What's so special about digital schools in Ho Chi Minh City?

By April 2025, Ho Chi Minh City will have its first 100 primary, secondary, and high schools recognized as meeting the standards of a digital school.

A collaborative class between students from Nguyen Thai Hoc Primary School, Ben Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, and students from Dongsan Primary School, South Korea - Photo: provided by the school.

What makes these digital schools special?

Connecting lesson

In the summer of 2025, Ms. Huynh Ngoc - a parent of a student at Van Don Secondary School, Xom Chieu Ward, Ho Chi Minh City - spent 30-45 minutes each day studying with her child on the school's online learning system.

"My child just finished 6th grade at Van Don Secondary School. During the three-month summer break at home, I'm worried my child will forget what they've learned, especially since the school's LMS system already has lectures from the teachers."

Initially, my child and I would log into the LMS together each day to review lectures or do some exercises from the 6th grade curriculum to reinforce knowledge. On days when we were feeling diligent, my child might also watch lectures for some subjects from the 7th grade curriculum. After a few weeks, when it became a habit, my child logged into the LMS on their own to study and do homework. I absolutely did not enroll my child in any extra tutoring classes."

Ms. Ngoc also commented: "Students now have many learning resources, unlike us in the past. The online learning system (LMS) is one example; it's very convenient and effective. Even when I take my child back to the countryside to visit grandparents, she can still access the LMS to study without interruption, unlike in-person learning."

Meanwhile, at Nguyen Thai Hoc Primary School in Ben Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City, starting from the second semester of the 2024-2025 school year, 4th grade students have been participating in lessons connecting with students of the same age at Dongsan Primary School in South Korea.

"Each month, students at Nguyen Thai Hoc High School will have an online lesson with students from Dongsan High School about the culture and cuisine of both countries, school traditions, etc., with teachers from both schools taking turns teaching."

"After that, the students discussed the current situation and worked on projects related to water resource protection and environmental protection..." - Ms. Tran Be Hong Hanh, principal of Nguyen Thai Hoc Primary School, informed.

It's not just about facilities.

Nguyen Thai Hoc and Van Don schools are among the first 100 schools in Ho Chi Minh City to be recognized as meeting digital school standards.

Ms. Le Thi Thuy, principal of Van Don Secondary School, said: "By the summer of 2025, the school will have uploaded 100% of the lectures, along with the system of exercises, tests, and assessments for all subjects from grades 6 to 9, to the LMS system."

"In the 2025-2026 school year, our school will also implement 100% digital student records. In terms of facilities, we are currently quite complete; in addition to digital classrooms, all classrooms in Van Don have been equipped with multi-touch smart boards..."

Nguyen Thai Hoc School, in particular, has implemented a digital library, where each student has their own account and can log in to read books anywhere, anytime from the school's online book collection.

"In addition to digital learning resources and digital lectures like other schools, we also purchased software to build a 3D learning resource library to support teachers in teaching subjects such as social sciences, history and geography, mathematics, literature, etc."

To implement the digital school model, the school has upgraded its internet bandwidth system. With sufficiently strong WiFi, teachers can freely access digital learning resources and use them in their lessons.

At Nguyen Thai Hoc School, teachers can connect directly with experts during their lessons to make them more engaging and effective, such as connecting with traffic police, experts in various fields, etc. - Ms. Hong Hanh explained.

However, Ms. Hanh believes that building a digital school is not just about investing money to buy modern equipment.

"The main thing is to operate the digital school effectively, making the most of all the modern facilities. This requires the consensus of both teachers and parents. Therefore, we not only organize training sessions for teachers but also require homeroom teachers to clearly explain the digital school concept during parent meetings."

"Besides explaining to parents how students will benefit, we must also guide them on how to support their children in using digital lessons and digital libraries..." - Ms. Hanh concluded.

Accrediting the first 100 schools.

On April 28th, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issued a decision recognizing the first 100 digital schools. This project commemorates the 50th anniversary of the liberation of Southern Vietnam and the reunification of the country. The first 100 digital schools recognized by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee are primary, secondary, and high schools that meet all six component standards.

Specifically, these include digital institutions; digital infrastructure; digital data; digital human resources; digital governance and administration; and digital education . The Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee stated that based on these standards, educational institutions will determine their goals, orientations, and development strategies to achieve the digital school model. The objective is to bring about significant changes in governance and education within the institution, guided by digital transformation.

A math lesson for 9th graders at Tran Quoc Toan 1 Secondary School (Ho Chi Minh City). This is one of the 100 schools recognized for its digital education - Photo: NHU HUNG

Invite experts to provide training.

This summer, many digital schools in Ho Chi Minh City have invited experts to train their teachers with the aim of maximizing the use of the school's digital infrastructure. For example, Nguyen Thai Hoc School provided training on artificial intelligence, and Tran Quoc Toan 1 Secondary School in Binh Trung Ward organized a Google Certified Educator Level 2 course for its teachers.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Hang, principal of Tran Quoc Toan 1 Secondary School, said: "The school aims to build a digital classroom and a digital school in a systematic and comprehensive way, not only to do a good job of teaching but also to manage students in the digital environment."

In the upcoming school year, the school will collaborate with partners to design and develop additional digital programs suitable for students' learning and development. For example, we will launch a drone club, giving students the opportunity to access and become familiar with programming. This is a new highlight for the school in the coming school year, positioning it as a digital school.

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HOANG HUONG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/co-gi-dac-biet-trong-nhung-truong-hoc-so-o-tp-hcm-20250815083655562.htm