Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Tran Anh Tuan spoke to Viet Nam Economics Times about measures to boost the performances of civil servants.

An unofficial report says Viet Nam now has 2.8 million public employees, but the work performance of one third of them is below the required level. How do you respond to such a report?

I should say there will be no room for such people in the near future. Upon learning of the report, the Ministry of Home Affairs has launched investigations and surveys in order to come up with a precise evaluation of the real situation so that we can correct it.

All we ask is for people working in the public services to be devoted and responsible.

The ministry’s proposal on “Reform of the Civil Service System” has been approved by the Prime Minister. It includes several measures to ensure the Vietnamese civil service is fit for its purpose of managing the economy, its people and its resources for the continuing prosperity of the country.

Which specific measures are included in the proposal?

In the near future, all senior public servants will be subjected to a screening test to ensure they are qualified for the work they are assigned to.

In addition, a policy for awarding and sanctioning those with strong or poor performances will also be in place. For the worst offenders, they will be dismissed from their positions.

Does the proposal include a measure requiring recruitment tests to be much tougher than those at present?

Yes, you’re quite right. We are in the process of developing regulations for organising recruitment tests for civil servants or promotion tests for senior positions. Guiding principles in these tests are objectivity, fairness, quality and comparativeness so that only qualified candidates for the vacancies will be selected.

Do you think your ministry will be the first government agency to apply the new recruitment regulations?

We applied the new regulations straight away for the first recruitment test in January.

There were five parts to the test, of which three parts were completed online in the form of multiple choice while the other two were in the traditional essay format.

We hope these changes will make the test fair to everyone and that the successful candidates will be the right people for the jobs.

The ministry also plans to install surveillance cameras at all testing sites to ensure the tests are taken in an objective and fair environment.

VNS