On the morning of August 9, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City held a conference to summarize the 2023-2024 school year and deploy tasks for the 2024-2025 school year for continuing education.

According to Ms. Tran Thi Kim Thanh, Deputy Head of the Department of Continuing Education - Vocational and University Education (Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City), in the 2023-2024 school year, the whole city will have 31 continuing education centers (GDTX) and vocational education - continuing education centers (GDNN-GDTX).

Of which, 5 centers have just put into use new facilities including: Vocational Education and Continuing Education Centers of Districts 6, 10, 12, Phu Nhuan and Hoc Mon. The total number of classrooms increased compared to the previous school year by 90 classrooms.

"Currently, many centers are having difficulty in building subject classrooms, laboratory practice rooms, and teaching equipment. The reason is that the centers are assigned budgets and expenses mainly based on staffing, without irregular funding sources," said a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training.

Besides, most of the centers have small operating areas, inadequate facilities, teaching equipment, and no standard libraries.

One of the reasons for the poor infrastructure is that vocational education and continuing education centers are under the state management of the People's Committee of Thu Duc City and 21 districts. The Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City provides professional guidance on continuing education, and the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs provides professional guidance on vocational education.

There is no coordination between the parties, sometimes there is overlap in direction.

Based on that reality, recently, the People's Committees of Binh Tan and Phu Nhuan districts have sent a document requesting the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to assign the Department of Education and Training to directly manage the Vocational Education and Continuing Education Center.

Based on the analysis and assessment of the current status of the activities of vocational education and continuing education centers in Ho Chi Minh City after the merger according to Joint Circular No. 39/2015/TTLT-BLDTBXH-BGDĐT-BNV, relevant departments including the Department of Home Affairs, Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, Department of Justice, Thu Duc City People's Committee and 21 districts agreed to propose assigning the specialized agency, the Department of Education and Training, to directly manage the vocational education and continuing education centers, and the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs to direct professional activities of vocational education.

However, the transfer of vocational education and training centers to the Department of Education and Training for management is facing difficulties because the provisions in Clause 1, Article 7 and Clause 1, Article 8 of Joint Circular No. 39/2015/TTLT- BLDTBXH-BGDĐT-BNV are still in effect.

Therefore, the Department of Education and Training advised the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to propose that the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Education and Training, and the Ministry of Home Affairs issue a document guiding the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to resolve problems related to assigning the specialized agency, the Department of Education and Training, to directly manage the Vocational Education and Continuing Education Center.

Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, Duong Tri Dung, said that in the 2023-2024 school year, continuing education will increasingly affirm its important position in the city's education and training system.

Despite many limitations in terms of facilities and human resources, the centers have made efforts to improve teaching quality, participate in digital transformation activities and apply information technology to innovate teaching methods, testing and student assessment.

"It is recommended that in the coming school year, the dissemination and sharing of experiences between centers should be expanded, put into practice, not in formality, to improve the quality of activities, and better meet the diverse learning needs of the people," said the Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City.

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