws in the education sector, ensuring sufficient teaching and learning materials for teachers, lecturers, students, and trainees.

5. Enhance monitoring, urging, and inspecting the implementation of laws and summarizing practical experiences in enforcing laws. Timely identify violations of laws to handle them within their jurisdiction and make recommendations for handling, ensuring that legal provisions are implemented in practice. Continue to implement well the movement "Democracy, Discipline, Affection, Responsibility" initiated by the Ministry of Education and Training and the Vietnam Teachers' Union.

The Inspectorate will cooperate with the Department of Legal Affairs and related units to organize inspections and handle pressing issues of public concern such as fraud in issuing and using certificates and diplomas; cheating in examinations; excessive private tutoring; and inadequate quality in non-formal higher education training.

Directors of provincial education and training departments, heads of agencies, units, and schools in the education sector (collectively referred to as units) must regularly organize inspections and strictly handle violations of laws, social evils, and other negative phenomena in educational activities in accordance with the law.

6. Heads of units must consider strengthening legal affairs as a top priority task and directly lead legal work in their units. The strengthening of legal affairs must be reflected in long-term plans and annual plans suitable to the functions and responsibilities of each unit. The content of the plan must reflect the above tasks and the conditions to ensure human resources and funding to effectively carry out the task of strengthening legal affairs.

All legal documents on education and related laws must be promptly disseminated by the heads of units to all members of the unit and must be strictly implemented. Each cadre, teacher, staff member, and student must uphold the spirit of living, working, and studying according to the law.

Units must annually review and summarize the situation of implementing laws in their units and promptly reflect any difficulties to the superior management agency for handling or supplementing and amending the documents appropriately.

7. Universities, academies, institutes, colleges, and vocational high schools (collectively referred to as schools) and enterprises under the Ministry should study establishing legal affairs organizations or arranging personnel to handle legal affairs suitable to their conditions. Personnel handling legal affairs must have a bachelor's degree in law or a specialized bachelor's degree with legal knowledge, ensuring good advice and consultation on laws for the head of the unit. Legal affairs organizations or personnel handling legal affairs in schools and enterprises have the responsibility to assist the rector, board of directors, principal, and director of schools and enterprises in performing tasks as stipulated in Article 6 of Decree No. 122/2004/NĐ-CP dated May 18, 2004 of the Government.

The Department of Cadre Organization and the Department of Legal Affairs will guide schools and enterprises under the Ministry to establish legal affairs organizations or arrange personnel to handle legal affairs, while coordinating with related departments to regularly supplement and enhance the qualifications of teachers and lecturers teaching law and civic education to ensure adequate quantity and quality.

8. Provincial education and training departments will cooperate with provincial civil service departments and justice departments to advise provincial people's committees to consider establishing legal affairs organizations under the department or arranging legal affairs officials according to Article 9 of Decree No. 122/2004/NĐ-CP of the Government and Circular Joint No. 21/2004/TTLT-BGD&ĐT-BNV of the Ministry of Education and Training and the Ministry of Civil Service guiding the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of specialized agencies assisting the people's committee in managing state administration in education and training at the local level; directing district education and training offices to arrange personnel and organize the implementation of legal affairs work in accordance with regulations.

9. The Department of Legal Affairs is responsible for coordinating with units to assist the Minister in inspecting and urging the implementation of this Directive; periodically reviewing and summarizing the situation and reporting to the Minister of Education and Training and the Minister of Justice as prescribed.

The Department of Legal Affairs has the responsibility to organize training and guidance on professional matters for legal affairs organizations and personnel handling legal affairs in the education sector.

This Directive is disseminated to all educational management agencies, educational institutions, cadres, teachers, staff members, and students throughout the sector for implementation./.