Hanoi, September 6, 2025 – The Europe Today: Party General Secretary Tô Lâm on Friday addressed a national ceremony in Hanoi marking the 80th anniversary of Vietnam’s education sector and the start of the 2025–2026 academic year, setting out a comprehensive agenda for building a modern, inclusive, and globally competitive education system.
The event, broadcast live on VTV1 and digital platforms, connected the National Convention Centre with educational establishments nationwide. For the first time, schools across the country simultaneously held a flag-raising ceremony and sang the national anthem to mark the beginning of the new school year.
In his keynote speech, General Secretary Lâm extended greetings to teachers, education managers, and students, expressing confidence that the sector would continue making breakthroughs in line with the nation’s tradition of valuing learning. He praised the sector’s historic role in providing human resources, nurturing talent, and contributing decisively to national liberation, reunification, and development.
Highlighting the achievements since Đổi Mới (Renewal), including expanded networks, improved quality, and growing global integration, he also pointed out persistent disparities and uneven standards. He underlined the Politburo’s Resolution No. 71 on breakthroughs in education, urging the Party, Government, National Assembly, and social organisations to implement it effectively with renewed thinking, strong investment, and comprehensive reform.
Calling education the nation’s top priority, Lâm emphasised the need to perfect the legal framework, invest in infrastructure and personnel, mobilise societal resources, and ensure equitable access, particularly for disadvantaged, border, and island communities. He outlined a shift from incremental improvements to bold, nation-building strategies, with quality, equity, integration, and efficiency as guiding principles.
The Party leader urged reforms in teaching methods and governance, development of a dedicated and ethical teaching workforce, and encouragement for students to aspire to become global citizens while preserving Vietnamese identity. He also highlighted the importance of digital transformation and artificial intelligence, positioning education as an investment in Vietnam’s future.
General Secretary Lâm stressed that universities must evolve into centres of knowledge creation, technology transfer, and innovation, supporting industrialisation and digital transformation. Vocational education should also be modernised to supply skilled human resources. He called for stronger international cooperation, joint programmes, lecturer and student exchanges, and attraction of international scholars to raise standards.
He affirmed the role of teachers as the “soul of education,” noting that the newly adopted Law on Teachers provides a foundation for improving teachers’ welfare, rights, and professional standards. Beyond imparting knowledge, he said, teachers must inspire ambition, nurture character, and set exemplary examples.
On this occasion, the General Secretary presented the first-class Labour Order to the Ministry of Education and Training in recognition of its outstanding achievements.
Minister of Education and Training Nguyễn Kim Sơn, in his remarks, recalled the sector’s historic reforms and its decisive role in shaping Vietnam’s current development. He acknowledged shortcomings compared with global leaders but praised the sector’s achievements over eight decades.
He noted that the country now counts over 52,000 schools serving 26 million students, with 65 percent of general schools meeting national standards and many equipped with modern facilities. Vietnam also has 243 universities and over 800 colleges and vocational institutions, contributing more than 75 percent of the country’s research and innovation output, with some universities achieving positions among the world’s top 500.
Minister Sơn pledged that in the new academic year, the sector would work to implement the Politburo’s resolution on educational breakthroughs, address existing gaps, and propose new legislative mechanisms to advance reform.
