Teaching 2 sessions/day, live within your means

Ensuring students develop comprehensively

In Notice 177-TB/VPTW dated April 25, concluding the working session with representatives of the Government Party Committee and central ministries and branches on the implementation of the Central Committee's resolutions on education and training; preparing the Politburo's Resolution on educational and training breakthroughs and some policies to support teaching and learning, General Secretary To Lam agreed on the policy that primary and secondary schools should organize 2 sessions/day depending on the conditions of each locality in terms of facilities, finance and teachers; there is a roadmap to gradually implement this policy. Teaching 2 sessions/day ensures no fees and reduces pressure on students, and enhancing teaching about culture and arts ensures students' comprehensive development.

The General Secretary assigned the Government Party Committee to direct the Ministry of Education and Training, ministries, branches and localities to fully prepare conditions in terms of facilities, teachers, teaching programs and educational activities so that primary and secondary schools can teach two sessions per day to ensure improving the quality of education. Implementation time is from the 2025-2026 school year.

Teaching 2 sessions/day to be implemented as desired by General Secretary To Lam requires 4 conditions: facilities, teaching staff, curriculum and finance. The first minimum condition to ensure that students can study 2 sessions/day is facilities. Mechanically, there must be enough 1 classroom/room for teaching activities to take place in 1 day of students at school. Higher requirements, schools must be equipped with multi-purpose classrooms, practice rooms, playgrounds, and training grounds. These criteria have been stipulated by the Ministry of Education and Training when implementing the 2018 education program.

Reporters' observations show that in the inner-city districts of Hanoi, teaching 2 sessions/day at primary and secondary schools basically only meets the minimum requirements. Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Hong, Principal of Chuong Duong Secondary School, Hoan Kiem (Hanoi) said that the school area is 9,000m2 with more than 1,000 students. The school only ensures 1 class/classroom, no functional rooms, no gym, no practice room because the area does not allow. However, that does not mean that it cannot carry out comprehensive educational activities for students. The school develops physical education clubs; in the classroom space, students can participate in music and art subjects outside the main curriculum to develop themselves.

Chuong Duong Secondary School regularly implements out-of-school experience activities by the teachers and students' union in coordination with the ward's Youth Union and mass organizations to organize a green - clean - beautiful Saturday every week in the ward. In which, the school's students are responsible for cleaning and taking care of trees in the Bo Vo area near the school. Students come here to clean up. Through these activities, the school hopes to educate awareness in protecting the environment, building a civilized lifestyle and being responsible to the community and locality.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Van Hong said that, with the direction of the General Secretary, the school is waiting for instructions from the Hanoi Department of Education and Training to implement teaching 2 sessions/day in the spirit of reducing workload, comprehensive student development, and increasing cultural and artistic education.

According to the report of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, in the 2024-2025 school year, 100% of primary schools in the city will have the facilities to teach 2 sessions/day. However, at the secondary school level, the reporter's observations show that from inner-city districts to suburban districts, Hanoi needs to add more schools and classrooms to be able to implement 100% of secondary schools to teach 2 sessions/day from the next school year.

Ms. Pham Thi Le Hang, Head of the Department of Education, Ha Dong District (Hanoi) said that in the district, 16/22 secondary schools are qualified to teach 2 sessions/day. In Cau Giay District, 22/25 secondary schools are implementing 2 sessions/day. Some other inner-city districts also do not have enough schools/classes to implement 2 sessions/day for secondary school level. The principal of a secondary school in Hoai Duc District (Hanoi) said that with more than 1,000 students, the school is implementing 1 session/day.

The lack of schools before the new school year has always been a matter of concern for the press in recent years. The rapid growth of population in some districts such as Cau Giay, Thanh Xuan, Nam Tu Liem, Ha Dong, Hoang Mai in Hanoi has made the shortage of secondary and high schools more serious.

Study culture and develop skills

Students of Chuong Duong Secondary School participate in cleaning the Bo Vo area near the school every Saturday morning. Photo: provided by the school

Up to now, primary schools nationwide are implementing 100% of students studying 2 sessions/day. At secondary and high schools, the implementation depends on the conditions of each locality. Mr. Nguyen Xuan Hong, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dinh, said that since March, secondary schools across the province have implemented 2 sessions/day.

According to the reporter's investigation, the two-session teaching/day in localities mainly focuses on cultural education, while large cities have additional activities to link foreign language teaching during regular school hours. In which, session 1 teaches according to the curriculum prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training, session 2 teaches foreign languages ​​in conjunction with additional learning of some subjects such as Literature, Math, and foreign languages ​​for a fee (a form of extra learning in schools). Therefore, when Circular 29 on extra learning and teaching of the Ministry of Education and Training took effect from the second semester of this school year, many secondary schools were confused about how to implement educational activities for students (because they are not allowed to teach extra lessons for a fee in schools).

Many schools give students afternoon breaks or leave them in the middle of the day, forcing parents to run around looking for extra classes or arrange to pick up their children from school at a time that is different from their work schedule. Thus, it can be seen that the current 2-session/day teaching only ensures that students are taught cultural subjects for exams and assessments. Schools almost completely neglect teaching skills and implementing comprehensive education programs for students according to the 2018 general education program.

“Students should not be forced to study culture for 4 periods in the morning, 3 periods in the afternoon, math in the morning, and math again in the afternoon. That is not in the spirit of teaching 2 sessions/day.”

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Principal of the Hanoi School for Education Staff Training, shared that teaching 2 sessions/day should be understood as studying all day at school (full day school). In this sense, the school space is reserved for students all day to both study culture and develop skills and physical fitness comprehensively. This means that in addition to studying culture, students can also participate in educational activities and experiences in the school space. Schools that do not have enough classrooms for each class to use all day can still exploit other facilities such as libraries, laboratories, practice rooms, multi-purpose rooms, playgrounds, exercise grounds, school gardens, etc. to organize educational activities outside the classroom for comprehensive development of students. However, if the school does not have enough classrooms for each class, it will be difficult to organize students to study all day at school.

For schools with enough 01 classroom in the classroom, organizing teaching all day at school can be done conveniently. However, this classroom should not be used only to teach subjects but should be combined with the use of the library, laboratory, practice room, multi-purpose room, playground, exercise ground, school garden... for students to self-study, complete, share products they have practiced, experienced or organize other activities assigned by teachers (such as application activities after each lesson or some lessons in the subject program). The arrangement of teaching timetable according to the subject program also needs to be "expanded" more than the morning and afternoon, alternating with time for students to independently perform learning/educational tasks, which will both reduce pressure on teachers and students and create conditions for exploiting and using the school's teaching staff more effectively.

Regarding teaching according to the subject program, in Official Dispatch 5512 (issued in 2020, on the development and implementation of the school's educational plan by the Ministry of Education and Training, instructions were given on the implementation of application activities after each lesson (or group of lessons). This activity is assigned to students at the beginning of the lesson, submitting products, and is not organized in class. If teachers only need to do this, students will have many opportunities to develop their abilities.

In Official Dispatch 5512 (issued by the Ministry of Education and Training in 2020, on the development and implementation of the school's educational plan), when talking about teaching and learning activities, it mentions application activities. This activity is clearly noted to only be carried out after a number of lessons with appropriate content. Teachers give students an open lesson, students submit their products, and do not organize teaching in class. Teachers only need to follow the Ministry's requirements, and students will have a lot of space and activities to develop. At that time, the school closes the gate and does not close the classroom all day.

NGHIEM HUE

Source: https://tienphong.vn/day-hoc-2-buoingay-lieu-com-gap-mam-post1740258.tpo