Teachers accuse of cutting benefits: Many contradictions need to be clarified

Is it appropriate to include traditional martial arts in the curriculum?

Quy Nhon City People's Committee determined that in the 2022-2023 school year, Mr. Nguyen Van Xuan - teacher at Ngo May Secondary School (Quy Nhon City) taught 700 periods, 3 periods less than the norm, so he was not eligible for overtime pay (TLDTG).

Quy Nhon City People's Committee believes that tasks such as meetings, group activities, professional groups, student management... are tasks that Mr. Xuan must do, not included in the activities that can be converted into teaching hours.

At the same time, it was affirmed that the school did not require the group of physical education teachers to teach Binh Dinh traditional martial arts (VCT) at the beginning of each class, mid-class physical education... but did not arrange for them to sign the lesson book as Mr. Xuan reported.

Regarding teaching VCT in the 2016-2017 and 2017-2018 school years, Mr. Xuan conducted 103 periods (2016-2017 was 49 periods; 2017-2018 was 54 periods). In the 2015-2016 school year, there was no document indicating that the school or teacher organized extracurricular VCT teaching. Therefore, there was no case of Mr. Xuan teaching 162 extracurricular VCT periods from 2015 to 2018.

In the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years, the school organized VCT instead of elective sports content (main curriculum) based on the plan developed by the professional team, along with the proposal of the PE teachers and the school's approval. Therefore, VCT is not organized as an extracurricular activity, so elective sports (TTTC) lessons are counted as regular lessons, without conversion.

Quy Nhon City People's Committee also affirmed that the use of Binh Dinh VCT to teach TTTC content is appropriate and in accordance with the regulations according to the guidance in Official Dispatch No. 1716/SGDDT-GDTrH dated October 9, 2009 of Binh Dinh Department of Education and Training on the distribution of junior high school and high school programs for the 2009-2010 school year (abbreviated as Official Dispatch No. 1716), and that the school did not arbitrarily change the program prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training.

"Official dispatch No. 1716 instructs: In addition to the 4 subjects compiled in the program and teachers' books, which are shuttlecock, soccer, volleyball and swimming, the General Education Program for Physical Education stipulates shuttlecock as a core subject (compulsory).

Therefore, teachers can choose to include the long ball throwing subject in the TTTC section with a duration of 12 periods or other sports under the direction of the Department of Education and Training, in order to develop local sports and suit the conditions of the school, on the principle: Teachers compile the program to ensure the duration and content are within the school's capacity and are agreed upon by the school and the Department of Education and Training before implementation", Quy Nhon City People's Committee stated in the report.

Contradictory conclusion

Also in the report verifying the content of Lao Dong Newspaper's reflection, Quy Nhon City People's Committee confirmed that the school's implementation of Binh Dinh VCT into teaching TTTC content but not reporting to Quy Nhon City Department of Education and Training before implementation is not in accordance with the instructions in Official Dispatch No. 1716.

The fact that the school does not organize extracurricular teaching of Binh Dinh VCT is not in compliance with the guidance documents of the Binh Dinh Department of Education and Training and the City Department of Education and Training on implementing the Program to bring Binh Dinh VCT into schools according to Directive No. 03/CT-UBND of the Provincial People's Committee.

From these two contents, it can be seen that the inclusion of Binh Dinh VCT in the TTTC content is not reasonable as the Quy Nhon City People's Committee affirmed above. Because according to Official Dispatch No. 1716, the selection of VCT subject to include in the TTTC section must be approved by the Department of Education and Training before implementation. However, the school did not report it.

Therefore, the conclusion of Quy Nhon City People's Committee that the school should include VCT in teaching TTTC content in the 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 school years is appropriate, is it in accordance with the principles guided by Official Dispatch No. 1716?

It is necessary to clarify the fact that the school and the professional team arbitrarily agreed to include VCT in the TTTC content without reporting to the Quy Nhon City Department of Education and Training, and did not organize extracurricular VCT teaching, causing TTTC periods to be counted as regular teaching periods, without conversion.

And is it necessary to review whether the Quy Nhon City People's Committee's conclusion that "there was no school arbitrarily changing the program prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training" is correct or not?