Nearly 26 million students return to school for new academic year

Young Vietnamese

Nearly 26 million students return to school for new academic year
The Ministry of Education and Training’s back-to-school celebration from 8 am to 9:30 am at the National Convention Centre in Hanoi was broadcast live on VTV1 and connected online to some 52,000 education establishments across the country.
Nearly 26 million students from kindergarten to university across the nation begin their new academic year on September 5. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) – Nearly 26 million students from kindergarten to university across the nation, along with some 1.6 million teachers, attended ceremonies on September 5 for the start of the new academic year with breakthrough policies for education and training.

The Ministry of Education and Training’s back-to-school celebration from 8 am to 9:30 am at the National Convention Centre in Hanoi was broadcast live on VTV1 and connected online to some 52,000 education establishments across the country.

For the first time, all education institutions nationwide simultaneously held a flag-salute ceremony and sang national anthem at the opening ceremonies. This unprecedented coordination honoured the sector’s traditions and acknowledged its great contributions to the Party and nation's revolutionary cause, while highlighting its responsibility in the new era.

Under the ministry’s guidance, school-level activities were streamlined and completed before 8 am, after that teachers and students joined the national programme. Many schools also designed creative and student-centred activities, leaving memorable impressions on the students on the first day of the new academic year.

The 2025-2026 academic year carries special significance as multiple new policies are put in place, including the Politburo’s resolution on breakthroughs in education and training development, the Law on Teachers, and the National Assembly’s resolutions on tuition support and exemptions for preschool children, elementary, secondary, and high-school students, and learners in general education programmes across the national education system, universal preschool education for children aged three to five, and development of schools in border communes and remote areas.

For students in remote, mountainous, flood-hit, border, and island areas, local authorities, educational institutions, and communities mobilised all resources and overcame difficulties to prepare facility and support students with sufficient books and learning materials for the new academic year.

This year, the education sector has set targets of a 99.7% enrollment rate of six-year-olds in grade 1, a 99.5% primary completion rate, and improvements in teacher qualifications./.

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