Chương I Luật giáo dục 2019: Những quy định chung

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope

This Law regulates the national educational system; educational institutions, teachers, learners; state management of education; rights and responsibilities of agencies, organisations, individuals taking parts in educational activities.

Article 2. Goals of education

The goals of education are to educate the Vietnamese into comprehensively developed persons who possess ethics, knowledge, education, physical health, aesthetic sense and profession; to shape and cultivate one's dignity, civic qualifications and competence; to nurture one’s patriotism, national spirit, loyalty to the ideology of national independence and socialism; to develop potentials, creativity of each individual; to improve the people’s knowledge and manpower, to foster talents, satisfying the demands of the construction and defense of the Fatherland and international integration.

Article 3. Characteristics, principles of education

1. The Vietnamese education is a socialism-based education with popular, national, scientific and modern characteristics, based on Marxism-Leninism and Ho Chi Minh's Thoughts.

2. Educational activities must be conducted on the principles of learning coupled with practice, theories connected to practicability, education at school combined with education in the family and in the society.

Article 4. Educational development

1. Educational development is the first national priority.

2. Educational development must be linked with the requirements of socio-economic development, to the scientific-technological advances, to the consolidation of national defense and security; must implement standardisation, modernisation and private sector involvement; must ensure the balance in terms of professional, qualifications, manpower and regional structure; must expand scale on the basis of quality and efficiency assurance; and must link education with employment.

3. Develop an open educational system, build a learning society to provide life-long educational access of every level and every form to all the people.

Article 5. Definitions

In this Law, the undermentioned terms shall be defined as follows:

1. “Formal education” means cohort-based education in educational institutions to implement a certain educational programme. It is established following the goals of each educational level and qualification, and the learners are issued degrees/diplomas of the national educational system.

2. “Continuing education” means education that follows a certain educational programme and has flexible organisation regarding programme implementation formats, time, methods, locations, satisfying the learners’ need for lifelong learning.

3. “Education quality accreditation” means assessing and recognizing educational institutions or educational programmes that meet the education quality standards promulgated by competent authorities and organisations.

4. “Year-based” means the mode of educational and training organisation based on school years.

5. “Credit” means a unit used to measure the amount of knowledge, skills and study results accumulated after a certain period of time.

6. “Module” means a learning unit that fully integrates knowledge, skills and attitude with an aim to equipping learners with the capacity to fully or partially perform the tasks of a profession.

7. “Graduation standards” means the target requirements regarding learners’ quality and capacity after completing an educational programme.

8. “Universalization of education” means organizing educational activities in the way that ensures all citizens of suitable age have access to education and acquire certain qualifications as prescribed by law.

9. “Compulsory education” means the type of education that has to be provided to all citizens of suitable age in order for them to acquire the minimal educational qualification as prescribed by law and facilitated by the State.

10. “Upper secondary education knowledge” means the basic and core knowledge and skills in the upper secondary educational programme that learners must accumulate in order to continue learning a higher qualification of vocational education.

11. “Investor” means an organisation or individual making investment in education from financial sources outside of the state budget. There are domestic investors and foreign investors.

12. “Educational institution” means an institution providing education in the national educational system and consists of schools and other educational institutions.

Article 6. The national educational system

1. The national educational system is an open, transferrable educational system consisting of formal education and continuing education.

2. Educational levels and training qualifications of the national educational system include:

a) Preschool education including junior kindergartens (for children aged 03 – 36 months) and senior kindergartens (for children aged 3 – 5 years);

b) General education with primary education, lower secondary education, and upper secondary education;

c) Vocational education and training at elementary-level, intermediate-level, or college-level and other vocational training programmes;

d) Higher education with university education, master education and doctoral education.

3. The Prime Minister shall make decisions on the approval of the structural framework of the national educational system and the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework; stipulate the training duration, standards of each training level, the minimal learning quantity for qualifications of vocational education and higher education.

4. Within the scope of their duties and authorities, the Minister of Education and Training and Minister of Labour - War Invalids and Social Affairs shall provide for the entrance requirements of college-level and university-level pedagogical and health professions.  

Article 7. Requirements on contents, methods of education

1. Contents of education must ensure the basic, comprehensive, practical, modern, systematic and up-to-date characteristics; with importance attached to ideological, ethical and civic consciousness education; preserving and developing the good traditions and the national cultural identity, absorbing the essence of the mankind culture; and suitable with the physical, intellectual and psycho-physiology development of various age groups and abilities of learners.

2. Methods of education must be scientific and bring into full play the activeness, consciousness, self-motivation and creative thinking of learners; foster self-study and cooperative abilities, practical ability, learning eagerness and the will to advance forward.

Article 8. Educational programmes

1. Educational programmes shall reflect the goals of education; set the standards for knowledge, skills, requirements on quality and capacity of learners; scope and structure of educational contents; methods and forms of organizing educational activities; evaluation methods of educational outcomes for each subject of every grade and level or for each subject, module, specialization of every training qualification.

2. Educational programmes must ensure the scientific and practical characteristics; inheritability and transferability among different levels and different training qualifications; facilitate the classification of students and exchange between training qualifications, specializations and educational forms in the national educational system in order for localities and educational institutions to proactively implement suitable educational plans; satisfying the goal of gender equality and demands of international integration. Educational programmes are the basis of comprehensive education quality assurance.

3. Requirements on knowledge, skills and on dignity and capacity of learners defined in educational programmes must be concretized in textbooks used for general education, in syllabi and teaching materials used for vocational education and higher education. Textbooks, syllabi and teaching materials must meet the requirements on educational methods.

4. Preschool education and general education shall run year-based programmes; vocational education and higher education may run year-based, module-based, credit-based programmes or combined programmes.

Study results of subjects or credits/modules accumulated by learners after pursuing an educational programme are considered for transferable values for respective subjects or credits/modules of other educational programmes when learners change their educational specializations/professions, forms of studies, or follow higher educational levels or qualifications.

5. Within the scope of their duties and authorities, the Minister of Education and Training and Minister of Labour - War Invalids and Social Affairs shall stipulate the implementation of educational programmes and the recognition of the transferable values of study results of higher education and vocational education levels as prescribed in this Article.

Article 9. Career orientation and student classification

1. Career orientation in education is a system of measures implemented inside and outside educational institutions to provide students with knowledge about professions and the ability to choose a profession based on a combination of personal desires, fortes and social labour demands.

2. Student classification is a measure of organizing educational activities on the basis of career orientation in education, enabling lower secondary and upper secondary graduates to continue with their studies in higher educational levels/qualifications or vocational education or to join the labour force with regard to personal capacity, circumstances and social demands, contributing to the regulation of the professional structure following the developing requirements of the country.  

3. The Government shall provide for career orientation and student classification in each period of time, meeting the requirements of socio-economic development.

Article 10. Transferability in education

1. Transferability in education is the act of using available study results to continue studying in other educational levels and qualifications within the same specialization or switch to another specialization, mode of education and training qualification with corresponding content requirements, ensuring transferability between educational levels and training qualifications of general education, vocational education and higher education.

2. Transferability in education must satisfy conditions of quality assurance. Educational programmes shall be designed with inheritability, integrating knowledge and skills based on the graduation standards of each educational level in the Vietnamese Qualifications Framework. Learners shall not have to relearn knowledge and skills accumulated in previous educational programmes.

3. The Government shall provide for the transferability between educational levels/training qualifications in the national educational system.

Article 11. Languages, written languages used in educational institutions

1. Vietnamese is the official language to be used in educational institutions. Based on the goals of education and specific requirements on educational contents, the Government shall stipulate the teaching and learning via foreign languages in educational institutions.

2. The State shall encourage and enable ethnic minority people to learn their spoken and written languages as prescribed in Governmental regulations; hearing-impaired and speaking-impaired persons to learn via sign language, vision-impaired persons to learn via the Braille alphabet as prescribed in the Law on Persons with Disabilities.

3. Foreign languages defined in educational programmes are the languages used commonly in international communication. The teaching of foreign languages in educational institutions should guarantee that learners have continuing and effective learning process.

Article 12. Degrees/diplomas and certificates

1. Degrees/diplomas of the national educational system are conferred to learners upon successful completion of an educational level or educational programme and meeting the graduation standards of the corresponding qualification as prescribed in this Law.

2. Degrees/diplomas of the national educational system consist of the following: lower secondary diploma, upper secondary diploma, diploma of vocational secondary schools, college degree, bachelor degree, master degree, doctoral degree and degrees/diplomas of equivalent qualifications.

3. Certificates of the national educational system are granted to learners to acknowledge their learning results upon successful completion of courses for knowledge or professional upgrading or conferred to candidates of certification examinations as prescribed by law.

4. Degrees/diplomas and certificates granted by educational institutions of educational types and modes in the national educational system shall have equal legal values.

5. The Government shall promulgate a system of higher educational degrees/diplomas and stipulate the equivalent degrees/diplomas of some specific in-depth specializations.

Article 13. Learning rights and obligations of citizens

1. Learning is the right and obligation of every citizen. Every citizen, regardless of ethnic origin, religion, belief, gender, personal characteristics, family background, social status or economic conditions, has equal rights of access to learning opportunities.

2. The State shall ensure social equality in education, create a safe educational environment, ensure inclusive education and enable learners to develop their potentials and talents.

3. The State shall give priority in enabling children with special backgrounds as prescribed in the Children Law, disabled and handicapped persons as prescribed in the Law on Persons with Disabilities and learners from poor and near-poor households to exercise their learning rights and obligations.

Article 14. Universalization of education and compulsory education

1. Primary education is compulsory.

The State shall provide the universalization of preschool education to 05-year-old children and provide the universalization of lower secondary education.

2. The State shall be responsible for implementing compulsory education throughout the country; planning and facilitating the universalization of education.

3. All citizens within defined age groups shall have the obligation to learn in order to contribute to the universalization of education and complete the compulsory education programme.

4. Families and guardians shall enable their members in defined age groups to receive education in order to contribute to the universalization of education and complete the compulsory education programme.

Article 15. Inclusive education

1. Inclusive education is an educational method aiming to meet different needs and abilities of learners; ensure equal learning rights, education quality, suitable with the needs, characteristics and capacity of learners; respect diversity and differences of learners and avoid discrimination.

2. The State shall issue assistance policies to implement inclusive education for learners who are children with special backgrounds as prescribed in the Children Law, learners who are disabled and handicapped persons as prescribed in the Law on Persons with Disabilities and other relevant regulations.

Article 16. Private sector involvement in education

1. To develop education and to build a learning society are the responsibilities of the State and of the whole population.

2. The State shall play the dominant role in developing the cause of education; carry out the diversification of types of educational institutions and modes of education; encourage, promote and enable organisations and individuals to take part in the development of the cause of education; encourage the development of people-founded and private educational institutions, satisfying the social demands on high quality education.

3. All organisations, families and citizens shall be responsible for taking care of education, cooperating with educational institutions in realizing the goals of education and building a safe and healthy educational environment.

4. Organisations and individuals with contributions to the cause of education shall be rewarded in compliance with the law.

Article 17. Investment in education

1. Investment in education is an investment in development. Investment in the field of education is a conditional business investment with preferential treatment and assistance as prescribed by law.

2. The State shall give priority to investment and to the attraction of other investment sources for education; priorities investment in the universalization of education, educational development in mountainous areas, islands, ethnic minority areas, areas with exceptional socio-economic difficulties, areas with industrial zones. 

The State shall encourage and protect the legitimate rights and benefits of Vietnamese organisations and individuals, overseas residing Vietnamese, foreign organisations and individuals investing in education.

3. The State budget shall hold the key role in the total resources invested in education.

Article 18. Roles and responsibilities of education managers

1. Education managers play an important role in organizing, managing and directing educational activities.

2. Education managers shall have the responsibilities for studying, training, improving their moral standards, qualifications, management competence and for complying with the standards and regulations prescribed by law.

3. The State shall have plans to build and improve the quality of education managers.

Article 19. Scientific and technological activities

1. Scientific and technological activities are one duty of educational institutions.

2. Educational institutions shall implement or cooperate with scientific and technological organisations and production, trade and service units to carry out education, scientific research and technology transfer for socio-economic development.

3. The State shall enable educational institutions to organize scientific and technological activities, combining training with scientific research and production so as to improve education quality; to gradually implement the role of a cultural, scientific and technological centre for the locality or the whole country.

4. The State shall issue priority policies for the development of scientific and technological activities in educational institutions. Guidelines and policies concerning education must be formulated based on the results of scientific research, appropriate to the Vietnamese reality and international trend.

Article 20. Prohibition of promotion of religions in educational institutions

Neither religion promotion nor religious rituals are to be conducted in educational institutions of the national educational system, of the State agencies, of political organisations, of socio-political organisations and of the people's armed forces.

Article 21. Prohibition of abuse of educational activities

1. It is prohibited to abuse educational activities to distort State guidelines, policies, legislation; to oppose the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, to separate the block of great national solidarity, to incite violence, to propagate war of aggression, to erode the good traditions and customs, to publicize superstitious beliefs and bad customs, or to attract learners into social evils.

2. It is prohibited to make corrupt use of educational activities for self-interest purposes.

Article 22. Prohibited activities in educational institutions

1. Disrespect of dignity and honor, committing physical assault towards teachers, staff, labour workers of educational institutions and towards learners.

2. Distortion of educational contents.

3. Cheating in learning, testing, examination, admission.

4. Smoking; alcohol consumption; security and order disruption.

5. Forcing students to take extra classes for money.

6. Forcing contributions in cash or in kind in the name of educational sponsorship or support.