The number and level of diplomas and certificates held by officials have risen, but qualifications of these officials are not at the same level, said a senior official from the Home Affairs Ministry.
 |
The chief of the Ministry of Home Affairs’ Administrative Reform Department, Dinh Duy Hoa. |
Reviewing ten years of administrative reform, Hoa said:
Personally, in terms of institutional reforms, we have achieved positive results. In the last ten years, the National Assembly (NA) and the NA Standing Committee have approved many laws and ordinances. Through the public’s response, I think that these measures have been appropriate.
As to reforms of the state apparatus, we have successfully simplified administrative agencies, from 48 to only 22 ministries and ministerial agencies and eight agencies under the Government. Many tasks have been decentralized and administrative agencies have gained financial autonomy.
How about limitations?
I think there are many things that we have not attained. For example, we have not met the Politburo’s expectations on improving the qualifications and ethics of officials. The people and businesses still complain a lot about officials.
One of the targets of the 2001-2010 administrative reform programs is that, by 2005, government employees could support their families with their salaries and we have failed to achieve this goal. Government employees cannot support their families on their salaries. We will have to find out the reasons.
You said that the qualifications and morality of officials don’t meet the requirements, but the number and level of diplomas held by officials are on the rise. Why?
That is a difficult but interesting question. Over the past ten years, we have made personnel reforms. To become officials and to improve their qualifications, people have to pass recruitment exams so they have to study to get diplomas and certificates to meet the standards. This is good, but there is a long story behind the quality of these diplomas and certificates.
Do we set too high standards for our officials? One of the standards for high-ranking experts is that they must speak English fluently. Is this necessary for district-level experts or only experts at central and provincial levels? We have to reconsider this.
Actually, the number and level of diplomas and certificates have risen, but qualifications of these officials are not at the same level.
Reviewing ten years of administrative reforms in order to enter a new 10-year program (2011-2020), what did we learn from the previous period?
We have to choose a goal for the next 10-year period. Personally, I think that reforms must be focused on officials. If officials don’t change through reforms, other fields of reforms will be affected.
First of all, we need to re-set the standards for government employees and to use these standards to recruit officials strictly through exams.
Noted by Hien Anh
Comments
You must be logged in to post a comment.
