Over 22 million students nationwide begin 2016-2017 academic year

President Tran Dai Quang on Monday attended the opening ceremony for this academic year at Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted in Hanoi.

In his address, President Quang underscored the importance of this academic year which is part of the plan for implementing 12^th Party Congress Resolution and the strategy on education development by 2020.

He called on the school to do the utmost to become an education center of high quality for Hanoi and Vietnam as a whole.

President Quang also asked the school's leaders to increase exchanges and international cooperation with world leading facilities to get more information and experience, improve the quality of teaching, learning, and research.

The same day, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc visited Nguyen Dinh Chieu   Secondary School, a facility to support vision-impaired children in Hanoi.

At the opening ceremony for the school year, Mr. Phuc reiterated continued efforts to work with the National Education Council to successfully reform the sector. He also asked Nguyen Dinh Chieu School to develop a website to link itself with the outside world.

In Vung Tau City, National Assembly Chairwoman Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan joined students at Le Quy Don High School in welcoming the new school year. She said she hoped the school would tap the achievements of the past 25 years to become an educational center for Ba Ria Vung Tau Province.

Madam Ngan said she believed "the Party, government, and parents of students here have high expectations for the school and its achievements. This academic year, the school should do the utmost to attain the highest results."

In Son La, Vice Chair of the National Assembly Tong Thi Phong attended a ceremony with children at Nguyen Trai Secondary School. With about 800 pupils, it is one of the best schools in Son La Province.

Sixth-grader Pham Tran Dieu Linh said: "I'm honored and proud to be a student of Nguyen Trai Secondary School. I promise to study well to get good grades."

NA Vice Chair Phong then presented gifts to the students and planted a commemorative tree. President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Nguyen Thien Nhan beat the drum to begin the new school year at the boarding-school for ethnic students in Tuyen Quang province. NA Vice President Dang Thi Ngoc Thinh attended the new-school year ceremony of Luong The Vinh school for the Gifted in Bien Hoa city.