The Ministry of Education and Training reported that nearly 23 million students would be attending schools this year, including 4.87 million at kindergartens, 15.7 million at primary and high schools, and 2.46 million at colleges. The country has about 1.3 million teachers and lecturers.

In the direction sent to schools nationwide before the new school year, Minister of Education and Training, Phung Xuan Nha pointed out five tasks of the sector, with improved better teaching standards the central point.

"This will not be the key task for only the 2016-2017 school year but for many years to come," Nha stressed. "The 1.3 million teachers will decide the success of the reforms which we recently began."

The education minister said enthusiasm alone among teachers was not enough.

"They’re also required to have proper qualifications, competence, and determination," he said. "We’ll carry out tighter inspections of teacher quality at schools and sack teachers who don’t meet requirements."

In a letter sent to teachers and pupils on the occasion of the new school year, President Tran Dai Quang also said the sector needed to focus on improving the quality of teachers and administration staff, tighten discipline and pay attention to teaching non-academic subjects such as civic, personal and social development and soft skills.

The president also asked the education sector to invest more in education and training in remote and border areas and islands, as well as for revolutionary veterans.

"It must improve the quality of comprehensive education to meet socio-economic development requirements and better serve the country’s modernisation," he said.