My child finishes school at 3:30 PM, and I'm restless and anxious.

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - For more than two weeks now, Ms. Nguyen Phuong Tra (Cau Giay, Hanoi) has had to hire ride-hailing motorbikes to pick up her child, feeling anxious. Her child's school lets students go home at 3:30 PM.

Báo Dân trí•12/09/2025

Ms. Tra's child is in 7th grade at a school in Cau Giay, Hanoi . Although the new school year officially started a week ago and students have been back in school for more than two weeks, Ms. Tra's child's school still hasn't released an official timetable.

According to Ms. Tra, her child has four classes in the morning and two in the afternoon, with Saturdays off. The school hasn't organized any extracurricular clubs, doesn't offer English classes with native speakers, and doesn't have STEM classes like last year. With this schedule, her child has to leave school at 3:30 PM every day.

"Every time I book a ride to pick up my child, I don't dare take my phone off the screen to monitor the app and see where the driver is taking my child," Ms. Tra expressed her anxiety and apprehension at not being able to pick up her child in person.

Ms. Pham Thi Chi, whose child attends another junior high school in the area, also shared a similar complaint.

“My house is 4km from the school, so the bus route isn't convenient. My child is only in 6th grade and can't ride a bicycle on their own yet. Lately, my husband and I have had to take turns leaving work early to pick them up. The daily routines and work schedules of the whole family have been completely disrupted,” Ms. Chi shared.

According to a survey conducted by Dan Tri reporters in Cau Giay and Tu Liem wards, primary schools are basically maintaining the same timetable as the 2024-2025 school year. Students finish school between 4 PM and 4:20 PM depending on the grade level to ensure smooth traffic flow.

However, junior high schools only organize 6 lessons per day, lacking integrated lessons on English, STEM, life skills, English-language math, etc.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Van, a teacher at a junior high school in Hanoi, analyzes the obstacles that schools are facing when implementing a two-session-per-day learning schedule:

Starting from the 2025-2026 school year, junior and senior high schools with adequate facilities must implement a two-session-per-day learning schedule. The first session will consist of core subjects, while the second session will be dedicated to activities that comprehensively develop arts, sports , life skills, digital literacy, etc. Tuition fees will also be waived starting from this school year.

However, these two policies are different. Students are exempt from tuition fees for compulsory, core educational content. Yet, many parents mistakenly believe that extracurricular educational content is also free.

This led to demands from parents such as: Schools should organize additional classes to extend the school day until 4:30 or 5:00 PM. Schools should organize review and reinforcement sessions for students at the end of the day instead of requiring them to register for skills, moral, intellectual, physical, and aesthetic development classes…

"This request is legitimate, provided the school has the financial resources to implement it. These resources can come from the budget, from social mobilization, or from parental contributions."

"Schools are hesitant to conduct review and reinforcement sessions for students due to regulations regarding extra classes and tutoring," Ms. Van said.

Ms. Van emphasized that Circular 29 of the Ministry of Education and Training clearly stipulates that secondary school students are only allowed to attend extra classes in three cases: tutoring for students who have not met the standards, enrichment for gifted students, and preparation for final exams.

Therefore, the majority of students in grades 6, 7, and 8 will not be allowed to attend extra classes in any form. Schools are also not permitted to collect fees for extra classes in any form.

"If the school wants to organize additional review and reinforcement sessions to increase the number of class hours, it cannot charge parents any fees. This means that teachers will not be paid for overtime or teaching beyond the standard schedule. This is certainly not a sustainable solution," Ms. Van said.

Regarding primary schools, Ms. Nguyen Huong Giang, a teacher in Cau Giay district, said: "At the earliest, schools will not have fixed timetables until next week."

"This weekend is scheduled for parent-teacher meetings, and homeroom teachers need to obtain their consent before officially implementing the extracurricular lessons. Without these lessons, elementary school students would still have to go home early, because the Ministry only allows a maximum of 7 regular lessons per day."

"Overall, there will be no disruption at the primary school level because schools have been implementing a two-session-per-day schedule for many years. However, for secondary schools that are organizing a two-session-per-day schedule for the first time, the implementation will be more difficult," Ms. Giang shared.

Teachers' working hours are regulated by the Ministry of Education and Training.

The working time of general education teachers is implemented according to Circular 05 of the Ministry of Education and Training, which clearly states: "The working time of teachers is implemented according to the school year and is converted into teaching hours, including the number of teaching hours in one school year and the average number of teaching hours per week according to the teaching hour quota."

Specifically, the average weekly teaching load for primary school teachers is 23 lessons, for lower secondary school teachers is 19 lessons, and for upper secondary school teachers is 17 lessons. Therefore, if schools operate on a 5-session-per-week schedule, primary school teachers will teach 4.6 lessons per day, lower secondary school teachers 3.8 lessons per day, and upper secondary school teachers 3.4 lessons per day.

In addition, the Ministry stipulates a reduction in teaching load for teachers who also hold other positions such as homeroom teacher, head of subject group, Party/Youth Union official, academic administrator, student counselor, etc.

(*) Parent and teacher names have been changed.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/con-tan-hoc-tu-15h30-me-thap-thom-dung-ngoi-khong-yen-20250912162707731.htm