More than 50,000 students 'have not completed' first grade

More than 105,700 primary school students, half of whom are first graders, are classified as having not completed the program and could be held back.

The information was given in the report of the school year summary conference of the Ministry of Education and Training on July 20-21 in Nghe An.

In the 2022-2023 school year, the country will have more than 9.2 million primary school students. This number is an increase of more than 470,000 students compared to the previous school year. This is also the year that the education sector will implement the new program (2018 program) up to grade 3. Grades 4 and 5 will still follow the old program.

Because of the new textbooks and curriculum, the assessment of students in grades 1, 2, and 3 according to Circular 27 includes four levels: Excellent completion, Good completion, Completed, and Incomplete. For students in grades 4 and 5, there are three assessment levels: Completed and Incomplete.

As a result, the whole country has more than 105,700 primary school students with the lowest assessment, accounting for nearly 1.2% of the total. Of these, 50,470 are first graders. This number fluctuates between 12,000 and 15,000 in grades 2, 3, and 4, with the lowest being grade 5 - just over 5,100 students.

Although not providing figures from previous years, the Ministry's report said that "the new assessment method truly reflects the quality of education on a national scale".

According to regulations, these students will receive tutoring from teachers during the summer. If they have been guided and helped but still do not meet the requirements to complete the class program, the teacher will make a list and report to the principal for inspection and evaluation. Thereby, the principal will decide whether the student will be promoted to the next grade or retained.

The Ministry of Education and Training said that the 2018 general education program has a number of new subjects at the primary level and requires teaching two sessions per day, so preparing teachers, managers and facilities is still difficult.

However, the average student/class ratio is 32, stable compared to the previous school year. Nationwide, there are more than 404,000 primary school teachers, the average teacher/class ratio is 1.41, basically enough to teach two sessions a day. Localities also prioritize arranging teachers with capacity and professional expertise to teach grades 1, 2, and 3 according to the new curriculum.

Notably, in the first year of implementing compulsory English for grade 3, 99.97% of grade 3 students nationwide studied it. For Information Technology, this rate was 100%.

First graders at Thang Long Primary School, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, return to school on August 22. Photo: Giang Huy — First graders at Thang Long Primary School, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, return to school on August 22. Photo: *Giang Huy*

Next year, primary schools will implement a new program for grade 4. The Ministry requires provinces to continue improving the quality of teachers and managers; develop plans for recruitment, training, and development to have enough teachers, ensuring the quality of teaching subjects according to the program.

Schools also need to focus on preparing teachers for grade 5 in the 2023-2024 school year, especially teachers of Foreign Languages and Information Technology.

Dawn

Source link