Relaxing regulations on private tutoring
The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) announced the draft Circular regulating extra teaching and learning, and asked for comments from August 22 to October 22. Currently, regulations on extra teaching and learning are implemented according to Circular 17 of 2012. Compared to this document, the new draft circular has many differences.
A notable new point is that teachers are allowed to teach their regular students outside of school and only need to report and make a list (including the students' names and classes) to the principal, instead of asking for permission as is currently the case.
At the same time, Circular 17 of 2012 stated that no extra teaching is allowed for primary school students, except in the case of arts, sports, and life skills training. The new draft has removed this provision.
However, extra teaching and learning must comply with many regulations, such as: teachers must not use any form to force students to take extra classes; must not cut down on the main curriculum content to include extra teaching; must not teach the program in advance; must not use examples, questions, and exercises that have been taught or learned extra to test or evaluate students, etc.
Fear of many negative things happening
Dr. Vu Thu Huong - former lecturer of the Faculty of Primary Education, Hanoi National University of Education expressed concern that the "relaxation" of regulations on extra teaching and learning could lead to negative situations such as forcing students to take extra classes, teachers teaching extra classes ahead of the program, favoring students who take extra classes... More importantly, public opinion raises the question, is it because the new program is too stressful that extra teaching and learning is becoming more and more popular?
“Right after the 2018 General Education Program was implemented, we received a lot of feedback from parents about the program being too heavy and too fast. If students do not study in advance or take extra classes, it will be difficult for them to get good grades and participate in major exams.
Meanwhile, extra classes clearly show the incompleteness of the formal teaching system. The general education system needs to be improved so that students, whether they take extra classes or not, can complete the program" - Dr. Vu Thu Huong said.
According to Ms. Huong, the draft circular of the Ministry of Education and Training sends a very clear message: the Ministry of Education and Training does not prohibit extra teaching and learning. Teachers are even allowed to teach extra classes outside of school with their regular students, but they need to report and make a list (including the full name and class of the students) to the principal, and at the same time commit not to use any form of forcing students to take extra classes. Teachers do not use examples, questions, and exercises taught extra to test and evaluate students...
“All of those regulations can be “circumvented” in any form. If unfortunately violations are discovered, the handling method is also very general, and violators can change depending on the circumstances. Thus, the draft circular has the risk of bringing about many different negative effects, large and small, causing difficulties for students.
In the past, students only studied one session per day, the rest of the time was spent on self-study and practicing life skills. Nowadays, primary and secondary education almost universally teaches two sessions per day and has meals at school. Thus, from studying 4-5 hours per day, students now have to study up to 8 hours per day, in addition, they also have to spend time going to extra classes.
If the regulation on extra teaching is relaxed, the study hours will not only be 8 hours but can increase to 12 hours, even 18 hours, while each day only has 24 hours. This will seriously affect the psychological and physical development of children" - Ms. Huong analyzed.
From the above realities and shortcomings, Ms. Huong recommends that the Ministry of Education and Training increase training for teachers on how to guide students to self-study, self-discovery and self-discovery.
"Active learning is a way to train students' autonomy. This is a skill that Vietnamese students lack," Ms. Huong suggested.
