Vietnam’s School-System Shake-Up: 30% Fewer Public Institutions by August

Prime minister's July 20 directive mandates consolidation of public schools, with 50% reduction in strong economic areas. Decrees and staffing guidelines support the restructuring.

The Vietnamese government has set a sweeping deadline for its education network: the number of public schools must drop by at least 30 percent from the July 1, 2025 baseline by August 30. In economically strong areas, the target climbs to a 50 percent reduction. The order, issued by the prime minister on July 20, forces local authorities to consolidate campuses, merge multi-level schools, and shutter branches — though pre-schools must never be combined with general-education schools.

Behind the radical cut lies a broader restructuring of the public sector. Two decrees from the first half of the year provide the legal framework: Decree 93/2026 (March 31) and the supplementary Decree 232/2026 (June 26), which took effect on July 1. On the same day as the prime minister’s demand, the Ministry of the Interior released new guidelines for job descriptions in schools, aimed at helping communes align their staffing plans with central regulations.

Until now, local officials often struggled to decide whether to base personnel planning on subject-specific circulars or on allocated staffing quotas. The new documents aim to resolve that confusion. But the job-profile guidance is inseparable from the drastic downsizing: fewer schools mean fewer posts.

Ho Chi Minh City illustrates the scale of the challenge. On July 20, the city presented three restructuring options for its 1,891 public educational institutions. The most radical scenario would eliminate 757 schools to meet the government’s target. Less aggressive plans involve merging multiple campuses or converting some sites into administrative hubs.

While Vietnam pushes forward with top-down reform, German education authorities face a very different set of pressures. The Gelsenkirchen Administrative Court in mid-July rejected a teacher’s urgent request for a transfer, citing severe staff shortages in the current school district. The court ruled that ensuring classroom coverage takes precedence over individual preferences.

In Brandenburg, the education minister on July 20 spoke out against a blanket smartphone ban in schools. After incidents involving secretly taken photos at a gymnasium, he advocated for age-appropriate, pedagogically guided use of digital devices rather than an outright prohibition. Meanwhile, the cultural and sports office of the city of Hue demanded stricter controls on digital content in educational materials, prompted by a controversial exercise in a primary-school workbook.