Hanoi (VNA)♛ – As COVID-19 has yet to be brought under control, great challenges are still present in the education and training sector in 2022, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son has said.

Post-pandemic education reconstruction 

Minister Son said that the two years of the COVID-19 pandemic have been a tough time for the education and training sector, with many difficulties. On September 6, all schools began teaching the 2021-2022 school year online. To meet the requirements of adapting to the pandemic, the education sector has focused on two key tasks ensuring the quality of education activities and preventing the spreading of the pandemic. Various flexible solutions have been given in each locality to suit their situation, he said. Confirming that the pandemic may continue to develop complicatedly in 2022, the minister held that challenges are even greater for the sector this year. Underlining that the vaccination ratio in Vietnam, including the ratio among children from 12-18 years old, is high, he said that the country has the full foundation, experience and conditions to reopen schools soon and speed up the reconstruction of the sector. He said that 2022 will be a year for the education sector to focus on reviewing and evaluating its performance and drawing lessons in the pandemic fight, making adjustments to responding measures to suit the new situation and improving its quality. This year, the sector will implement many big plans, including the issuance of a strategy for education and training development in the 2021-2030 period with a vision for 2045. Renovation of the curriculum for grades 3, 7 and 10 will also be conducted, he added. For tertiary training, in 2022 the sector will continue to speed up the university autonomy toward high-quality human resources training to meet the development requirements of the country, said the minister who also highlighted many other important tasks, including ensuring the number and quality of teachers and the planning of colleges and universities. He stressed that the education sector will work to improve equality in education service access and meet the demand for learning of disadvantaged groups while concentrating on speeding up digital transformation to adapt to the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Breakthrough progress expected in digital transformation for education

Minister Son said that the education sector defines information technology and digital transformation as one the breakthrough solutions to create important changes in education activities, and long-term work that needs immediate and regular efforts. To speed up digital transformation, it is necessary to raise the awareness of management officials, policy-makers, teachers and parents on the benefits of digital transformation, he held. He said that currently, the ministry is building a project to strengthen the application of information technology and digital transformation to strongly renovate the teaching and learning methods, as well as education management and school governance, which is expected to contribute to improving the quality and effectiveness of the general education system and form a digital infrastructure for the development of the learning society and creating easier access to education services for all people with high quality at low cost. Ideas from management officials, scientists, educationalists and teachers on the project will be collected before it is issued and implemented, he said. At the same time, the sector will focus on developing infrastructure systems and databases serving the exploitation of learning materials, which is also part of efforts to adapt to the pandemic.  The year 2022 will be a tough year for the education sector with many important tasks due to COVID-19 and post-pandemic impacts, he said, calling for the support and cooperation of parents and the whole society to the sector to help it complete all tasks for the year and following years. On the occasion of the Lunar New Year, the minister wished teachers and everyone else in the education sector, including students across the country, a New Year filled with good health, happiness and peace./.