Many commune-level education officials are bachelors of land management and livestock engineers.

Mr. Thai Van Tai, Director of the General Education Department (Ministry of Education and Training), said that in some localities, the arrangement of educational management personnel at the commune level ( Culture and Social Affairs Department of the People's Committee at the commune level) currently only meets the quantity requirement; however, it is in the style of "filling up jobs" without considering the quality and arrangement of suitable people.

Reports from many localities show that up to 50% of commune-level administrative units do not have leaders or officials who have worked in the education sector to monitor and manage the state in the education sector.

The Department of Culture and Society of the People's Committee at the commune level lacks staff with deep expertise in managing educational activities at schools, making it difficult to improve the quality of education and in managing and using civil servants.

Mr. Thai Van Tai, Director of General Education Department (Ministry of Education and Training).

According to the guidelines, each Department of Culture and Society will arrange a maximum of 2 positions in charge of the education sector. With a total of 3,321 communes, wards and special zones after the arrangement of the 2-level government apparatus, more than 6,000 commune-level civil servants are needed.

However, according to Mr. Pham Tuan Anh, Deputy Director of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training), up to now, the assignment and arrangement of specialized departments under the People's Committees at the commune level in general and the team of commune-level civil servants in charge of education and training in particular are not suitable for job positions and quantity norms.

Localities have not yet met the demand for civil servants in charge of education. According to quick reports from some localities, many Departments of Culture and Society can only arrange one civil servant in charge of education.

Mr. Pham Tuan Anh, Deputy Director of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training).

A quick survey with data on about 1,000 civil servants who were assigned to work at the Department of Culture and Society at the commune level, assigned to be in charge of the education sector, found that 303 people had worked at the Department of Education and Training (old); 395 people had professional qualifications trained in pedagogy and education, the rest were in other sectors and fields. Many people had never worked in education.

Statistics on training level and work unit before being assigned to the Department of Culture - Society and assigned to a job position in charge of the education sector show that many people do not have expertise in education, nor have they ever had experience in education.

Statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training also show that in some localities, only 20% or less than 30% of commune-level education officials have professional qualifications or work experience in the education sector. There are even cases where they have professional qualifications in "unrelated" fields such as bachelor's degrees in land management, animal husbandry engineering, etc.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son spoke at the seminar.

At the seminar, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that it is necessary to recognize that the role of the commune level must certainly be different from before. He said that when innovating, there will be initial difficulties but we should not have a pessimistic view. Grasping the situation and finding solutions to overcome difficulties must be based on the spirit of reorganizing and building a two-level local government to have a better management system and educational activities than before. "That means we do this work not just with the mindset of coping with and solving difficulties," said Mr. Son.

Mr. Son said that the Ministry of Education and Training is implementing a plan to inspect and monitor the implementation of the two-level government apparatus related to education.

Listening to opinions at the discussion is also a channel to grasp the situation and remove difficulties to best operate the two-level local government.

“Supporting commune-level education officials in their activities is a key and urgent task in the coming time. These statistics are not complaints or grievances but to grasp the situation and from there provide support solutions,” said Mr. Son.