The Draft Circular on Regulations on extra teaching and learning replacing Circular No. 17/2012/TT-BGDDT posted on the electronic information portal of the Ministry of Education and Training to collect comments has attracted great public attention.
The new point in the draft compared to current regulations is that it does not mention prohibitions such as: Teachers are not allowed to teach extra classes outside of school for students they are teaching in their regular classes; are not allowed to teach extra classes for primary school students; teachers receiving salaries from the salary fund of public service units are not allowed to organize extra classes outside of school...
The draft stipulates: It is not allowed to cut down the content of the subject program in the school's education plan to include extra teaching and learning; it is not allowed to teach extra content ahead of the program distribution; it is not allowed to use questions and exercises that have been taught extra to test and evaluate students...
In my opinion, we only prohibit things that are contrary to the rules of social ethics. Among them, tutoring students who are assigned to teach daily in class to make money is a phenomenon of "both playing football and blowing the whistle" that no country in the world allows.
People's condemnation of extra teaching and learning is condemning the type of extra teaching given to students who are assigned to teach daily in class to make money.
I wonder if the Ministry of Education and Training knows about the letter signed by 20,000 parents in Ho Chi Minh City sent to agencies demanding a ban on extra tutoring for students who have been assigned to teach daily in class for more than ten years (regular students)? I wonder what the Ministry's leaders thought when they read the letter from students at Nui Thanh High School in Quang Nam begging teachers not to force students to take extra classes?
I am a teacher of a major subject, and have witnessed and heard countless cries for help from parents whose homeroom and subject teachers have used a thousand and one extremely sophisticated tricks to get students to "voluntarily" take extra classes with regular teachers. Teachers' ethics and the image of teachers in the eyes of the people have become distorted because of this inadequacy.
I support the "relaxation" of the regulations on extra teaching and learning of the Ministry of Education and Training, but I recommend:
- It is possible to allow extra teaching and learning, but there must be a solution to prevent teachers from giving extra lessons to regular students for money at any level, anywhere, anytime like in other countries around the world. Public teachers who violate this must be fired.
- Anyone can teach and learn at a registered location with a business license, paying taxes to the state based on actual revenue.
- The State unifies the price of extra tutoring by region (with appropriate range) for each lesson.
- The school can also open extra classes according to the needs of students and subject teachers if it gathers students who are not regular students and must comply with the provisions of the law as a private tutoring business unit.
