Dong Nai education sector ready for new school year

On September 5, over 1.2 million students across all levels in Dong Nai officially entered the new school year 2025-2026. This is a rather special school year: it is the first school year after the provincial merger, the arrangement of the two-tier local government apparatus, and the first year of implementing the Resolution of the Provincial Party Congress for the 2025-2030 term.

Students of Trang Dai Secondary School, Trang Dai Ward, decorate their new classroom in preparation for the opening ceremony of the 2025-2026 school year. Photo: Cong Nghia

Pham Thi Hai Anh, Principal of Trang Dai Secondary School (Trang Dai Ward), happily shared: "This new school year, the school has many new joys, the happiest of which is that the school's students no longer have to travel far to attend classes at Tan Trieu Ward."

Joy before the new school year

Sharing more about the joy of entering the new school year, Pham Thi Hai Anh said: Trang Dai Secondary School is located in a densely populated ward, and in the past, facilities were very limited, so students could only study 1 session/day. Not only that, but they also had to study at 2 other schools, one of which was more than 4km away. Since mid-2024, the school has invested in building an additional 4-story block with 15 classrooms and functional rooms. With these new classrooms and functional rooms, the school has brought more than 500 students who had to study elsewhere back to study at the school, creating convenience for students, parents, and teachers.

Dinh Hai Trieu, a parent at Trang Dai Secondary School, happily shared that his two children are both students at the school, but they had to attend classes at Tan Trieu Ward, which was very inconvenient for pick-up and drop-off. When he heard that the new classroom block was ready for use before the new school year, not only his children but also he and his wife were very happy... Trieu added: "In the new school year, I wish that the State will pay more attention so that students in Trang Dai Ward have enough classrooms and more modern equipment to study better."

Provincial Party Committee Member, Director of the Department of Education and Training TRUONG THI KIM HUE:

The theme of the 2025-2026 school year is: Discipline - Creativity - Breakthrough - Development

The education and training sector has proactively prepared well for the opening ceremony and the start of the 2025-2026 school year with the theme: Discipline - Creativity - Breakthrough - Development. The entire sector will focus on the task of innovating teaching and learning methods and improving the quality of human resources. The sector will advise the Provincial People's Committee on building investment policies to create breakthroughs for school facilities and building policies to support teachers. The aim is not only to ensure sufficient numbers of teachers, but also to build a high-quality teaching staff. In addition, the sector will continue to pay attention to and create breakthroughs in schools for 8 border communes, not allowing students and teachers in border communes to have too large a gap in access to education compared to urban areas.

During this new school year, many schools in Tran Bien and Tam Hiep wards have welcomed quite a few number of students transfering from schools in the former Binh Phuoc province, as they followed their parents to the new provincial center for work after the merger of both former Dong Nai and former Binh Phuoc provinces. Nguyen Bao Ngoc, Principal of Nguyen An Ninh Primary School, said: The school has welcomed quite a few number of primary school students from the former Binh Phuoc province, transferring from grade 1 to grade 5. To date, they have been admitted to classes and are gradually getting used to the new learning environment. Ngoc added: "The new students are all very happy and quickly integrate with their classmates. Teachers are all caring and create good conditions for them to study, and parents are at ease with their work."

In this new school year, 30 schools in 8 border communes of the province also have many new joys, especially the expectations from the Politburo’s Notice No. 81-TB/TW dated July 18, 2025, which outlines the policy on investing in school construction for land border communes (Notice No. 81). According to the Board of Management of Loc Thanh Primary and Secondary School (Loc Thanh commune), in 2025, the school has built an additional spacious and modern classroom block. The school has just been recognized by the Provincial People's Committee as meeting national standards level 1 and achieving educational quality accreditation level 2. These are very favorable conditions for the school's teachers and students to have the best conditions to successfully implement the tasks of the 2025-2026 school year.

Nguyen Thi Tuyet, Principal of Loc Thien Primary and Secondary School (Loc Thanh commune), said: Located in a border commune with many difficulties, however, when the new academic year was approaching, the school received a lot of attention and encouragement from the Department of Education and Training (DOET), the Party Committee, and the Loc Thanh commune authorities. The school proposed to the DOET the need to invest in new classrooms, and the Board of Directors of the department came to the school to survey the actual situation. With the attention of the provincial and the communal authorities, the school believes that the new school year 2025-2026 will be a breakthrough year in terms of facilities, creating favorable conditions to move towards teaching 2 sessions/day, with day boarding classes for 100% of students in all grades.

Creating a breakthrough for Dong Nai education

In the 2025-2026 school year, students of Trang Dai Secondary School (Trang Dai ward) will no longer have to attend classes at other schools because 16 new classrooms and functional rooms have been built. Photo: Cong Nghia

After the merger of both former Dong Nai province and former Binh Phuoc province to establish the new Dong Nai province, the provincial leaders have paid special attention to the development of education and training. Many consecutive meetings were held, chaired by the leaders of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee with the education sector and localities. In particular, the leaders of the Provincial Party Committee held many meetings with the Provincial People's Committee, the DOET, and other departments and agencies to immediately implement Notice No. 81 of the Politburo. Nguyen Truong Son, Member of the Standing Committee of the Provincial Party Committee and Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, held working sessions with the DOET to grasp the operational situation of the sector after the provincial merger, especially a meeting with the wards of the old Bien Hoa city to resolve difficulties in investing in classrooms, recruiting teachers, etc.

Do Dang Bao Linh, Deputy Director of the DOET, said: Many difficulties and obstacles of the provincial education and training sector have been addressed by the provincial leadership, who have given approval for their implementation. These are very important conditions for the sector to continue advising the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee to invest more heavily in the school system, especially to solve difficulties in recruiting teachers for subjects that are still lacking. In addition, the department has proactively and quickly implemented many important tasks to concretize the directives of the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee, including surveying the need for school construction investment in 30 educational institutions in 8 border communes. To date, the investment project has been drafted and is in the process of soliciting opinions from relevant localities and departments and agencies.

Also according to the leaders of the DOET, the 2025-2026 school year is the first school year after the merger of the former Dong Nai province and the former Binh Phuoc province, and the first year of implementing the 2-tier local government model. Many new tasks in educational management have been decentralized and delegated to the commune level, so the DOET has trained educational management officials at the commune level. These are important conditions for commune-level officials to directly support educational institutions under their management in the area, contributing to the successful implementation of the tasks of the 2025-2026 school year.

At the recent conference to review the 2024-2025 school year, Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thi Hoang emphasized: Dong Nai province after the merger will always consider education a special task that must be given investment priority. Regarding the tasks for the new school year 2025-2026, Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thi Hoang stated: The entire sector identifies the top political task as continuing to thoroughly grasp and effectively implement Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW, dated November 4, 2013, of the 11th Central Committee of the Party on fundamental and comprehensive renovation of education and training; and at the same time continuing to improve the quality and effectiveness of successfully implementing the 2018 General Education Program. To achieve this, the new school year 2025-2026 must promote innovation in teaching and learning methods, strengthen digital transformation, and comprehensively apply artificial intelligence in management and teaching.

According to Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thi Hoang, during the new school year, the Department of Education and Training of Dong Nai needs to continue to focus on building and developing a team of teachers and educational administrators that is sufficient in quantity and strong in quality, meeting the requirements of innovation. To have a strong team of teachers in terms of quality and quantity, it is necessary to advise the province on strong enough mechanisms and policies to attract and retain the team; at the same time, resolutely recruit the full number of assigned biên chế. In addition, it is necessary to advise the province on investing in modern school facilities, creating favorable conditions for teachers to teach well and students to learn well.

 By: Cong Nghia

Translated by: Mai Nga- Thu Ha