Proposal to regulate tutoring as a conditional business

According to delegate Nguyen Van Huy, if extra teaching comes from the wishes of students, it should not be condemned. It should be regulated as a conditional business to avoid distortion.

"If doctors can open private clinics after office hours and many people in other professions can work overtime to increase their income, then teachers giving extra lessons is a legitimate right," said Nguyen Van Huy, Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Thai Binh Province, during a discussion at the National Assembly on the morning of November 20.

Mr. Huy believes that tutoring has become a solution to improve teachers’ income and living standards. Tutoring comes from the students’ wishes, the desire to review their weak knowledge and improve their ability for exams.

The downside of this activity is that some teachers teach lessons half-heartedly in class and only continue them in extra classes. The content of the tests and exams given by teachers during extra classes causes a difference in scores between students who attend and those who do not attend extra classes.

Therefore, the Deputy Head of Thai Binh delegation proposed that the Government direct the Ministry of Planning and Investment to soon consult and submit to the competent authority to decide to include extra teaching and learning in the list of conditional business lines. Extra classes that "hide lessons" and suggest test questions to attract students must be dealt with.

"I propose that the Ministry of Education and Training tighten the quality of regular school hours as well as change the mindset of exams and reduce the pressure of studying," said Mr. Huy.

Delegate Nguyen Van Huy (Deputy of Thai Binh delegation). Photo: National Assembly Media — Delegate Nguyen Van Huy (Deputy of Thai Binh delegation). Photo: *National Assembly Media*

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that extra classes and extra-curricular learning are practical needs. The Ministry has issued a document with full regulations on controlling extra classes within the school framework, including teacher ethics, codes of conduct, school culture, and public service performance.

However, the out-of-school environment still lacks a legal basis for regulation and supervision. In the process of amending the Investment Law, the Ministry of Education and Training sent a document to the Prime Minister, the National Assembly's Economic Committee, and the Ministry of Planning and Investment proposing to add extra teaching and learning to the list of conditional businesses to have a legal basis for handling outside of school.

"But it is unclear why this has not been approved since 2020 and 2021," Mr. Son said, suggesting that local authorities coordinate and control extra teaching and learning outside of 53,000 schools nationwide.

He also hopes that parents will cooperate with the education sector because the desire to study more comes partly from parents. Some parents "are not satisfied with their children studying in one shift, but when they hear about a good teacher somewhere, they take their children to study 3-4 shifts a night; they are not satisfied with their children not being excellent". This is also a cause of stress in children's studies.

Regarding the reflection that teachers reduce knowledge in class to teach extra classes as mentioned by delegate Huy, Minister Nguyen Kim Son requested to provide specific information so that the Ministry can coordinate with the People's Committee of Thai Binh province to handle it.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son talks about management of extra teaching and learning — Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son explains at the parliament. Video: *National Assembly Television*

Article 4 of Circular 17/2012 of the Ministry of Education and Training stipulates cases where extra teaching is not allowed, including: Students whose schools have organized 2 sessions/day of teaching; primary school students, except for cases of training in arts, sports, and life skills training.

Teachers are not allowed to reduce the content of the regular general education program to include it in extra classes; they are not allowed to teach extra classes in advance; they are not allowed to use any form of coercion to take extra classes. Students who want to take extra classes voluntarily need their family's consent.

Son Ha

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