Vietnam Orders School Smartphone and Social Media Plan as Local Restrictions Spread

A national plan for phones, lessons and social media

Vietnam has ordered the Ministry of Education and Training to develop a comprehensive plan for managing smartphones and social media in educational institutions, bringing national policy discussions alongside restrictions already spreading through schools in Ho Chi Minh City and other localities.

The government assigned the task in Resolution 353/NQ-CP, dated November 6, 2026, which records decisions from its regular October meeting. The ministry will lead the work with other agencies and local authorities and submit the plan for approval, with arrangements suited to different education levels.

The Government News Portal's account of the resolution also sets out instructions to reduce curriculum and textbook workloads, address shortages of schools and classrooms, and prevent school violence. Phone management is therefore part of a wider effort to change both classroom conditions and student behaviour.

For families, the immediate position is that the government has commissioned a plan. The announcement gives no submission deadline or detailed national rules on collection, storage, exceptions or penalties.

The central policy problem reaches beyond stopping students from scrolling during lessons. Schools also use social platforms for notices, homework and communication. Restricting entertainment while keeping those school functions accessible will require decisions about where learning happens online.

What students can do under existing rules

Since 2020, regulations for lower and upper secondary schools have allowed students to use phones during lessons for learning purposes with a teacher's permission. A student might, for example, search for reference material when a lesson requires it. Permission depends on the educational task and the teacher's approval.

The existing rules do not prohibit phone use during recess. That leaves a practical gap between controlling devices during a lesson and managing them throughout the school day, including the periods when children are outside classrooms.

Some local authorities have responded by requiring tighter management. Schools in several places collect students' phones before the first lesson and return them after dismissal. This approach controls access across the day rather than asking each teacher to monitor devices separately.

Ho Chi Minh City has also moved to limit use during breaks. More than 500 schools there have restricted phones at recess and arranged other activities for students. These local measures give the ministry existing practices to consider as it develops the national framework.

Ho Chi Minh City pairs restrictions with activities

Ho Chi Minh City's education authorities announced a programme for the 2025-2026 academic year that would begin with 16 pilot schools and expand across the city from January 2026. The planned expansion and the subsequent count of more than 500 schools describe different stages of implementation; the citywide schedule was an intended rollout.

The scale is substantial. The city has more than 3,500 schools and about 2.5 million students, making supervision, communication with families and the organisation of breaks important parts of delivery.

Schools were asked to combine restrictions with awareness campaigns and alternatives such as sports, cultural performances, folk games, reading sessions and clubs teaching life skills. The approach gives children something to do when their phones are put away, rather than relying on prohibition alone.

Nguyen Van Hieu, director of the municipal Department of Education and Training, identified data leaks, cyberbullying and online abduction as risks associated with uncontrolled phone use. He said the aim was to guide sensible use without disrupting study or essential communication, while encouraging students to spend breaks interacting with friends and teachers.

How the policy has developed

Vietnam's school phone rules, local restrictions and wider proposals for children's social media use have developed on separate schedules. The main dates show how classroom permission has been followed by broader controls:

• 2020: Secondary school regulations allow phones in lessons for learning with teacher approval, while leaving recess use unrestricted.
• July 2025: A reader survey involving more than 13,300 respondents records 84% support for banning student phone use at school.
• 2025-2026 academic year: Ho Chi Minh City schedules restrictions during breaks, starting with 16 pilot schools.
• January 2026: The city sets this month as the planned start of wider expansion.
• March 2026: Figures attributed to UNESCO put school phone bans in 114 education systems.
• November 6, 2026: Resolution 353/NQ-CP assigns the education ministry to develop a comprehensive national management plan.

The reader survey captures strong support among those who chose to participate. Its respondents were readers, rather than a nationally representative sample of Vietnamese families or students.

A second proposal would restrict online interaction

A draft amendment to Decree 147/2024/ND-CP addresses a related issue: what children younger than 16 can do on social media. It proposes preventing their accounts from posting, commenting, sharing content or reacting to posts, while allowing them to access and view content.

The draft would also require platforms to identify users younger than 16, provide suitable content and proactively prevent access to material involving violence, pornography, gambling, drugs, suicide and dangerous challenges. These are proposed duties for the companies operating the services.

Under the decree introduced in 2024, parents or guardians must register social media accounts for children younger than 16 using their own information and supervise the children's activity. The proposed changes would give platforms a larger role in applying protections.

The two policy efforts operate in different places. A school phone rule governs use within an educational setting. An age based platform restriction follows the child's account beyond school hours. Their connection becomes especially important when teachers assign work or send notices through the same services children use for entertainment.

Students worry about losing school connections

Doan Lieu Gia Phuc, a ninth grade student at Van Don Secondary School in Ho Chi Minh City, described concern about keeping in touch with classmates and exchanging homework if social media interaction becomes heavily restricted.

"If the restrictions are too severe, it would be inconvenient, but I think the regulations also have a good side: they want to protect us from harmful content," Phuc said.

Phuc described a class in which social media use is widespread. TikTok, Roblox and Messenger are used for entertainment or messaging, while Facebook and Zalo are used to check academic notices and exchange assignments with teachers and classmates.

Nguyen Hoang Minh, another ninth grade student at the same school, also anticipated difficulties contacting friends and sharing personal updates. Minh nevertheless supported some restrictions because young users can struggle to select appropriate information and respond sensibly to what they encounter.

The students' concerns point to a concrete task for schools: any move away from social media needs a replacement for the academic communication already happening there. Families need a dependable place to find notices, and students need a way to obtain and submit assignments.

Moving homework away from entertainment feeds

Dr. Nguyen Thi Tham, a lecturer in professional communication at RMIT University Vietnam, recommends dedicated digital learning platforms so that schoolwork does not compete directly with entertainment recommendations.

Tham describes commercial social media as operating through an attention economy. In simple terms, the services benefit when people keep watching and interacting, because that activity supports advertising and the collection of behavioural data. Personalised recommendations help keep users engaged.

Tham warns that rapidly changing short videos, stimulating sounds and immediate rewards can make sustained classroom work feel less appealing to children. Her recommendation is to define each channel's purpose: quick communication may take place on social media, while learning activities should use spaces less shaped by entertainment feeds.

Bui Le Chi Bao, founder and chief executive of Selfomy Educational Technology, similarly argues that schools should move essential tasks such as assigning and grading work to learning management systems. An LMS is a digital platform that organises lessons, assignments, submissions and feedback in one place.

Bao described the problem with putting those tasks on commercial entertainment platforms:

"Putting learning in this environment is like forcing children to study in a noisy room," he remarked.

Dedicated systems could also give teachers clearer boundaries between their professional and personal accounts. Bao points to the burden of seeing and answering messages from students and parents outside working hours when school communication runs through personal social media.

Age checks create another practical challenge

Bao identifies two possible technical approaches if the draft social media changes are approved. Platforms could verify identity to determine age, or use machine learning to estimate whether an account belongs to a child from patterns in its activity and content.

Machine learning means software finding patterns in data and using them to make predictions. In this case, it could help identify accounts likely to belong to younger users. Bao also describes reminders to provide accurate information and links between children's accounts and parental accounts as possible measures.

Identity checks may face legal obstacles, Bao says, while strict bans can encourage children to borrow accounts or enter false ages. He favours restrictions that retain access to useful information while reducing the pressure to keep checking likes and comments.

Dr. Gordon Ingram, a senior lecturer in psychology at RMIT University Vietnam, also identifies reduced exposure to online exploitation as a potential benefit of restrictions. For schools, technical controls would sit alongside the everyday work of supervising students and maintaining reliable learning channels.

International growth and Vietnam's wider school reforms

Figures attributed to UNESCO put school phone bans in 114 education systems, equivalent to 58% of countries and territories, by March 2026. The comparable share was 24% in 2023, an increase of 34 percentage points. Vietnam's national planning therefore comes during a rapid expansion of restrictions internationally.

Within Vietnam, the November resolution connects device management with changes to the content and conditions of education. It directs the ministry to review curricula and textbooks to reduce workload and make learning more practical and effective. The ministry must also work with the Ministry of Finance and local authorities on annual plans to address shortages of schools and classrooms.

The instruction follows the announced free textbook timetable, under which curriculum revisions are planned for completion in 2026, a unified textbook set in 2027 and free provision from the 2028-2029 academic year. Digital skills and classroom technology are being considered while authorities also reconsider when personal devices should be available.

The resolution further requires better management and operation of boarding schools in land border areas. Remaining components at schools in the first phase are to be completed during November 2026, with schools in the second phase due before August 30, 2027. These instructions follow the school restructuring review, which examined oversized institutions and the operation of border schools.

Schools are consequently being asked to manage several connected changes: lighter learning workloads, safer student behaviour, adequate facilities and more controlled use of digital devices. The practical test for the phone plan will be whether those rules preserve access to lessons and essential communication while giving students fewer opportunities for distraction.

Key Points

• Resolution 353/NQ-CP of November 6, 2026, orders a comprehensive plan for smartphone and social media use in educational institutions.
• Existing secondary school rules allow phones for learning with teacher approval and do not prohibit recess use.
• More than 500 Ho Chi Minh City schools have restricted phones during breaks, alongside alternative activities.
• A separate draft would prevent children younger than 16 from posting, commenting, sharing or reacting on social media while allowing viewing.
• Students worry about homework and communication, while educators recommend dedicated learning platforms.
• The government also ordered curriculum workload reductions, plans to address classroom shortages and action against school violence.