Directed by Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training (DET) of Ho Chi Minh City to give instructions to schools at the conference to contribute ideas to the general education plan for the 2025-2026 school year held today, September 10, after many parents expressed their opinions when students had to go to school on Saturdays in the past few days.
Mr. Quoc said that the current difficulty in organizing 2 sessions/day of secondary and high schools in the city when implemented according to the new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training is the difficulty between schools and parents when there is no consensus.
"Some places are not qualified to organize two sessions/day, so we have to arrange extra classes on Saturdays, or combine them online. The school needs to discuss and agree with parents about changing the school schedule, ensuring consensus, not imposing," Mr. Quoc emphasized.
According to Mr. Quoc, the Ministry of Education and Training stipulates that no more than 7 periods are taught per day, meaning that these 7 periods are used to implement general education programs. As for other subjects and educational activities, schools can balance them to teach, that is, they can be more than 7 periods/day.
However, he requested that schools not study on Saturdays to teach the entire main curriculum but mainly for supplementary activities, training, review, skill training or experience... with the proactive and voluntary participation of students.
From there, he requested schools to review the school's education plan and rearrange the study schedule for each grade to suit current regulations and conditions.
In the 2025-2026 school year, the organization of teaching and learning in 2 sessions/day will be applied according to the new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training.
In particular, schools that organize 2 sessions/day are allowed to teach at least 9 sessions/week for primary schools and no more than 11 sessions/week for secondary and high schools and unify teaching no more than 7 periods/day for all 3 levels.
While in previous school years, schools were allowed to organize 2 teaching sessions/day, not more than 8 teaching periods/day for high school.
When applying this new regulation in the 2025-2026 school year, many schools have arranged the school schedule on Saturday morning. This has caused some parents to react, worrying that their children are overloaded with schoolwork, not having time to participate in sports, physical exercise, and family activities have changed.
