HÀ NỘI — More than 23 million students started the new academic year on September 5.

Before the date, many schools in the northern and central regions suffered from serious floods, but authorities worked hard to start the new school year as scheduled.

This morning, President Trần Đại Quang attended the ceremony to start a new academic year at Hà Nội’s Chu Văn An High School.

Speaking at the ceremony, Quang said many generations of students in the school had contributed to the struggle for national liberation and reunification, as well as national construction and defence. 

He said the school should focus on intellectual development, physical education, quality formation, and capacity of citizens for students.

In particular, it needs to discover and foster talents for students, and closely combine school education with family and social education, he said.

Quang expressed his hope that the students would develop the tradition of learning, nurture ambition, and make efforts to emulate good education to become good citizens.

Also this morning, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân beat the drum to open a new academic year at HCM City’s Lê Hồng Phong High School.

She awarded students who achieved many excellent achievements in study and were recruited directly by big universities in the city.

Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc took part in a new school year ceremony at a boarding school for ethnic minority students in Tu Mơ Rông District in the Central Highlands province of Kon Tum.

This is one of the poorest districts of the province, with most residents being poor ethnic minorities. Thus, teaching and learning have encountered many difficulties.

There are 385 students in Tu Mơ Rông boarding school. Of this, 382 are ethnic minorities.

Previously, the rate of dropouts of the school was high, forcing teachers to go to each student’s house to encourage their parents to allow their children to continue to study.

Phúc said he was happy to learn that the rate of students now attending school is high, adding that this was a result of the great effort of the party committee, local government and school teachers.

In the last school year, 98.7 per cent of students graduated from high school, and 30 per cent enrolled in colleges and universities.

He affirmed that the Party, State and the Government would always create conditions for students to develop in all regions of the country.

At the opening ceremony, Phúc presented 500 sets of textbooks to the students at the school.

In the 2018-2019 academic year, the Ministry of Education and Training will continue applying measures to strengthen State management and improve the quality of education, while building a safe, healthy and friendly education environment. 

The ministry will focus on developing pre-schools at industrial parks and export-processing zones, while finalising preparations for the launch of new education programmes and textbooks, especially for first-grade students. 

It will take steps to continue to enhance the quality of the national high school examination, while reforming the management mechanisms at high schools.

At the same time, tertiary education will concentrate on standardising the quality of students to meet the requirement of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

The efficiency of community-based education facilities as well as vocational training centres will also be improved. The education sector will also work to complete targets set in the project to build a learning society. – VNS