Will the teacher continue or stop?

However, whether or not teachers teach students for free depends on each school and each teacher's thoughts and approach.

THERE IS STILL A WAY TO PAY FOR TEACHERS

Ms. Nguyen Thi Boi Quynh, Principal of Viet Duc High School (Hanoi), said that the school has not encountered any difficulties in implementing this circular because the school has long organized tutoring, training excellent students, and organizing review sessions for students for the high school graduation exam... without collecting any money. That does not mean that teachers teach for free. First of all, the responsibility of teachers is to teach the required number of periods. If they teach extra hours, they will be paid from the regular expenditure fund according to the regulations on extra hours. "It is important that the school must base on the guiding documents to develop appropriate internal spending regulations, spend economically to have funds to pay for extra hours for teachers instead of collecting from students. However, the number of such extra hours must not be too much," Ms. Quynh said.

Students after extra classes at an after-school cultural center in Ho Chi Minh City

Ms. Quynh supports the new regulation on extra teaching and believes that if good teachers want to teach extra classes, many students from all over the place will come to study, there is no need to teach extra classes for regular students.

Currently, in case teachers are mobilized to participate in guiding excellent students, one guidance and training period will be calculated as 1.5 standard periods. Based on the actual number of training periods, it will be converted to the standard teaching period according to legal regulations. However, teachers who teach remedial lessons for weak students will not be converted to the standard teaching period, and will be considered to be fulfilling their obligations. Some schools with revenue sources support teachers according to internal spending regulations.

In many cases, it is necessary to stop completely.

Meanwhile, a middle school literature teacher in Bac Giang shared that middle schools only teach one session per day, so for a long time, the school has organized math, literature, and English classes for students on the second session of the day, collecting money to prepare for the 10th grade entrance exam. The collection and expenditure are carried out according to the agreement with parents and the instructions of the Department of Education and Training. "For example, every week I teach 4 classes, each class has 3 periods, a total of 12 periods per week, the income from extra teaching at the school is about 7 - 8 million VND/month. Therefore, from February 14, when the new regulations on extra teaching take effect, the extra classes will also stop and teachers will lose a significant source of income," this teacher said sadly.

A teacher shared that even if the regulation allows extra teaching at school but does not allow collecting money from students, most teachers will not teach extra. The reason is because teachers' income from salaries is still low, if they have free time, teachers will spend it on other jobs or teach extra at centers outside of school. "The Ministry's regulation is ideal, but teachers must also have money to cover their living expenses or if they do not need to earn money, they also need to rest and restore their labor. Teachers cannot be forced to teach "for free" forever," the teacher stated the reality.

Currently, many high schools in Hanoi are also organizing second-session classes with fees from students, while primary schools are teaching extra classes under the name of "knowledge enrichment" or enhancement... Some secondary schools allow knowledge enrichment centers to teach extra classes for their students, but in fact this is just a form of "circumventing the law" because it is said that a certain center organizes extra classes, negotiates and collects money from students, but the teachers in the class are still the regular teachers of the school. All of these cases, after the new regulations on extra classes come into effect, will no longer be allowed to organize extra classes with fees from students.

Grade 12 students during class. According to the new regulations on extra teaching and learning applied from February 14, schools organizing extra tutoring, reviewing for high school graduation exams... are not allowed to collect money.

Photo: Dao Ngoc Thach

OPPORTUNITY TO TEACH MORE IN A VOLUNTARY MEANING

Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam, Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Psychology and Education, Chairman of the Board of Dinh Tien Hoang High School (Hanoi), said that the Ministry of Education and Training's regulation that 3 groups of people are allowed to teach extra classes in schools but are not allowed to collect fees from students has a humane and scientific meaning. The regulation will help guide schools and teachers in teaching and learning to ensure quality according to requirements without having to "give birth" to extra classes and collect fees; helping students have more time to play and rest.

Associate Professor Chu Cam Tho, Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, supports the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training and shares that teachers and schools should "dare to change to teach more professionally". Teachers need to dare to give up the habit of "closed boxes", doing things by themselves, enjoying things by themselves, daring to change, then teachers will be confident and proud when performing a special service for people.

Ms. Tho also said that since the Ministry of Education and Training announced the circular, she has received many concerns from teachers about "now that schools are not allowed to organize extra classes, where can we teach extra classes? Unlike big cities, in many localities, there are almost no extra classes centers. Based on her experience, Ms. Tho believes that teachers who want to teach extra classes to students other than the students they teach in regular classes need to have a project, including main contents such as: educational program, clearly showing the goals, subjects, content plan, methods, assessment, implementation personnel; facilities, means to meet the educational program... When implementing, it is necessary to comply with that project, otherwise the license will be revoked...

Regarding the regulation that teachers teaching extra classes must register their business, Ms. Tho said that many people are upset and wonder why they teach well, students everywhere compete to apply to study, but they have to "ask for permission"; to teach extra classes honestly, they have to work (almost the entire key part, because the extra class, besides the teacher, doesn't need anyone else), but they have to pay a percentage to the center...

However, Ms. Tho believes that it is similar when it comes to other professions. "Singers sing so well, have many fans, and sing songs with their own efforts, so why do they need to go to the company or the manager to ask for permission to perform? Doctors study so hard, have such prestige, but when examining patients, they still have to ask for permission, and from time to time, they have to take a test to assess their skills," Ms. Tho commented. (to be continued)

Need more "medicine" to completely solve the problem

Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam affirmed that the regulations in the new circular are not the only "medicine" to completely solve the current problem of extra teaching. The reason is that our education system has not yet focused on developing the qualities, abilities, and creativity of each student, but is still heavily focused on exams and scores.

Currently, although the 2018 General Education Program has been implemented for a while with new requirements to reduce one-way knowledge transfer and change methods to form and develop students' capacity, in reality, schools, parents, and students are still competing with scores, exams, degrees, certificates, etc.

In addition, there are still different types of schools, the quality of schools is not uniform, the facilities are spacious in some places, small in others, invested in some places, limited in others... therefore, parents always have the need to choose a good school for their children. The problem is that the Ministry of Education and Training and provinces and cities need to have a plan to ensure the quality of education in schools is consistent, including the conditions of facilities. Schools are autonomous, have the right to recruit teachers, and are responsible for the quality of education, then they must be creative, aiming for integrated education. On the contrary, if there are still top schools, high-quality schools and teachers still create quizzes and assessments that are tricky and tricky, then there will still be extra classes.

"Moving towards an education system that does not require extra teaching and learning is right, but I think this can only be done when the problem of exams is solved at the root; the quality of education is ensured at a uniform level in all schools; teachers' salaries must be enough to cover their living expenses...", said Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/day-them-khong-thu-tien-giao-vien-se-tiep-tuc-hay-dung-18525011521465518.htm