However, with the aim of undermining the policy, some organisations and individuals have posted a large amount of false and distorted information, as well as unfounded allegations, in an attempt to misrepresent the nature of the policy, thereby making baseless accusations against the Party and State, spreading confusion and stirring public discontent.
The reorganisation of public educational establishments helps reduce the number of management units, while aiming to establish educational establishments of appropriate size based on population distribution and transport conditions, while also improving the quality of education, using resources effectively, and meeting the country's development requirements.
On July 6, 2026, the Government issued Resolution No. 180/NQ-CP, which contains a separate section on preparations for the new 2026-2027 academic year. It clearly states that the Government and Prime Minister strictly implement the Party's policies and the directions given at the conference chaired by Party General Secretary and State President To Lam on preparations for the new 2026-2027 academic year.
Accordingly, the Ministry of Education and Training was tasked with taking the lead and coordinating with ministries, agencies, and localities to complete the reorganisation of public educational service units before August 30, 2026. It was also tasked with guiding localities in reviewing and reorganising school and class networks as well as ensuring sufficient teachers, textbooks, and essential teaching equipment, particularly in remote and isolated areas, areas inhabited by ethnic minority communities, mountainous and border areas, and islands.
By August 24, 34 localities had approved plans for reorganising public educational establishments. The total number of public educational establishments was expected to fall from 37,530 to 18,548, a reduction of 18,982 units (50.6%). It should be made clear that this reduction of more than half refers to administrative management units, with many schools being merged under a single legal entity and management apparatus.
The core objective of the reorganisation is to address the fragmented and dispersed school network, with many small school sites resulting in scattered investment from the state budget and inadequate and unsynchronised facilities, while teacher staffing in many places is simultaneously experiencing shortages and localised surpluses. Merging management units is intended to create schools of more appropriate size, under models featuring one main school with branches and school sites, or multi-level schools, so as to concentrate resources and improve the quality of teaching and learning.
In policy documents, the principle of protecting students' rights is set out specifically. The requirement stated by the Prime Minister in Official Letter No. 777/TTgTCCV (dated July 10, 2026) establishes the principle that the reorganisation of public preschool, general, continuing, and vocational education establishments at the provincial and commune levels must be compatible with the two-tier local government model, socio-economic development plans, population size, and development space; the objectives of improving education quality, investment efficiency.
Governance capacity must serve as the consistent and sustainable orientation; reorganisation must not be carried out mechanically merely to reduce the number of units; and students must under no circumstances be prevented from attending school because of difficult circumstances.
Regarding personnel at schools after mergers, which has become one of the issues targeted by distorted claims portraying the policy as being driven by “sharing out benefits” and “mass teacher cuts”, the results cited above have in fact affirmed the policy's humanitarian nature.
The reorganisation has helped reduce around 32,625 principal and vice-principal positions and 11,041 administrative staff positions. However, most of these people have not lost their jobs as alleged; they have instead been reassigned to teaching positions or transferred to work as education officials at the commune level. As a result, the number of teaching staff positions that need to be filled for the 2026-2027 academic year has fallen sharply, from more than 104,500 to more than 43,200.
Thus, the long-standing problem of teacher shortages is being partly addressed through the reorganisation of the apparatus. Government Resolution No. 37/2026/NQ-CP (dated August 5, 2026) has also provided a legal framework for localities to assign surplus personnel to positions suited to their capabilities and aspirations.
Another aspect that hostile elements are deliberately ignoring is the effort to ensure that teaching and learning are not interrupted during the transition. Local education sectors have coordinated with providers of school management software to synchronise and retain student records, teacher data, assets and equipment between old and new schools, avoiding disruption at the beginning of the academic year.
The Ministry of Education and Training said it would deploy a national digital education management platform to support larger schools in operating more smoothly, with absolutely no situation of “doing things hastily and chasing achievements” as ill-intentioned elements have fabricated.
It is also necessary to frankly acknowledge that a policy with such a large-scale impact cannot avoid certain disruptions. The education sector itself has acknowledged that some indicators need to continue to be monitored after the reorganisation, such as the rate of enrolling three- to five-year-old children in classes and the number of establishments providing boarding services, which have tended to decline slightly in some disadvantaged areas.
These are genuine concerns arising from implementation in practice and need to be listened to and addressed by authorities and sectors at all levels. However, a clear distinction must be made between localised difficulties that have been identified and are being addressed, and claims that deliberately exaggerate problems and attribute profit-seeking motives in order to turn a sound policy into a target for attack and sabotage — a familiar tactic of hostile elements seeking to steer public opinion towards their own objectives with the aim of creating doubt, undermining social trust, and dividing the great national unity bloc.
Of particular concern, the transition period between school models is being exploited by some bad actors who impersonate education management officials and school administrators to text and call parents, using reasons such as “paying to reserve a place” and “updating student information” to lure them into accessing links or installing unfamiliar applications in order to steal bank accounts and personal information.
This shows that periods of significant organisational change can provide favourable conditions for both political disinformation and profit-driven scams to proliferate, exploiting parents' concerns.
Against this backdrop, parents, teachers, and the public need to remain highly vigilant. The policy of merging public schools is a necessary step in the process of reforming and improving the quality of national education. Correctly understanding the nature, objectives and significance of this policy will not only help strengthen public trust but also create consensus for building a quality, modern, and sustainable Vietnamese education system.
For any information related to the merger of schools in their locality, people should seek information through official channels of the school, the commune-level People's Committee, the Department of Education and Training, or the local government's information portal, rather than hastily believing an edited video clip or an anonymous post from an unclear source. For specific concerns or questions, the most effective approach is to report them directly to the school or education management agency for clarification, rather than spreading unverified information on social media.
Officials and Party members, particularly those working in the education sector, need to take the initiative and persist in combating and rebutting erroneous views from the grassroots level, using practical knowledge and specific, convincing evidence. Some individuals may be affected by school mergers, but if the common interests of the national education system are placed above all else, sacrificing individual interests is necessary.
Leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training have emphasised that the August 30 deadline is not the end point but the starting point for a new phase of operation. The task after the reorganisation is to ensure that students receive a better education, teachers have better working conditions, and the education system operates more effectively. This is also why the policy, when implemented, has received broad understanding, support, and cooperation from large numbers of teachers and society as a whole.
