Minister of Education: 'Must innovate the content of each subject'

History should not only be taught and tested on numbers, Math should be taught to train thinking, and Literature should foster emotions in students, according to Minister Nguyen Kim Son.

"We must continue to innovate the content of each subject," Mr. Son said at the conference of directors of the Department of Education and Training of 63 provinces and cities on the afternoon of July 21 in Nghe An.

The Minister believes that innovation needs to go into depth. For example, with History, if teaching and testing are only quantitative, the subject cannot be attractive. That is also not what History needs to bring to students in terms of cognition, thinking, intelligence, and emotion.

In Literature, Mr. Son said we must find a way to make Literature a tool for human development, cultivating emotions, attitudes, and personality, not just a story that delves into the text. "The purpose of Literature does not stop at the text but is people. We still have one more step to change," he said.

Similar to natural sciences, according to Mr. Son, Math is not just about teaching math problems, but also training students to think. For Chemistry and Biology, teachers must increase teaching practice and experiments. He believes that tools are already lacking, but if they are left to rot because students are not allowed to use them, the education sector is at fault with the students.

The innovation of teaching and learning methods has been mentioned many times by the Ministry in documents and conferences on the implementation of the new general education program, because one of the goals of the program is to emphasize personalization, helping students develop their qualities and abilities. Therefore, the traditional teaching method of one-way knowledge transfer from teachers to students, reading and copying is no longer suitable.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son at the conference on July 21. Photo: MOET — Minister Nguyen Kim Son at the conference on July 21. Photo: *MOET*

In the 2023-2024 school year, the new program will continue to be applied to grades 4, 8 and 11, and the following year will be applied to grades 5, 9 and 12. Mr. Son said that the 2025 high school graduation exam will be completely renewed to suit the first generation of students graduating under the new program. But before reaching this milestone, the 2024 exam will be maintained stable in terms of model and organization, with only slight adjustments in expertise and content.

"The generation of students graduating next year will still study the old curriculum, so there cannot be any major changes. However, next year's exam is a pre-emptive order, a transition for 2025. Avoid sudden changes that will shock society," said Mr. Son.

Previously, in mid-March, the Ministry of Education and Training announced the draft plan for the 2025 high school graduation exam. The four compulsory subjects are Math, Literature, Foreign Language and History. For the regular education system, the number of compulsory subjects is three, without Foreign Language. In addition, students must choose two other subjects from the seven subjects: Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Economic and Legal Education, Information Technology, and Technology.

If this exam plan is approved, within 10 years (2015-2025), Vietnam's high school graduation exam will change three times.

Thanh Hang

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