"Teachers are allowed to teach properly"

On August 22, the Ministry of Education and Training began collecting comments on the draft circular on extra teaching and learning.

On the evening of August 24, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Head of the Secondary Education Department, Ministry of Education and Training, said that it is necessary to recognize that extra teaching and learning is a real need for both teachers and students. This does not need to be banned or criticized. The issue that makes public opinion angry is that students have to attend extra classes taught by outside teachers, even if they do not want to.

Therefore, the draft eliminates formal procedures, such as teachers needing permission from the principal to teach their students as currently prescribed (Circular 17). Instead, teachers can teach, but need to make a list of students, report to the principal and commit not to force them in any form. At the same time, teachers do not use examples, questions, and exercises that have been taught to test and evaluate students.

"Thus, the ministry does not prohibit teachers from tutoring their own students when the students and their parents truly want and need it," said Mr. Thanh. "Teachers are allowed to properly tutor their students outside of school, but it must be the true wish of both parties, absolutely no coercion."

Mr. Thanh added that according to the law, civil servants and public employees are not allowed to organize businesses. Therefore, public school teachers are not allowed to organize businesses in extra teaching and learning activities, but are only allowed to participate in extra teaching outside of school. This is not stated in the draft, but the ministry will study and retain it to avoid misunderstandings.

Current regulations require schools not to teach extra classes to primary school students, except for arts, sports, and life skills training. The draft removes this.

Explaining, Mr. Thanh said that the principle is that schools that have organized two sessions a day will not teach extra classes. According to the new general education program, primary school students study two sessions a day, which means schools will not organize extra classes. Therefore, in essence, the draft circular of the ministry is unchanged from the current one.

Extra tutoring in schools will also change, according to the draft.

Specifically, the total time for regular teaching and extra teaching in schools must not exceed 35 periods per week for primary school, 42 periods for secondary school and 48 periods for high school. Current regulations do not mention this.

Mr. Thanh said these norms are based on the ministry's guidelines on teaching two sessions a day, which have been applied for many years. Including them in the draft circular aims to create a maximum framework for schools, avoiding overloading students.

The principles of organizing extra classes remain almost unchanged, such as not forcing students; the duration and location of classes must be suitable for the psychology and physiology of each age group, ensuring the health of students; not cutting down on the main curriculum to include extra classes; not teaching ahead of the curriculum...

Recently, many National Assembly deputies and leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training have said that tutoring is a real need. Therefore, the parties proposed to include tutoring in the conditional business sector, in order to avoid distortion, facilitate management, and ensure the rights of both teachers and students.