According to Circular 29 issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, extra teaching and learning in schools must not collect fees from students and is only for the following subjects: Students whose final semester study results are not satisfactory; Students selected by the school to foster excellent students; Final year students voluntarily register to review for entrance exams and graduation exams according to the school's educational plan.

As the number of tutors is shrinking and tutoring does not have a source of funding (tuition fees) to pay teachers, many schools have announced that they will stop organizing this activity in their schools.

Before the announcement from the school, many parents expressed concern about how to manage their children if they would have to spend an extra day at home, instead of spending the whole day at school like before.

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Illustration photo.

Sharing with VietNamNet , Ms. Hoa, a parent in Hoang Mai town (Nghe An) expressed her confusion in managing her child as well as her worry that her child's academic performance may decline as she now only attends one official morning class while her child has been studying at school all day.

“The school announced that it will only provide extra classes for students with poor academic results or those selected to nurture excellent students, but this number is very small. Activities such as life skills training, arts and sports training are only organized in a few sessions, not every afternoon of the week. Now, my child will have to study by himself and manage his own time. I am worried that his academic performance will decline, especially for final year students who are about to take the fiercely competitive 10th grade entrance exam,” said Ms. Hoa.

She worries that in today's social conditions, leaving children home alone can easily lead to negative consequences, especially when children are busy surfing the phone with countless unhealthy and tempting information.

“Children at this age are often easily distracted and influenced by surrounding concerns. At school, teachers supervise, but at home, parents are away, so it is not known how to manage. Not to mention that children invite each other to go out, which can lead to traffic accidents, drowning, and even being drawn into social evils and breaking the law,” said Ms. Hoa.

She shared that there may be many cases where extra classes at school are not very effective, but families still want their children to participate because at least they can be sure that their children are in a safe environment.

'Tutoring outside school is more expensive'

Another parent in the suburbs of Hanoi said that each month the couple's income is about 18 million VND, raising two children, in grades 9 and 8.

“Previously, each month, in addition to the afternoon tuition at school for my two children, which was about 2 million VND, I sent my older child to take extra English classes at a center for another 1.2 million VND to prepare for his final exams.

But recently, the homeroom teacher announced that there will be no afternoon classes at school, and parents will take care of their children. I am really worried that my children will not be able to be taken care of at home. I went to find a place to take extra classes for my children, considering it a way to take care of them, but the tuition is quite high, about 100-120 thousand/session/subject.

So, if we calculate the 2 children going to extra classes outside with 3 subjects Math, Literature, English, we spend nearly 6 million VND/month, double the current spending. We also considered having to let the younger child take a break to focus on the older child for the transfer exam, but it is difficult to think about. Tuition fees account for 1/3 of the family income, which is not good, and at the end of the month we cannot save any money for unforeseen events," the parent worried.

Mr. Nguyen Van Chinh (a parent whose 8th grade son is studying at a secondary school in Van Canh commune, Hoai Duc district, Hanoi) said that he had received a notice that the school where his son studies will comply with Circular 29, which means that after February 13, it will stop organizing extra classes and tutoring in the afternoon as before.

“Previously, my child had regular classes in the morning and extra classes in Math, Literature, and English in the afternoon on weekdays, except Thursdays and Saturdays. Now that he is at home, my wife and I find it difficult to manage him. He is easily distracted by his phone, surfing the internet, hanging out with friends to play games... Not to mention, when he studies all day, the school takes care of his boarding meals. Now we have to take care of his lunch and find someone to look after him in the afternoon,” said Mr. Chinh.

The parent said that although before, the family had to spend an extra amount of money each month on extra classes at school for their child, in return they got peace of mind when going to work.

“The cost of extra classes at school is actually not significant. Each month, my child attends four afternoon classes at school, which only costs more than 400,000 VND. My husband and I work all day, but we are still close to home. For families whose parents work far away, the anxiety is even greater.”

To feel more secure when going to work, the couple is considering installing a camera in the house to monitor their children.

Mr. Chinh said that, through understanding, parents whose children are in the final year of junior high school are even more worried. “The school cannot collect money, and there is no budget to pay teachers, so it cannot organize review sessions for grade 9 students. We - parents of grade 8 students - are also starting to worry if the review sessions for the final year of junior high school are not organized next year,” he expressed.

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