Teaching "cross-facilities" to circumvent regulations

Circular 29, recently issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, stipulates that teachers are not allowed to tutor their own students. However, public opinion believes that teachers can still circumvent the regulation by tutoring other students.

Experts say that teaching and testing and evaluating students should be separated. Photo: NGHIEM HUE

Tutoring due to score pressure

It is noted that Circular 29 regulating extra teaching and learning has attracted special attention from the public and teachers. The new points of the circular have demonstrated the determination to bring extra teaching and learning to meet the real needs of students and parents. In particular, the two decisive factors are not to organize extra teaching for money in schools and teachers are not allowed to teach extra teaching outside of school for their students.

With the new regulation, parents hope to eliminate the situation of forcing students to take extra classes. The regulation of not teaching extra classes outside of school is receiving mixed opinions from teachers themselves.

Teacher NTP, who is teaching Literature at a high school in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, said that this regulation does not affect her current job. Because up to now, she has always adhered to the spirit of not accepting extra lessons for students who are studying in class. Teacher P is proud that although she does not teach extra lessons, many of her students have achieved high scores in high school graduation exams and love Literature. "The important thing for teachers is not extra lessons outside of school but creating inspiration and passion for the subject for students. I hold the view that students who complete the curriculum taught in class have the knowledge to take the exam," said Teacher P.

Mr. MA H, a math teacher at a high school in a central district of Hanoi , also firmly refused to teach extra classes to students in class. Mr. H has two extra classes at a cultural enrichment center outside the school, but in the class, the students come from schools across the city and there are no students because he is teaching at the high school (where he is a full-time teacher).

Ms. NTT (teaching Literature at a secondary school) in Vu Ban district, Nam Dinh province, said that teaching in class and school work took up most of her time during the day, so she did not teach extra classes. However, every year, when the district/city-level excellent student competition was approaching, parents often asked her to tutor some students in the team, so Ms. T arranged her time to teach. Although it was not a high-quality secondary school, this year Ms. T was proud to have 3 of the students in the team she tutored win provincial prizes.

According to reality, most teachers have the need to teach extra classes for two purposes: to earn extra income and to ensure the quality of training as required. Ms. TTN (currently teaching at a secondary school in My Loc district, Nam Dinh) said that she is teaching extra classes outside of school (7th and 8th graders), each class 2 sessions/week. The tuition fee is 20,000 VND/session/student. Ms. N analyzed that some students have difficulty grasping knowledge in class in 1 lesson, so parents have the need to let their children take extra classes. "Subject teachers like me review carefully and have to force students to study. Subjects that are not included in the 10th grade entrance exam are very few students like to study. Teachers also have the pressure of being responsible for the quality and grades in class," Ms. N said.

Teaching and testing should be independent.

The regulation that teachers are not allowed to teach extra classes outside of school to students that they are teaching in class is also stipulated in Circular 17 (issued in 2012), but it is not strict enough, leading to teachers taking advantage of it. That is the regulation that teachers can teach students that they are teaching in class if they have the consent of the principal. This is a loophole for teachers to circumvent the regulation, when they are granted a license to teach extra classes by the Department of Education and Training based on the proposal of the principal. This means that the principal agrees to let teachers teach extra classes to students that the teacher is teaching in class.

This is the reason why extra classes at secondary and high schools have increased recently. The newly issued Circular 29 has more specific regulations. However, there are still concerns about teachers colluding to swap students to teach extra classes in accordance with regulations.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Director of the Department of Secondary Education, Ministry of Education and Training , said that it is necessary to overcome the situation where students go to school every day with a packed schedule from morning to night, without time to rest, self-study, absorb, and apply knowledge.

To limit the exploitation of loopholes in the regulations, Dr. Pham Hiep, Director of the Institute for Educational Research and Knowledge Transfer (REK), Thanh Do University, believes that teaching and student assessment should be separated. That is, teachers only have the responsibility of training, while assessment is the function of other organizations such as the department or agency level. That means that the role of teachers in students' academic scores is precisely quality, there is no longer a situation of making things difficult, asking "twisting" questions, and "twisting" tests on parts that are only available in extra classes.

Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Director of the Department of Secondary Education, Ministry of Education and Training, affirmed that through monitoring and understanding the reality, the Ministry found that there are students who have the need and voluntarily take extra classes. However, there are also situations where students do not want to but still have to take extra classes organized by their own teachers and schools. Another group of students are having to take extra classes just to avoid being out of place with their friends, not feeling guilty towards their teachers or even because the test is not unfamiliar. According to him, general schools are currently applying the 2018 General Education Program, the Ministry of Education and Training has specified the number of periods/subject, and set out requirements to achieve for each subject that are suitable for students.

The restriction of three subjects of extra teaching and learning in schools aims at schools that do not have extra teaching and learning. Instead, after school hours of subjects according to the curriculum, students have time and space to participate in recreational activities, practice sports, practice drawing, music, etc. According to Mr. Thanh, to move towards schools that do not have extra teaching and learning and society that does not have extra learning, there are two issues: legal regulations and people's awareness.

Source: https://danviet.vn/cam-day-them-hoc-them-day-cheo-canh-de-lach-quy-dinh-20250115104328019.htm