National defense and security will become curriculum subjects at Vietnamese high schools, vocational schools, and higher education institutions as from next year, according to a local law.

The Law on National Defense and Security, which was passed in June this year by the National Assembly and will take effect on January 1, 2014, stipulates that the two fields will be taught officially to students enrolled at the schools from that date.

This means their national defense and security scores will be calculated as part of the grade point average.

National defense and security have been taught to these students but their scoring is now not included in the GPA.

The law also says that knowledge of the two fields will be integrated into curriculum subjects and certain extra-curricular activities at elementary and middle schools.

High and vocational schools will organize national defense and security classes in accordance with existing mainstream curricula.

Higher education institutions run such classes on campus or at designated national defense and security training centers.