Lao Dong newspaper has just published an article Proposal for Saturday off: Great joy for students and teachers.
The article attracted a lot of attention from the public after it was published. Many readers left comments and shared their opinions on the proposal to have more Saturdays off.
Reader Ngo Lam Khoa thinks that if school is closed on Saturdays, summer vacation should be reduced instead of the current 3-month summer vacation.
"There are 4 Saturdays in a month, 4 × 8 = 32 days (8 months of school), so after reducing summer vacation to 2 months, students only study 5 days a week, so there is less pressure" - this reader analyzed.
Agreeing with the above opinion, reader Hong Nga said: "Middle and high school students should have a full day off on Saturday. Give children time to help their parents with housework and improve their social skills. Studying all day makes them physically and mentally tired."
Meanwhile, reader Phung Khanh thinks that Saturdays should only be applied to elementary school students. The reason given is that if they are allowed to take an extra day off, they will most likely have to attend extra classes. "Having to register for extra classes will be a burden for many families," reader Phung Khanh shared.
Reader Trong Duong expressed concern about the proposal to have Saturday off: "Saturday off but the number of classes cannot be reduced, we have to teach in the wrong session or teach online. This will make both teachers and students suffer."
From a parent's perspective, Ms. Le Thu Uyen (Hoang Mai, Hanoi) supports letting students take Saturday and Sunday off. However, according to Ms. Uyen, the school break must be practical, avoiding taking time off to let children take extra classes.
"The two-day weekend break is to give the children time to rest and practice other life skills. In addition to going to school from Monday to Saturday, in the afternoon and evening, the children have to go to extra classes, which puts a lot of pressure on the whole family," Ms. Uyen said.
This parent also believes that, in order to have Saturdays off, the school needs to calculate whether consolidating the curriculum from 6 days into 5 days will increase pressure on students and increase the number of classes per session (5 periods/day x 6 days = 30 periods/week).
"The Ministry of Education and Training needs to reduce the curriculum so that children are not pressured to attend extra classes on days off from school," Ms. Uyen suggested.
