Attending the celebration were former State President Nguyen Minh Triet and Permanent Deputy Minister of Education and Training, Pham Ngoc Thuong.
The event also saw the presence of Standing Vice Secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, Le Quoc Phong; Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, Nguyen Van Duoc; Chairman of the City People’s Council, Vo Van Minh; Vice Secretaries of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee, Dang Minh Thong and Van Thi Bach Tuyet; Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee's Propaganda and Mass Mobilization Commission, Duong Anh Duc; Head of the Internal Affairs Commission of the municipal Party Committee, Nguyen Thi My Hang; and Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, Nguyen Van Hieu.
The ceremony was also attended by representatives from departments and agencies; the Departments of Education and Training from centrally run cities in the Southern Region and Mekong Delta; foreign consulates in Ho Chi Minh City; Meritorious Teachers, People’s Teachers, principals of educational institutions, exemplary teachers, and outstanding students.
Speaking at the ceremony, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training Nguyen Van Hieu reviewed the 50-year journey of building, innovating, and developing the city’s education sector. Immediately after the country’s reunification, Ho Chi Minh City embarked on comprehensive reconstruction, with education regarded as one of the top priority areas. The past five decades have been a meaningful journey, marked by relentless efforts, silent sacrifices, and devoted contributions of tens of thousands of teachers who have nurtured the mission of 'raising people.' These efforts have laid a solid foundation for the long-term development of education in Ho Chi Minh City.
To date, after extensive efforts, Ho Chi Minh City’s education sector has achieved numerous outstanding accomplishments, confirming its position as one of the leading localities in the country in terms of education quality. Following the administrative boundary reorganization, Ho Chi Minh City now has the largest education system in Vietnam, with over 3,500 schools and 2.6 million students.
Commending the sector’s efforts, Permanent Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong highly appreciated the remarkable progress of Ho Chi Minh City’s education.
If counted from 1945, the year Vietnam gained independence and the revolutionary education was born, Ho Chi Minh City officially took on the task of building its education system 30 years later. Facing countless challenges in infrastructure, staffing, and curriculum, the city’s education sector, thanks to its resilience, intelligence, and spirit of initiative and innovation, has become one of the nation’s leading centers of knowledge, pioneering numerous educational reform models that have been adopted by other provinces and cities, he added.
Among these achievements, the Ministry of Education and Training recognized five highlights of Ho Chi Minh City’s education sector, including raising public knowledge and fostering a learning society with lifelong learning; training human resources and nurturing talents; providing comprehensive education encompassing morality, intellect, physical fitness, and aesthetics; effectively mobilizing social participation in education; and promoting values of compassion and social responsibility, spreading a spirit of sharing within the community.
Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, Nguyen Van Duoc, emphasized that Ho Chi Minh City has always been proud of its teaching workforce, who are not only highly skilled but also possess strong character, are consistently dynamic and creative, and lead all emulation movements. The city’s remarkable development today across all sectors, including economy, culture and society, national defense and security, and Party building, owes a significant and enduring contribution to the education sector.
On behalf of the Party Committee, the government, and the people of the city, he expressed his deepest gratitude and profound appreciation for the immense, silent, and tireless contributions of countless generations of teachers, who have devoted themselves selflessly, often sacrificing personal interests to serve the nation and the people.
In recent years, the patriotic emulation movement within Ho Chi Minh City’s education sector has made notable strides, marked by several outstanding achievements. The city became the first locality to complete primary education, officially recognized for eradicating illiteracy and providing supplementary education. The city maintained its position among the top three localities nationwide in mass education efficiency while developing specialized schools to cultivate high-quality human resources. HCMC was an early adopter of international-standard foreign language and information technology programs.
The city has piloted the 'Happy School' model in 100 percent of educational institutions, issued a set of criteria and recognized 100 units as meeting the 'Digital School' standard. It has implemented programs to train human resources to international standards and strived to construct thousands of new classrooms, aiming for the target of 300 classrooms per 10,000 residents, the city’s chairman added.
In recognition of these efforts, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee awarded the Traditional Flag to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training.
Additionally, the Minister of Education and Training presented Certificates of Merit to four collectives and five individuals for outstanding achievements in the sector’s activities. The four honored collectives are the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, its Office; Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted in Cho Quan Ward, and Le Quy Don High School in Xuan Hoa Ward.
The five individuals awarded Certificates of Merit by the Minister of Education and Training are Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, Nguyen Van Hieu; Deputy Directors of the Department of Education and Training, Nguyen Thi Nhat Hang and Tran Thi Ngoc Chau; Principal of Tan Tuc High School, Nguyen Thanh Tong; and Dinh Lan Phuong, a teacher at Nguyen Dinh Chieu Special School.
