Teachers know that tutoring is illegal, so why do they still do it?

According to Ms. Lu Ngoc Linh (35 years old, primary school teacher in Son La), before the new school year begins, all teachers in the school will have to sign a commitment to ban extra teaching. However, it seems that the ban is only effective on paper. In reality, teachers who want to teach extra will have many ways to "get around it".

Is the ban on extra tutoring only effective on paper?

Over 10 years in the education industry is the same amount of time Ms. Ngoc Linh has been running extra classes. Since the regulation prohibiting teachers from tutoring their students, this teacher has still found a way to continue this job.

For the past 5 years, Ms. Linh has been teaching Math and Vietnamese in conjunction with a center near her home.

Many teachers "bend the law" to teach extra classes at home. (Illustration: ST)

" The center has a license to hire teachers to teach extra classes. During the summer break, I mainly teach here, but during the school year, I teach two classes a week ," said Ms. Linh, adding that she only receives 70% of the salary so that on the days she teaches at home, she does not have to pay the center a 'linkage certificate'.

So, in theory, she is a part-time teacher at the center, but in reality, students still come to her home class from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. For more than 10 years, her 25-square-meter extra-curricular class has always been full of students.

According to Ms. Linh, each class usually has around 15 students, studying for 2 hours. The tuition fee for each session is 50,000 VND/student. She admitted that she was breaking the rules by having her own students in the extra class. However, she believes that teachers who want to devote themselves to their profession must overcome the worry of making a living.

"When choosing to become a teacher, everyone loves their job and their students. But if we only rely on passion, it is not enough to live, we also need to support our families and educate our children, " she confided.

At 9:30 p.m., after parents picked up their children from the evening school shift, Ms. Linh began to clean up the classroom and prepare lessons and lesson plans for the next day. When everything was done, her husband and children were already fast asleep.

Teaching a lot of extra classes, not having time to be with her two daughters, but she had to grit her teeth and accept it because teachers' salaries are meager, teachers have to "work from side to side" to have enough money to feed their children and ensure their family's life. Ms. Linh said that for many years, she did not increase the price of extra classes because she was afraid of being a burden to parents.

"In reality, parents want their children to take extra classes to consolidate and improve their knowledge. Many people come to my house and ask me to teach their children at night," she explained.

Although she knew it was against the rules, Ms. Linh and her colleagues were willing to accept it because "without tutoring, how can we live?" Although she has many years of experience in the industry, her monthly salary is only a little over 6.5 million VND. Meanwhile, the cost of education for her two children costs more than 10 million VND.

"Every month I spend about 10 million on regular and extra classes for my two children. My 3rd grade sister takes extra classes in Math, Vietnamese, and English, and my 4-year-old sister takes dance, drawing, and life skills," she said.

Her husband is a civil servant with a low income. If it weren't for her tutoring job, the family would not be able to cover their living expenses. She revealed that her extra-curricular tutoring job brings in 4-5 times her regular salary, depending on the time.

The female teacher also hopes that the competent authorities need to calculate to have a reasonable plan for teachers to teach extra classes, based on the needs of the students.

"The demand is high, teachers will not easily give up extra teaching"

Ms. Dang Thanh Thuy (27 years old, a secondary school teacher in Hanoi) believes that teachers giving extra classes after school hours partly comes from the needs of students. She asserts that the demand is so great that teachers will not easily give up extra classes.

Extra teaching and learning have been distorted, causing bad public opinion. (Illustration: S.T) — Extra teaching and learning have been distorted, causing bad public opinion. (Illustration: ST)

"In class, teachers do not have much time to closely monitor each individual," she said, giving an example: in a class of 40 students, a 45-minute lesson, the teacher spends one minute with each student before the time is up. Perhaps that is why many families want their children to attend extra classes to review more thoroughly.

Whether or not to take extra classes is up to parents to consider. Extra classes are beneficial if they do not become a situation where teachers find every way to force parents to pay for their children to study at the teacher's home in the evening.

"If there is a situation where students are bullied just because they do not attend extra classes, parents and students should talk frankly with teachers and report to the school and education management agency to resolve the problem ," Ms. Thuy stated her opinion.

The female teacher also acknowledged that the demand for extra classes is growing, so it will be difficult to enforce the ban according to regulations. Outside of regular school hours, many parents want to find good teachers and reputable tutoring places to send their children to study, improve and consolidate their knowledge.

According to her, the most important thing is to have a mechanism to effectively manage extra teaching and learning activities, avoiding distortions that cause bad public opinion in society.

"Although teachers know that giving extra classes is against regulations, they still take the gamble because students need it and parents are willing to pay for it, " Ms. Thuy commented.

In March 2023, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son emphasized that since 2012, the Ministry of Education and Training issued Circular No. 17 stipulating that extra teaching and learning activities must ensure basic principles.
First, do not organize extra classes according to regular classes. Second, students in the same extra class must have similar academic ability. When placing students in extra classes, it must be based on their academic ability.
Third, absolutely do not cut down on the content of the regular general education program to include it in extra classes. Fourth, do not teach extra classes ahead of time that are in the regular general education program.
Teachers are not allowed to use any form of coercion to force students and their families to take extra classes. At the same time, teachers are not allowed to teach their own students without permission from the school. The provincial People's Committee is responsible for managing extra teaching and learning activities in the area; issuing documents regulating extra teaching and learning in the area.

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