Most reader opinions sent to VietNamNet discussing the policy of "merging provinces, abolishing county-level administration, and reorganizing communes" suggest that a fair examination should be held to reselect commune-level officials, as the workload that commune officers have to undertake will be more challenging.

This exam ensures fairness and equality for all officials, civil servants, and public employees from the commune to provincial levels, regardless of the type of degree they hold. A degree is not the sole determinant of job performance, especially at the grassroots level.

Reader Hoang Son said working directly with people at the grassroots level requires effort even for those with excellent university degrees, as they often face unexpected, undocumented tasks not found in any manual.

“I’ve seen many officials with full qualifications who work timidly, unable to apply textbook knowledge to reality. They just handle documents in Word or Excel. Degrees, in the end, are just for determining salary coefficients. Meanwhile, there are a ton of tasks you have to take,” Son said.

Doan Ngoc said in his locality, a deputy head of the Internal Affairs Sub-department with a master’s degree wrote an invitation letter without a meeting date and dealt with a document for five months.

Ngoc suggested that when merging communes and abolishing districts, all officers should be given equal opportunities to retain their jobs at the commune level.

All should take a written exam, including English comprehension, drafting documents by hand and on computers, regardless of whether they hold elementary, intermediate, university, or master’s degrees, to avoid favoritism.

Another opinion held that degrees only reflect initial qualifications and don’t fully demonstrate practical working ability, especially for managerial roles where leadership qualities matter more than credentials.

In reality, some individuals “buy degrees” to secure positions. Therefore, instead of assessing competence solely through degrees or multiple-choice entry exams, it’s better to combine evaluations with years of work results or assign specific KPIs to measure performance, this reader suggested.

How to conduct exam?

Many agree that exams and assessments are necessary, but how they’re conducted remains a question. “In my opinion, selection should be based on age, qualifications, and actual competence,” reader Hoang Loc said.

Nguyen Kien proposed a transparent three-round recruitment process: a shortlisting round, a multiple-choice and essay exam round (graded by machine with immediate results), and a direct interview round focusing on job-related skills and communication with the public.

Nguyen Dang Sang added that beyond exams, evaluating work history and job outcomes would be the most accurate approach. This reveals professional competence, responsibility, dynamism, creativity, organizational discipline, professional ethics, and lifestyle. Of course, such assessments must be fair, objective, and unbiased.

Reader Nguyen Hoang commented that civil service exam in Vietnam is difficult and stringent, while candidates must show numerous degrees and certificates. Still, after a while, they have been found as incapable officers.

Meanwhile, private companies don’t conduct candidates’ assessments this way. Foreign companies are even more practical. They choose workers based on candidates’ real capability and work results, not degrees.

He suggested reforming the recruitment process for civil servants and public employees. It’d be better not to raise too many theoretical questions, but try to find the skills to handle unexpected, complex situations. The best officers are those who can resolve problems effectively. 

To prevent irregularities, some suggested organizing assessments like driver’s license tests, i.e., answering questions using computers with camera monitoring. Handwritten exams graded by people are prone to corruption.

The draft amendment to the Law on Officials and Civil Servants, proposed by MHA, proposes numerous regulations on assessments and mechanisms for screening the cadre of officials and civil servants based on the principle of competition. 

There is a transitional clause stipulating that commune-level officials and civil servants who do not meet the standards and conditions required for their job positions will be reviewed and decided upon for streamlining by the competent authority, in accordance with the regulations in effect at the time of streamlining.

Nguyen Thao