Head of Secondary Education Department: 'There is a situation where people don't want to but still have to take extra classes'

On January 9, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh - Director of the Department of Secondary Education, Ministry of Education and Training - discussed Circular No. 29 regulating extra teaching and learning of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Students at a tutoring facility in Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: NHU HUNG

According to Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, the new points of the circular regulating extra teaching and learning aim to overcome the situation where students go to school every day with a packed schedule from morning to night, without time to rest, self-study, absorb, and apply knowledge...

Some students are having to go to extra classes just to avoid feeling isolated from their friends, to avoid feeling guilty towards their teachers, or even to avoid feeling unfamiliar with the tests.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh

Learn more to not be lost

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh affirmed that extra teaching and learning is due to the needs of both students and teachers. However, he said that through monitoring and understanding the reality, the Ministry found that there are students who have the need and voluntarily take extra classes, but there are also situations where students, even though they do not want to, still have to take extra classes organized by their own teachers and schools.

"A number of students are having to take extra classes just to avoid feeling isolated from their friends, to avoid feeling guilty towards their teachers, or even to avoid feeling unfamiliar with the test," said Mr. Thanh. According to him, high schools are currently applying the 2018 General Education Program, and the Ministry of Education and Training has specified the number of periods/subject, and set out requirements for each subject that are suitable for students.

The Ministry also gives schools the autonomy to develop their own educational plans to ensure effectiveness and teachers focus on innovating teaching methods to achieve the goal of the 2018 program, which is to develop students' capacity.

"So in principle, the school and teachers have implemented the prescribed study hours to ensure students have the knowledge and meet the requirements of the program," said Mr. Thanh.

Concerned that the "ban" on extra tutoring in schools could affect achievement and score requirements, Mr. Thanh said that current requirements for tests, assessments, and exams must follow the general requirements of the program.

Overcoming student overload

According to him, parents have long been afraid that their children will be at a disadvantage compared to other children if they do not study, so they try to pursue it even though they are not sure whether it will be effective or not. On the contrary, in the exams, it is shown that many valedictorians and salutatorians come from rural areas, have difficult economic conditions, and do not attend extra classes.

"It is not satisfactory to say that schools do not organize review sessions, the quality will decrease, or that they do not organize mass review sessions for all students/classes to achieve good scores," Mr. Thanh affirmed.

Mr. Thanh believes that it is necessary to overcome the situation where students go to school every day with a packed schedule from morning to night, without time to rest, self-study, absorb, and apply knowledge.

The restriction of three subjects of extra teaching and learning in schools is aimed at schools that do not have extra teaching and learning. Instead, after school hours of subjects according to the program, students have time and space to participate in fun activities, practice sports, practice drawing, music...

According to Mr. Thanh, to move towards schools without extra teaching or learning and society without extra learning, there are two issues: legal regulations and people's awareness.

"Knowledge is a vast ocean, we need to focus on learning methods instead of trying to learn a lot but not bringing practical results. There have been cases where parents and students in a certain stage of exam preparation, cram until exhausted to pass the exam and then relax. Or in reality, there are also many children when they grow up and go out into life with enough knowledge but are disadvantaged due to a lack of many skills," said Mr. Thanh.

Avoid cutting back on classroom knowledge to give extra lessons.

Regarding teachers’ concerns about reduced income from extra teaching, according to Mr. Thanh, the new regulation does not prohibit teachers from giving extra teaching outside of school. If teachers make an effort, are good teachers, are truly dedicated, and bring value to students, there will certainly be no shortage of students seeking them out.

According to him, the reason the ministry prohibits teachers from collecting money from regular students is to avoid them cutting down on knowledge in class and pulling students out to teach extra classes.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/vu-truong-vu-giao-duc-trung-hoc-co-tinh-trang-khong-muon-van-phai-hoc-them-20250109225726821.htm