1. On December 31, 2023, the Government issued Decree 97/2023/ND-CP amending and supplementing Decree 81/2021/ND-CP on the mechanism for collecting and managing tuition fees for educational institutions under the national education system and policies on tuition fee exemptions, reductions, and support for study costs; service prices in the field of education and training.

Specifically, the amendment to tuition fees for the academic year 2023-2024 is as follows:

• For educational institutions that have not yet ensured regular funding: Maintain the tuition fee collection at the same level as the academic year 2021-2022, which is determined by the Provincial People’s Council and applied locally.
• For educational institutions that have ensured regular funding, self-funded educational institutions, and investment-funded educational institutions: The educational institution determines the tuition fee based on economic-technical norms, cost norms, and submits it to the Provincial People’s Council for consideration and approval.

Refer to Decree 97/2023/ND-CP, which takes effect from December 31, 2023.

2. On December 31, 2023, the Government issued Decree 98/2023/ND-CP providing guidance on the Law on Emulation and Reward 2022, which stipulates the reward amounts for individual titles as follows:

• The title “National Emulation Soldier” is awarded with a Certificate, Frame, Badge, Badge case, and a reward of 4.5 times the basic salary.
• The titles of Emulation Soldier at the level of ministry, department, sector, and province are awarded with a Certificate, Frame, Badge, Badge case, and a reward of 3.0 times the basic salary.
• The title “Base Emulation Soldier” is awarded with a Certificate, Frame, and a reward of 1.0 times the basic salary.
• The titles “Advanced Worker” and “Advanced Soldier” are rewarded with 0.3 times the basic salary.
• The current basic salary is 1,800,000 VND/month (Decree 24/2023/ND-CP).

Refer to Decree 98/2023/ND-CP, which takes effect from January 1, 2024.

3. On December 27, 2023, the Minister of Defense issued Circular 143/2023/TT-BQP regulating disciplinary measures in the Vietnam People’s Army.

Accordingly, the violations of command responsibility are defined as follows:

• Commanders directly and one level above who are found to be lacking in responsibility in management and command, resulting in violations of laws and military discipline by military personnel, civil servants, workers, and defense officials, shall be disciplined from reprimand to higher disciplinary measures or subject to criminal liability, depending on the severity of the offense.
• If one of the following cases is violated, disciplinary measures range from salary reduction, demotion, removal from office, to demotion in military rank:

+ Knowing or discovering signs of subordinates violating but failing to take timely preventive measures;

+ Covering up the violations of subordinates.

• In the case of a deceased violator, based on the investigation and verification results and the nature of the case, the responsibility of the commanding officer shall be determined according to the above regulations.

Refer to Circular 143/2023/TT-BQP, which takes effect from February 15, 2024, replacing Circular 16/2020/TT-BQP. When there are new documents replacing the ones mentioned in Circular 143/2023/TT-BQP, they shall be implemented according to the newly issued documents.