Determined to innovate and ready for the 2026-2027 school year

The education and training sector of Dong Nai City is ready to begin the new school year, with sector leaders determined to continue implementing the Politburo's Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW, dated August 22, 2025, more decisively and with greater substantive effectiveness.

According to Le Truong Son, Member of the Dong Nai City Party Committee’s Standing Board and Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee, completing the streamlining of educational institutions within a short period represents a major effort by the education sector as well as communes and wards. In the next phase, the primary focus must be on continuing to renew management thinking toward governance and innovating teaching and learning methods to achieve substantive quality. Education and training must serve as the foundation for Dong Nai City's sustainable development in the new context, as demand continues to rise for both the quantity and quality of high-level human resources.

Major investment in infrastructure

Following the reorganization, Dong Nai City has reduced the number of public educational institutions by 453, leaving 670. In addition, the city has nearly 200 private educational institutions, ranging from preschools and general education schools to colleges and universities. The city's total population of pupils and students remains above 1 million, placing Dong Nai among the localities with the largest numbers of schools, classes, teachers, pupils, and students nationwide, behind Hanoi City, Ho Chi Minh City, Nghe An Province, and Thanh Hoa Province.

Students at Thong Nhat A High School in Trang Bom Ward practice in a modern STEM and robotics laboratory.

Given this large scale, annual investment demand in the education and training sector is very high, particularly for schools in remote and ethnic minority areas and, especially, the eight border communes. Immediately after the Politburo issued Conclusion Notice No. 81-TB/TW, dated July 18, 2025, regarding the policy of investing in school construction in border communes, the Dong Nai City Party Committee’s Standing Board requested the City People's Committee to advise on a Project to Invest in Building Schools in Border Communes for the 2025-2045 period, for which substantial resources are expected to be allocated. The goal is not only to make all educational institutions in the eight border communes more permanent and structurally sound, but also to modernize them. The eight communes under the city's jurisdiction are Bu Gia Map, Dak O, Hung Phuoc, Thien Hung, Tan Tien, Loc Tan, Loc Thanh, and Loc Thanh.

In recent years, the Standing members of the City Party Committee and the City People's Committee have paid special attention to investment in education in this area. In 2025, the province, now the city, spent VND 100 billion to upgrade schools in three communes: Bu Gia Map, Loc Thanh, and Hung Phuoc. In 2026, the city approved an investment of up to VND 700 billion for all schools in the eight communes. An estimated VND 394 billion is expected to be allocated in 2027.

Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training Do Dang Bao Linh said that in preparation for the 2026-2027 school year, the City People's Committee has allocated more than VND 972 billion for school repairs and renovations and more than VND 165 billion for equipment purchases. The city is decisively directing the implementation of an investment package worth more than VND 30 billion to build prefabricated houses and dining halls for semi-boarding students. These projects are scheduled to be completed before the opening day, ensuring that 100% of preschool, primary, and secondary school students who need these services can have lunch and take a midday nap at school.

In particular, under the direction of the Standing members of the City Party Committee, the City People's Committee, relevant departments, and sectors are urgently surveying potential sites and coordinating with design consultants to implement the “Modern, Exemplary Socialist School” model. Specifically, one multi-level semi-boarding school covering primary, secondary, and high school education, with a capacity of more than 1,000 students, is expected to be built in Tan Trieu Ward, one in Binh Phuoc Ward, and one in Trang Bom Ward. Once completed, these will be synchronized model schools for implementing advanced educational programs.

Vu Thi Hoai, a resident of Tan Trieu Ward, said, "The Dong Nai education sector has made tremendous efforts to overcome the shortage of schools and classrooms and reduce the number of students per class, especially in communes and wards with many industrial parks. The city has just adopted a policy to implement some “Modern, Exemplary Socialist School” models, including one expected to be built in Tan Trieu Ward, so local people are very excited and hopeful. I hope the project will be implemented soon so that people's children can enjoy the results and benefits of the attention of the Party and the State."

Aiming for substantive educational quality

Education and training are the foundation for rapid and sustainable development. For a city facing new opportunities and assuming the position of a national growth pole like Dong Nai, this field is even more important. The city urgently needs high-quality human resources to serve the Long Thanh International Airport mega-project, whose first phase is expected to begin pilot operations at the end of 2026. This demand will continue to increase sharply when the next three terminals are built. At the same time, a series of new-generation industrial parks are also taking shape, with infrastructure construction proceeding rapidly.

At the recent seminar “Dong Nai – Southern Vietnam’s Strategic Hub for Industry, Logistics and Investment,” organized by the Technical Human Resources Training and Supply Center under the Dong Nai Industrial Parks and Economic Zones Authority in coordination with KNIC (KN Industrial City), many experts said that the local capacity to supply high-quality human resources is a key factor influencing investors' decisions to commit capital. Therefore, training must undergo comprehensive reform urgently.

According to experts from the University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, for higher education to achieve high quality, the process must begin with general education. Dong Nai City, therefore, needs to continue making in-depth investments in general education, including facilities, teaching staff, and the standardization of lesson plans in accordance with the 2018 General Education Program. Teaching must focus on substance, accurately assess students' abilities, and decisively eliminate "achievement disease." In particular, students need early access to digital transformation, information technology, and artificial intelligence (AI), linked with career orientation, entrepreneurship, and innovation, to shape a generation of dynamic young citizens.

Emphasizing the tasks for the 2026-2027 school year, Vice Chairman of the City People's Committee Le Truong Son noted that educational institutions must thoroughly apply Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW. Staff must vigorously pursue innovation, shifting from mere management to intelligent educational governance. At the same time, links between general schools and vocational and higher education institutions must be strengthened to provide students with effective career orientation. It is necessary to create a new generation of Dong Nai pupils and students who not only possess practical knowledge but also have dynamic thinking and a desire to contribute to the development of the city and the country.

The Dong Nai City People's Committee is continuing to direct the acceleration of school network planning and investment in accordance with the plan to ensure that the city's rate of national-standard schools increases to 80%, in line with the Resolution of the 1st Dong Nai Provincial, now City, Party Congress for the 2025-2030 term. The city is determined to ensure that educational institutions have sufficient staff, implementing the motto that wherever there are schools and students, there must be enough teachers.

Deputy Secretary of the City Party Committee, Chairman of the City People's Committee Nguyen Van Ut

Thoroughly grasping the direction of General Secretary and State President To Lam at the conference reviewing one year of implementing Resolution No. 71-NQ/TW, the education sector needs to create substantive innovation from within, encompassing school governance and staff as well as content, methods, testing, and assessment. It is necessary to reduce one-way transmission, rote learning, and learning merely to pass examinations, while strengthening self-study, practice, and independent thinking. In particular, reducing administrative procedures and perfunctory meetings will give teachers more time to focus on their profession and on students. The ultimate goal of education is not merely scores or rankings, but to train people who meet the demands of the new era.

By Cong Nghia – Translated by Minh Hong, Minho