Removing obstacles in decentralization of education management

Many issues arise

According to the regulations on decentralization of education management, the Department of Education and Training (DOET) manages high schools and continuing education centers; the Department of Culture and Society under the People's Committee at the commune level advises and assists the People's Committee at the commune level in managing preschool, primary and secondary education. Comrade Vo Hoan Hai - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Director of the Department of Education and Training said that the transition to a two-level local government model initially has a positive impact on education management, increasing the initiative and flexibility of the Department of Education and Training, helping to implement education policies and programs quickly and synchronously; the role of the People's Committee at the commune level is strengthened, helping to resolve local issues promptly, more suitable to actual needs, and at the same time contributing to simplifying administrative procedures related to the education sector.

However, the decentralization of education management according to the new model also poses obstacles, challenges and many issues that need to be resolved in the initial implementation period, especially when education is a sector with a large management scale with nearly 800 schools in the whole province; the number of civil servants and public employees is more than 30,000 people, the largest of all sectors. According to the leader of the Department of Education and Training, the responsibility in education management of the Department and the People's Committee at the commune level is greater than before, requiring capacity enhancement, additional staff arrangement and improved working processes. The clear division of responsibilities and powers between the Department of Education and Training and the People's Committee at the commune level, especially in issues related to professional management and administrative management, is still problematic and requires time to unify and adjust. Direct management from the province faces some difficulties in grasping the specific issues of each locality, so there needs to be an effective remote monitoring and support mechanism. Besides, to manage a large number of schools and educational issues requires high requirements on information technology...

Class at Vinh Hai 2 Primary School (North Nha Trang Ward) school year 2024 - 2025.

Lack of human resources with expertise in education

In communes and wards, the biggest difficulty at present is the lack of human resources with expertise in education. The Department of Culture and Society of Bac Nha Trang Ward has 4 civil servants in charge of education, of which only 1 has a professional degree in education, but previously was only in charge of secondary schools; the remaining 3 have no expertise or experience in this field. The management of 31 schools with more than 1,000 teachers and more than 20,000 students is overloaded.

In Dien Khanh commune, there is only one civil servant in charge of education, who is a bachelor of Archival Studies - Office Administration, has never been in the education sector before, and also has to take on a number of tasks in the field of internal affairs, so he faces many difficulties. Mr. Le Trung Nghia - Head of the Department of Culture - Society of Dien Khanh commune said: "Previously, there were many civil servants in charge of each level of preschool, primary and secondary school, now there is only one person. Therefore, there is a need for civil servants who are knowledgeable in the field of education and have expertise in pedagogy to be in charge. The commune has proposed to soon add a civil servant with appropriate qualifications and expertise to facilitate advisory work".

Students of Trung Vuong Secondary School (Nha Trang ward).

Many other localities such as Van Ninh Commune, Do Vinh Ward, Phan Rang Ward... are in a similar situation, when the civil servants in charge of education are people without expertise in education, so they have difficulty in monitoring, supporting, evaluating activities, and are confused when handling complex professional issues. Out of a total of 72 civil servants in charge of education of the commune-level cultural and social department, only 23 have expertise in this field.

Comrade Vo Hoan Hai said that in order to improve management efficiency, in the coming time, it is necessary to consolidate specialized education agencies at the commune and provincial levels in a streamlined manner; review legal regulations to clarify responsibilities between the provincial and communal levels in areas such as: Investment in facilities, teacher recruitment, internal inspection. The Department of Education and Training will organize training courses to improve state management capacity in education for commune and ward officials; apply online school management systems, student data, teacher records, quality inspection work... The Department recommends that the Ministry of Education and Training review and supplement regulations related to decentralization, regulations on educational authority for each level; expand authority for the commune level in cases of establishment, merger, suspension, conversion of preschool, primary, secondary schools, community learning centers; Clearly define the responsibility of the Department of Education and Training to ensure the capacity of recruitment, assessment, training, and streaming as well as take primary responsibility for the quality of education in the whole province.

In addition, the Ministry of Education and Training needs to build a unified national education data platform chaired by the Ministry, connected to the national data center; each local level has an education data focal point responsible for regular updates and periodic reporting. Investment in education resources at each level, planning of school networks and support policies for disadvantaged areas, ethnic minority areas, mountainous, border and island areas also need to be studied and considered for appropriate implementation.

H.NGAN