Vietnam needs 22,000 additional teachers to make English second language in 2030
Vietnam’s preschools will need 12,000 more English teachers and primary schools an additional 10,000 by 2030 to meet the country’s second-language goal.
THE HANOI TIMES — Vietnam will need 22,000 English teachers at the preschool and primary levels to achieve its goal of making English the country’s second language in schools by 2030, according to the Ministry of Education and Training.
The information was shared on September 22 at a workshop on the draft project “Making English the Second Language in Schools for 2025–2035, with a vision to 2045”.
Vietnam requires an additional 22,000 English teachers to achieve second-language goal by 2030. Photo: Kinh te & Do thi Newspaper
Thai Van Tai, Director of the ministry’s Department of General Education, said that Vietnam must add 12,000 preschool teachers and 10,000 primary school teachers to teach English. In total, the country will need to train about 200,000 English teachers.
Vietnam currently has over 1.05 million preschool and general education teachers, with about 30,000 teaching English.
English is a compulsory subject for third graders with certain requirements regarding their peformances and results.
Under Government Decree 222/2025 on foreign language teaching, primary and lower secondary teachers must reach level B2, while upper secondary teachers must reach level C1 in Vietnam’s foreign language competency framework.
According to experts, teacher training and incentives are decisive factors.
Professor Huynh Van Son, Rector of Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, noted that current human resources and technology could meet demand if organized and used effectively.
Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong said that reforming teacher training and applying technology and artificial intelligence are crucial.
He also highlighted the importance of promoting English-learning movements and replicating successful models in localities.
The project “Making English the Second Language in Schools for 2025-2035 and until 2045” aims for English to be widely used by 2045 in 50,000 schools with about 30 million students and one million teachers and lecturers.
The roadmap has three phases: five years (2025–2030), 10 years (2030–2040) and five years (2040–2045).
It maps out several key solutions such as raising public awareness, improving the legal framework, strengthening the teaching workforce, developing curricula and materials, reforming testing and assessment as well as applying technology and artificial intelligence.
