What does digital transformation mean for a preschool?
For a preschool, digital transformation means moving how the school manages, communicates and decides, from paper registers and scattered messages to unified digital data that is entered once and reused many times. The goal is not to buy more software. It is to cut paperwork for teachers, give parents the information they need and let school leaders see what is happening through accurate data.
For early childhood education, Vietnam's Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) sets a clear scope: digital technology is used mainly to support school management, teachers' professional development, the design of educational activities and cooperation with families, while protecting children's health, safety and privacy and fitting their developmental stage (Document 6020/BGDĐT-KHCNTT, school year 2026–2027). In other words, preschool digital transformation centres on adults and operations, not on putting young children in front of screens.
Policy framework: the documents schools should know
These are the main documents shaping digital transformation in Vietnamese early childhood education as of October 2026. Schools should read the original texts and their provincial Department of Education's guidance, because detailed plans are issued locally.
| Document | What it means for preschools |
|---|---|
| Decision 131/QĐ-TTg (25 January 2022) | National scheme on IT and digital transformation in education, 2022–2025 with a vision to 2030. Targets for 2025: every education institution uses data-driven school management; every learner and teacher has a digital record with a nationally unified ID; 80% of facilities and equipment are managed through digital records. |
| Law on Digital Transformation No. 148/2025/QH15 | Passed on 11 December 2025, in force from 1 July 2026, replacing the 2006 IT Law. A framework law for digital transformation; it does not replace sector laws on data, e-transactions or cybersecurity. |
| Official letter 5385/BGDĐT-GDMN (12 August 2026) | Guidance for preschool tasks in 2026–2027: move from record-based management to data-driven governance; data on children, staff, facilities and nutrition that is “accurate, complete, clean and live”; cut duplicate records, registers and reports; from semester one, no records beyond those MOET requires; protect the personal data of children and families. |
| Document 6020/BGDĐT-KHCNTT (8 September 2026) | Priority digital transformation tasks: data that is “accurate, complete, clean, live, consistent and shared”; “enter once, use many times”; piloting shared national school-management platforms; rules for AI use; information security and personal data protection. Provincial departments must finish reviewing and cleaning sector data by 30 October 2026. |
What this means for an individual school
The direction is clear: MOET wants a shift from scattered data to unified data, from standalone software to shared, connected platforms, and no re-entry of data that already exists (6020). MOET has also run a sector-wide database covering preschool through secondary school since 2018 (Tạp chí Giáo dục). So when choosing tools, a school should prioritise the ability to export and connect data with the sector's systems as its provincial Department directs, rather than an isolated application.
A four-stage roadmap: records → communication → operations → analytics
No school needs to do everything at once. The roadmap moves from a data foundation to using that data; each stage starts only once the previous one runs smoothly. How long each stage takes depends on the school's size and resources, so set your own milestones.
| Stage | Main work | What success looks like | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Digital records | Standardise records for children, teachers, staff, classes and facilities; clean the data; set who can view and edit what | Each child and teacher has one accurate, current record; no more duplicate spreadsheets | Digitising paper forms as they are, including fields nobody uses |
| 2. Communication | One official channel with parents: notices, attendance, menus, health, events; clear rules on who sends what and when | Parents know where to find information; teachers stop answering the same question many times | Running many personal chat groups, with children's photos spreading out of control |
| 3. Operations | Move attendance, meals, cashless fee collection, schedules, education plans and routine reports onto the same data | Reports come from existing data with no re-entry; fewer duplicate registers, as MOET requires | A separate app for every task, with data that does not connect |
| 4. Analytics | Track attendance, nutrition, group-level development and facility use; leaders use the numbers to adjust | Spot issues early (for example falling attendance in one class) and act on them | Building attractive dashboards before stage-one data is clean |
Where to start with limited resources
Pick the single task that wastes the most time today (usually attendance and reporting, or parent communication), do it well on clean data, measure the result, then expand. In line with MOET's guidance, each step should produce something concrete rather than spreading effort thin.
People and training: the deciding factor
Decision 131/QĐ-TTg puts learners and teachers at the centre of digital transformation and treats the benefit they receive as the main measure of success. Document 6020 stresses the responsibility of school heads and says digital transformation is a shared task tied to teaching work, not just the IT team's job (6020). For a preschool, this means the principal leads it directly rather than handing it to one 'good with computers' teacher.
- Name one digital transformation lead and one data owner, with real time allocated to the work.
- Train by role: teachers learn attendance, daily logs and messaging; accountants learn fee collection; leaders learn to read reports.
- Run short, repeated sessions on the school's own data instead of one long training day.
- Provide a one-page guide for each common task and a named person to ask when stuck.
- Measure the burden: regularly ask teachers which tasks got faster or slower after digitising, and adjust.
Engaging parents
Official letter 5385 calls for genuine cooperation between school, family and community, prioritising practical information about children's health, development and safety (5385/BGDĐT-GDMN). Digital channels make this more regular, but only with clear rules.
Practical rules: use one official channel the school controls; agree which messages are daily and which are as-needed; do not post photos that identify other children in shared channels without consent; keep a suitable option for families who rarely use smartphones. Our guide to preschool parent communication apps covers how to choose a channel.
Keeping children's data safe
Preschool children's data is sensitive: names, dates of birth, health, photos and family details. Both letter 5385 and document 6020 require information security and protection of children's and families' personal data; 6020 specifically mentions account management, access control, system logs, backup, data recovery and incident response plans (6020).
The specific legal duties for children's personal data are covered in our articles on children's data protection in preschools and Vietnam's 2025 Personal Data Protection Law. The minimum steps are:
- Collect as little as possible: only the fields truly needed for care, education and required reporting.
- Use role-based access: teachers see only their class, parents see only their own child.
- Get written parental consent for taking, storing and sharing children's photos.
- Turn on access logs and regular backups; test a restore at least once.
- Sign a data-processing agreement with each software vendor and know where the data is stored.
Infrastructure basics
Document 6020 encourages shared infrastructure and platforms and renting cloud services as permitted, rather than building everything separately (6020). For most preschools, that means no server room; what matters is a stable connection and enough devices.
| Item | Guidance |
|---|---|
| Internet connection | Wi-Fi covering the office and classrooms; a backup link (such as 4G) for the office |
| Devices | At least one school-owned device per class for teachers; office computers for accounts and leadership |
| Accounts | Individual accounts, no shared passwords; disable accounts when staff leave |
| Backup | Automatic backups with a separate copy; a named person responsible for restores |
| Classroom screens | Use only for specific educational activities, with age-appropriate duration and teacher-chosen content |
On backup and recovery
See our guide to backup and disaster recovery for SMEs; its principles apply to small schools too.
AI in preschools: in the right place
MOET encourages AI to help teachers prepare lessons, build learning materials and design activities, and to help managers compile and analyse data; it also requires AI output to be verified and states that AI does not replace the professional and decision-making responsibility of teachers and managers. Education institutions are asked to issue AI-use rules stating where AI may be used, restricted or not used (6020).
In preschools, the most sensible place for AI is adult work: drafting notices, suggesting activity ideas, summarising reports. Do not put children's personal data into public AI tools without a data-processing agreement. Our article on AI in early childhood education discusses these limits further.
Measuring progress
Document 6020 asks for digital transformation to be counted in concrete outputs, results and impact, with convenience, efficiency and service quality as the yardstick, and to reduce procedures, records, reports and manual steps. The indicators below are suggestions for a school's own tracking; measure the baseline before you start.
| Stage | Indicator | How to measure |
|---|---|---|
| Records | Share of complete, accurate child and teacher records | Periodic sample checks; reconcile with sector data |
| Communication | Share of parents receiving and reading notices on the official channel | Channel statistics; a short survey each semester |
| Operations | Number of registers and reports still done by hand; teacher hours on paperwork per week | List at the start and end of each semester; teachers log one sample week |
| Analytics | Number of leadership decisions informed by data | Note it in meeting minutes |
| Safety | Active accounts of departed staff; date of last restore test | Monthly review |
EYC and Early Years Circle
Disclosure: EYC builds Early Years Circle, a connected operating platform for early childhood education with four experiences, Teacher, Family, Admin and TV, in one cloud-based environment. This article is general guidance; the roadmap applies whichever tools a school chooses. To learn more about the product, see our products page.
Frequently asked questions
Where should a preschool start its digital transformation?
Start with digital records: standardise and clean child, teacher and class records, then digitise the single most time-consuming task first (usually attendance, reporting or parent communication). Each step should show measurable results before you expand.
What targets does Decision 131/QĐ-TTg set for schools?
By 2025: every education institution uses data-driven school management; every learner and teacher is managed through a digital record with a nationally unified ID; 80% of facilities and equipment are managed through digital records.
When does the 2025 Law on Digital Transformation take effect?
Law No. 148/2025/QH15 was passed by the National Assembly on 11 December 2025 and took effect on 1 July 2026, replacing the 2006 Law on Information Technology.
Should preschool children use digital devices at school?
MOET's guidance says digital technology in preschools is mainly for management, teacher development, activity design and family cooperation, while protecting children's health, safety, privacy and developmental needs. Classroom screens should be used only for specific activities with teacher-chosen content.
How can a school tell whether digital transformation is working?
Measure a baseline and track it: registers and reports still done by hand, teacher time on paperwork, share of parents reached through the official channel, completeness of records and the number of decisions informed by data.