Secondary school students have Saturday off, should or shouldn't?

The Department of Education and Training of Ha Tinh has issued document No. 5028/SGDĐT-GDPT on giving opinions on teaching 5 days a week, with Saturday off for secondary school students in Ha Tinh city.

According to the Department of Education and Training, this is an effort of the City Department of Education and Training in educational innovation, caring about the lives and rights of cadres, teachers, employees, workers and students.

Extracurricular activity "traffic safety" at Le Binh Secondary School, Ha Tinh City. Photo: LB.

Regarding the policy of teaching 5 days a week (from Monday to Friday) with Saturday off for secondary schools from the 2024-2025 school year, the Department of Education and Training also noted that the City Department of Education and Training needs to review, research carefully, and ensure conditions when implementing.

In particular, ensuring the study time according to the regulations of the current general education program and in accordance with reality; developing a scientific and reasonable teaching plan for 2 sessions/day in schools, ensuring the set goals and plans; surveying and collecting opinions from teachers, parents and students to create consensus among the people...

To effectively implement the organization of teaching 5 days/week (from Monday to Friday), first the City Department of Education and Training should organize a pilot to evaluate the results, draw lessons for appropriate implementation.

Ms. Phan Thi Tam Tu, Principal of Le Binh Secondary School (Tan Giang Ward, Ha Tinh City) said that the school has piloted allowing students to take a day off from school on Saturdays starting last week and will continue this week.

“Before implementing, the school also consulted with teachers, parents and students, and most of them agreed. The school also arranged teaching to ensure compliance with regulations on the number of periods, teaching programs and planned to reserve Saturdays for organizing physical education, life skills and extracurricular activities. In addition, we also asked teachers not to teach extra classes at home and hoped that parents would not force their children to attend extra classes on the 2 days off at the weekend so that they could have fun,” Ms. Tu informed.

According to Ms. Tu, to ensure the study time according to the current general education program after implementing the official school break on Saturday, students must have at least 1 day a week to study both sessions. For this, the current facilities of Le Binh Secondary School still ensure teaching and learning.

Public opinion in Ha Tinh is very concerned about secondary school students having Saturday off. Photo: HN.

Ms. Luong Thi Thu Hoai (Thach Linh ward, Ha Tinh city) has a child in grade 7. She shared: I agree with the policy of letting middle school students have Saturdays off. This reduces a lot of pressure on students. Since my child has had Saturdays off, he has become much happier.

Sharing the same opinion, Mr. Pham Van Khanh (Thach Trung commune, Ha Tinh city), the parent of an 8th grade student, said that on Saturdays, instead of going to school like before, his child stays home to play and follow his interests. “I do not force my child to study extra on Saturdays and Sundays, but guide him to follow his passion, do what he likes, participate in sports, arts…”, Mr. Khanh said.

According to the reporter, on social networks, most parents in Ha Tinh agree with the plan of studying 5 days a week, with Saturday and Sunday off. However, parents hope that schools will not organize extra classes on the 2 weekends, but instead organize extracurricular activities, life skills training, etc.

On the contrary, some opinions say that with too much break time, students become dependent on their phones or do unhealthy things, which parents cannot control.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/ha-tinh-hoc-sinh-thcs-nghi-thu-7-nen-hay-khong-10291016.html