23 million students start new school year

On the morning of September 5, about 23 million students nationwide attended the opening ceremony of the 2023-2024 school year - the fourth year of the new program, in cool weather across most of the country.

In Hanoi , the streets are bustling from 6:30 a.m. when nearly 2.3 million students of all levels go to the opening ceremony. This is the locality with the largest number of students, schools and classes in the country.

The gate of Yen Nghia Primary School, Ha Dong District, is brightly decorated with balloons and fresh flowers. Trinh Minh Khang, class 4A1, cycled home at 6am.

"Last night I slept fitfully, then woke up from excitement. Today I sang two songs, "My School Drum" and "My Teachers Give Me Dreams", Khang said, adding that he had practiced with his friends in the art troupe for the past week. He also wrapped his books and labeled his notebooks himself, and was excited about the science and technology learning materials, taking them apart and assembling them himself.

At Tran Duy Hung Secondary School, Cau Giay District, Vice Principal Nguyen Ngoc Phuc said the opening ceremony starts at 7:30 a.m., lasting about 45 minutes, with a light spirit.

"After that, students will have their second period as usual," said Mr. Phuc. Tran Duy Hung Secondary School continues to aim to develop cutting-edge, advancededucation in the new school year. However, the school also faces the common concern of the industry: how to recruit new teachers while ensuring income for teachers currently working.

Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training Tran The Cuong said the teacher shortage is localized. With about 123,000 teachers, Hanoi can basically meet the needs of implementing the new program.

Ho Chi Minh City this year has More than 1.7 million preschool and school children, an increase of more than 35,000 children compared to last year.

At Bui Thi Xuan High School in District 1, the opening ceremony was lively with the participation of two rappers loved by young people, Ricky Star and Freaky. Principal Huynh Thanh Phu said that inviting young, talented singers, loved by students, to interact was a way to motivate and encourage students to strive and develop their talents and personalities.

"The school hopes that students will enjoy the opening day as if it were a festival for themselves," said Mr. Phu.

Minh Thu, a student of class 10A15, was impressed with the vibrant opening ceremony. "We were able to give it our all, true to our youth. This is a memorable opening ceremony for me." After enjoying the opening atmosphere, the female student went into the traditional room to burn incense in front of the statue of Admiral Bui Thi Xuan as a greeting and a wish for three wonderful years of study at this school.

On the city’s only island commune, Thanh An Primary School welcomed more than 260 students to the opening ceremony. Principal Le Huu Binh said the ceremony was brief, with the highlight being welcoming first-grade students, while time was spent on the festival with many games such as fishing, painting, and throwing balls.

Tat Roi School, Tra Tap Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, Nam Tra My District, Quang Nam Province, opened today in sunny weather. The school has a mixed class of two first graders and six second graders, the rest are 15 preschool children.

The stage for the opening ceremony was decorated with the national flag and a picture of Uncle Ho. Teacher Nguyen Van Hoi, the head teacher of the combined class, presided over the ceremony and beat the drum to open the school year. This place is about 10 km from the center of Nam Tra My district, the students are children of Tat Roi village. Because of the difficult roads, the people had to make a raft and use ropes to pull it across the river. Today, two students had not yet arrived at school.

"Students and the school face many difficulties, especially during the rainy season when the river flows heavily. To overcome this, teachers stay at the school to teach," said Mr. Hoi, who has been here for more than 5 years.

Teacher Nguyen Van Hoi beats the drum to start the new school year. Photo: Dac Thanh

Quang Nam has more than 720 schools with about 346,000 students this year. The education sector lacks more than 2,000 teachers, mainly in mountainous districts. The province is studying a mechanism to attract teachers from the plains and the outskirts of the city to teach and work long-term (from 5-10 years).

In Gia Lai , hundreds of students from the provincial Ethnic Boarding School gathered in the schoolyard from 7am. This morning, they welcomed President Vo Van Thuong to the opening ceremony.

The President shared the difficulties of students in mountainous areas, hoping that schools and teachers would pay attention to innovating teaching methods, persevere, help students make up for their lack of knowledge, not chase after scores and achievements, and study with confidence.

He emphasized that each individual has his or her own unique abilities. Therefore, one of the important tasks of education is to discover early the talents of each student in all fields, not just school subjects, in order to have appropriate education and training methods, associated with career orientation for students.

The President also assessed that the establishment of a system of ethnic boarding schools and the emphasis on education for ethnic minorities is a creative policy, demonstrating strategic thinking with the goal of creating qualified human resources for disadvantaged areas.

"If done well, we will create a solid foundation to care for ethnic minorities, a path to escape poverty, build a contingent of ethnic minority cadres for the political system, maintain political security, and promote socio-economic development in mountainous and remote areas," said Mr. Thuong.

Gia Lai currently has more than 700 kindergartens and primary schools with about 407,000 students. The province has invested nearly 373 billion VND to build new and repair facilities and more than 780 billion VND to purchase teaching equipment.

On this occasion, the President presented 10 gifts to boarding school students and donated 100 million VND to the scholarship fund. In addition, Minister Nguyen Kim Son and the Education Publishing House presented Gia Lai province with 190,000 sets of textbooks and shared bookshelves. The delegations donated 20 billion VND to the province to build boarding schools and kitchens for students in disadvantaged areas.

In Ca Mau , it was raining lightly but many children were eager to go to school early. This year, the province has more than 214,000 preschool and primary school students.

At Tan Tien Primary School in Dam Doi District, dozens of children from coastal areas in Bo Co, Thuan Tao, and Thuan Thanh hamlets go to school by boat. Ms. Nguyen Thi Hang, 37 years old, from Thuan Tao hamlet, said that her whole family woke up early in the morning to prepare to take her two children in grades 4 and 9 to the opening ceremony. Her house is far away, so it took her nearly 50 minutes to drive the boat.

"I hope you have a fun school year," said the mother.

Ms. Hang, Dam Doi district, drives a boat to take her children to the opening ceremony on the morning of September 5. Photo: Chuc Ly

Also in the cool air, in Bien Hoa, Dong Nai, people in the industrial city are bustling to take their children to school. Ms. Kim Oanh, a worker at Changshin Vietnam Company, took the opportunity to instruct her daughter Bao Uyen before going to the company to start her shift.

"I hope that in the new school year my daughter will have better learning conditions and will study well. The school will be upgraded and expanded, not cramped with more than 45 children per class like it is now," said Ms. Oanh. The mother said that her income as a worker is still limited, so she has to work hard to be able to raise her two children.

This year, Dong Nai has more than 720,000 students, an increase of about 20,000 students compared to the previous school year. The province currently has about 920 schools and educational facilities.

When he came to Trang Dai Secondary School for the opening ceremony, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Hong Linh saw a rather cramped 8th grade classroom. He encouraged the students to study hard and said that the province was trying to build a new school so that the students could study in better conditions.

Ms. Kim Oanh took her daughter to Nguyen Thai Hoc Primary School, Bien Hoa City, Dong Nai to attend the opening ceremony. Photo: Phuoc Tuan

At Dinh Tien Hoang Primary School, Hong Bang District, Hai Phong , students waved red flags with yellow stars to welcome the new school year. Around, many parents took photos and videos as souvenirs. Other schools were also bustling from early morning.

Last year, Hai Phong was among the localities with the best results in international Olympic competitions with gold and silver medals in Mathematics. Mr. Bui Van Kiem, Director of the Department of Education and Training, said Hai Phong will not be too happy or delusional and forget the most fundamental things in education and training.

He said that schools need to strengthen testing and assessment, and evaluate the quality of education. Meanwhile, the Department will continuously inspect, monitor, prevent, and strictly handle any negative practices if any. In addition, the industry will promote international cooperation with organizations and businesses from Korea and Singapore.

Opening ceremony atmosphere at Dinh Tien Hoang Primary School, Hong Bang District. Photo: Le Tan

The key school year of educational innovation

In the 2023-2024 school year, the education sector will deploy the 2018 curriculum and new textbooks for grades 4, 8, and 11, preparing to complete this roadmap next year for the final grades (grades 5, 9, and 12).

Responding to VnExpress on the eve of the new school year, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son acknowledged that this is a key school year for educational innovation, with many major tasks and challenges.

The education sector faces a shortage of more than 118,000 teachers, while about 40,000 people have quit their jobs in the past three years and teaching salaries are said to be inadequate.

There are still many different opinions about one set or many sets of books. Meanwhile, integrated teaching is a "stuck, stuck, and difficult" point, according to Minister Son's assessment. He said that it is highly likely that the Ministry will make adjustments in the near future.

The plan to prepare for the high school graduation exam also needs to be finalized soon, when the first batch of students following the new program will graduate in 2025. Schools, teachers and students are all looking forward to having a review plan for the exam and university entrance exam.

At the preschool level, the Ministry is piloting a new preschool education program. In addition, Mr. Son said that continuing education will also have a "renovation", from improving conditions and teaching staff, to teaching, testing and evaluation.

The head of the education sector hopes that all teachers and students will strive to innovate and be creative in order to fulfill their responsibilities well.

Reporter team

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