Vietnamese Prime Minister Lê Minh Hưng has urged swift action to address infrastructure needs at newly opened boarding schools in remote border areas and tackle a significant textbook shortage affecting students nationwide. The directive was issued during a meeting in Hà Nội on Monday, emphasizing the completion of facilities at 108 multi-level boarding schools launched on September 5 and expediting the construction of an additional 121 schools by August 30, 2027.
The school expansion initiative aims to reduce regional educational disparities, aligning with Politburo Resolution 71-NQ/TW’s objective to enhance access to education in disadvantaged regions. The broader program involves 248 boarding schools located in border communes, where Prime Minister Hưng called for thorough assessments of the schools’ educational quality and effectiveness. He stressed the importance of ensuring adequate classrooms, teaching staff, and resources, as well as leveraging enrollment data to inform future facility planning.
In addition to infrastructure improvements, Hưng addressed the urgent need to resolve a shortage of approximately 776,000 textbook sets by September 25. The Prime Minister attributed the scarcity to issues in demand forecasting, ordering, publishing, and distribution processes. The Ministry of Education and Training has been tasked with identifying those responsible for the shortage and submitting a review by October 10.
Hưng advocated for increased diversification in textbook production and distribution to prevent future shortages and enhance quality control across the country. He also emphasized the necessity for the ministry to prepare comprehensive reports for an upcoming review of the government’s implementation of Resolution 71, pinpointing any shortcomings and suggesting potential improvements.