Deputy Prime Minister requests accurate statistics on the situation of commune-level education staff

The Government Office has just issued Notice No. 413/TB-VPCP conveying the conclusion of Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long at the meeting on the implementation of administrative unit arrangement at all levels, organization of 2-level local government and decentralization in the field of education and training.

PHOTO: VGP

Accordingly, the Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Education and Training to preside over and coordinate with relevant ministries, agencies and localities to continue reviewing and perfecting the system of documents and instructions to ensure that they meet practical requirements, to synchronize regulations on the division of authority and decentralization, clearly defining the responsibilities of education management at all levels to operate the two-level local government apparatus promptly and effectively; and to report to the Government and the Prime Minister on issues beyond their authority.

Strengthen the organization of inspection and field survey teams to support localities in implementing the model; synthesize the situation, compile statistics and propose practical support solutions.

Accurately collect statistics on the situation of the staff in charge of education at the commune level to propose solutions to improve the state management capacity of the staff of the cultural and social departments at the commune level. Closely assess the situation, clearly understand the practical difficulties to solve and handle difficulties according to authority and report and propose to competent authorities on issues beyond authority.

The Ministry of Education and Training proactively develops and implements a training plan to improve the capacity of officials in charge of education at the commune level; enhances the application of information technology in implementation to ensure a smooth, interconnected, and synchronous system.

The Deputy Prime Minister assigned the Ministries of Home Affairs, Justice, and Finance, based on their assigned functions, tasks, and authorities, to continue to synthesize, record information, and reflect on the implementation of the arrangement of administrative units at all levels, and the organization of two-level local governments in various fields to propose solutions suitable to management requirements, ensuring adherence to the directions of the Central Committee and the Politburo; including handling tasks related to the concretization of educational content under the responsibility of the People's Committees at the commune level.

The People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities are responsible for proactively removing difficulties and obstacles and providing solutions to support the team of officials in charge of education at the commune level to ensure smooth and effective implementation of state management; promptly reporting to competent authorities on issues beyond their authority.

About 1/3 of commune-level education staff do not have education expertise.

Previously, at a conference on implementing two-level local government in the field of education and training, the Ministry of Education and Training cited reports from many localities showing that up to 50% of commune-level administrative units do not have leaders or officials who have worked in the education sector to monitor and manage the state in this field.

The leader of the Department of Teachers and Education Managers (Ministry of Education and Training) said that according to current guidelines, each department of culture and society will arrange a maximum of 2 positions for civil servant positions in charge of the field of education and training.

With a total of 3,321 communes, wards, and special zones after the rearrangement, it is expected that the number of commune-level civil servants in charge of education and training nationwide will need more than 6,000 people.

A quick survey of about 1,000 civil servants assigned to be in charge of education at the commune level showed that nearly 1/3 of them used to work at the Department of Education and Training (old); more than 1/3 had professional qualifications trained in pedagogy and education, the rest had training in other fields and sectors, almost unrelated to education, in some cases they were livestock engineers...

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the lack of staff in the cultural and social departments of the People's Committees at the commune level who have in-depth expertise in managing educational activities at schools has led to difficulties in improving the quality of education and managing the use of civil servants.