Students of Thượng Phùng day boarding school for ethnic minorities in Mèo Vạc District, Hà Giang Province at their first math class of the new school year. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoàng Hiếu

HÀ NỘI — More than 22 million students at all levels nationwide started a new school year on Tuesday with focus on educational reform.

This is the fourth academic year that the education sector has implemented a fundamental and comprehensive renovation of education at the high school and university levels.

State President Võ Văn Thưởng beat the drum to kick off a new school year at the Ethnic Boarding School in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai.

He asked the province’s education sector to focus on curriculum reform and develop the network of boarding, day boarding schools for ethnic minorities, as well as eliminate illiteracy for ethnic minority people living in remote areas.

The State President emphasised the important significance of establishing a system of boarding schools for ethnic minorities and attaching importance to education for ethnic minority children.

For ethnic minority children living in remote areas, education and training is the best way out of poverty, according to the President. Performing education and training tasks also contributes to creating a foundation for maintaining political security, social order and safety in the area; at the same time creating human resources for the political system, assisting socio-economic development in mountainous, remote and isolated areas.

President Võ Văn Thưởng beats the drum to kick off a new school year at the Ethnic Boarding School in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai. — VNA/VNS Photo Thống Nhất

"Every student here has a unique and creative personality. The teacher's task is to develop that unique and creative personality inside each student, so that every one of them can discover their true abilities, talents and goals in life to strive and practise," the President said.

President Thưởng also sent a message to all educators and students nationwide on the new academic year 2023-24, reminding students of all grades across the country to consider learning an important lifelong mission.

In the message, the leader says the Party and State always prioritise education as the top national policy, and the shared responsibility of schools, families, and society, stressing the need for the country to have a high-quality education system.

Investment for education is that in sustainable development, he says, expressing his hope that educators will continue to hold onto their passion and dedication for their profession.

His message calls for joint efforts of the entire society and the education sector to take even better care of the education cause through timely and appropriate policies, towards developing a truly healthy and safe educational environment so that teachers and students can maximise their creativeness, thus making important contributions to the successful implementation of comprehensive educational reforms in the country.

Also on Tuesday morning, National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ joined the teachers and students at the Vietnamese-Lao T78 Friendship School in Hà Nội for its ceremony to launch the 2023-24 academic year.

The Vietnamese-Lao T78 Friendship School, founded in 1958, was the first boarding school to teach Vietnamese to Lao students in Việt Nam.

So far, the school has provided training for over 2,700 Lao students, many of them have held important leadership positions of the Lao Party and State from the central to local levels.

National Assembly Chairman Vương Đình Huệ with teachers and students of the Vietnamese-Lao T78 Friendship School. —VNA/VNS Photo Doãn Tấn

Huệ hailed the school’s achievements in recruiting and training high-quality teaching staff and enhancing the Vietnamese-Lao friendship.

Huệ expressed his belief that the T78 Friendship School would truly be worthy of being a prestigious school for training Lao students, contributing to the realisation of ethnic policies in education - training and consolidating the special friendship between Việt Nam and Laos. — VNS