All schools from urban to rural areas, and from the highlands to the lowlands, have been decorated with colourful flowers and slogans to welcome the well-dressed students.

The Ministry of Education and Training reported that this academic year has 22.042 million students and pupils, of whom those in primary and secondary grades make up 72 percent.

This year, the ministry will focus on reforming management and improving the quality of education. To this end, it has adopted solutions for regulating State budget allocations to schools. Accordingly, priority will be given to the universalisation of primary education and literacy, especially in disadvantaged areas, better pay for teachers and financial support for poor students.

To improve the quality of education, the ministry will encourage schools to stop teaching students only through reading and writing and adopt new approaches to stimulate their creativity.

*** Also on September 5, Deputy Prime Minister cum Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan attended an opening ceremony for the new academic year at the Le Quy Don High School for Gifted Students in the central city of Da Nang. This year the school aims to raise the number of students who pass tertiary entrance exams to 100 percent.