General education, as the foundation of the national education system, always is considered as a key-factor in the socio-economic development for any nations, especially developing countries such as Vietnam. This article not only expresses the development journey of general education at Tra Vinh Province from 2016 to 2022, but also highlights the historical lesson on the combination between national policies and local specificities. The period of 2016-2022 was a significant milestone for the transformation of general education at Tra Vinh Province, a province in the Mekong Delta with a population of approximately one million, of which the Khmer ethnic group accounts for 30 percent. With the support from central and local policies, the province has achieved different positive results from maintaining universal education to enhancing teaching quality and educational infrastructure.