Nearly 3 months of tightening extra teaching and learning: Violations still occur continuously

TPO - After 2.5 months of applying Circular 29 of the Ministry of Education and Training on strengthening the management of extra teaching and learning, although localities have issued strict regulations, there are still cases of violations of the "prohibition".

Circular 29 of the Ministry of Education and Training has been applied since February 14 with many new points, including limiting the subjects of extra study in schools. Instead of all students being able to take extra study in schools as before, now only weak students, good students, and students studying for final exams are allowed to take extra study.

Teachers are allowed to teach extra classes at centers outside of school, but are not allowed to teach extra classes for a fee to regular students. They are not allowed to teach extra cultural subjects to primary school students.

The Ministry of Education and Training strongly requires localities to only provide guidance to strictly implement the new regulations.

However, after a period of implementation, there have been consecutive violations of regulations.

Ms. Do Thuc Anh, whose child is in grade 6 at a secondary school in Dong Da district ( Hanoi ), said that before the circular on extra teaching and learning was applied, her child and her classmates took extra classes in groups at the teacher's house. After the new regulations were issued, her child was able to change her schedule to study Math, Literature, and English at a center, 2 sessions per week for each subject with a tuition fee of 2 million/month. However, a few days ago, after a tutoring center in the district was suspended, her child was also notified to temporarily stop studying for a while.

“The school organizes one regular session a day, and the other session is for extra classes at the center. Even though I don’t want my child to attend, I am worried that the teacher might be reinforcing the curriculum, and my child might fall behind his classmates, so I have to take him to the center for extra classes, which is very annoying,” said Ms. Thuc Anh.

Parents are concerned about letting their children take extra classes at centers that do not meet regulations on lighting, fire prevention, tables and chairs... but if they do not take classes, they are afraid of being at a disadvantage compared to their friends.

Also in Dong Da district (Hanoi), the interdisciplinary inspection team recently suspended the operations of the Vietnam-Russia Cultural Training Center due to many violations related to extra teaching and learning.

It is worth mentioning that at the time of the inspection, the center was closed for students to take a day off. The inspection team informed that there were about 600 applications for extra classes from students of all grades at the secondary level to study at the center. The inspection team also worked with Lang Thuong Secondary School, the school where most of the students registered for extra classes at the center, to verify and clarify compliance with regulations related to extra teaching and learning.

Ms. Trinh Dan Ly, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Dong Da district, said that immediately afterwards, the Department of Education and Training invited the principal of Lang Thuong Secondary School to report the incident and at the same time instructed all schools in the area to strictly comply with regulations on extra teaching and learning.

The incident of suspending a tutoring center for about 600 students in Dong Da district has not yet subsided, but Van Yen Secondary School (Ha Dong district) has discovered a number of teachers teaching extra classes at a center near the school, including teachers who teach extra classes for students in the regular class.

The Board of Directors of Van Yen Secondary School reported to the Department of Education and Training of Ha Dong district to explain the incident and requested the teacher to write a report for handling according to regulations.

Ms. Truong Thi Lien, Principal of Van Yen Secondary School, said that the unit had a meeting to discuss the violations of teachers in extra teaching, and how to handle them was under the authority of the management unit.

Previously, in Ho Chi Minh City, authorities also discovered a center that taught extra classes for elementary school students under the guise of a skills class.

The schedule of a tutoring center in Dong Da district (Hanoi) is divided into classes like in schools. Parents believe that if they only voluntarily register for tutoring, the whole class will not attend.

According to parents' feedback, in reality, there were extra classes that had previously closed after Circular 29, but there were also many places that found ways to circumvent the regulations, such as: Students writing volunteer applications; teachers exchanging students; learning culture under the guise of practicing calligraphy...

Difficult to manage extra teaching and learning?

Many opinions say that extra teaching and learning comes from real needs, so where there is supply, there is demand, it is very difficult to manage and implement the regulations correctly. Students always have the need to learn to be better, teachers also have the need to open classes to increase their income. Parents still have the mentality of "winning and losing", when their children have not yet entered grade 1, they want to read and write fluently, they have to find a pre-primary school class. Or their children are in primary school but want to find a class to take extra classes, to prepare for the entrance exam to grade 6 at a high-quality school, to apply for a "selective class". Students are trained to take many competitions in math, English, etc.

In particular, in Hanoi, the 10th grade high school entrance exam for many years is considered more difficult and stressful than the university entrance exam to win a place at a public school.

The principal of a junior high school said that the admission rate to public schools is limited, students will have to compete with each other based on their scores, so there is no other way but to study. When the school only organizes one session per day, the number of periods/subjects is limited, forcing students to take extra classes to improve their quality.

According to this principal, the current regulations on tutoring in schools are "abandoning" average and good students. In fact, these students also need to study to improve their scores, have better academic results and conquer exams. In addition, the exam review for final year students is limited to 2 periods/week, which does not meet the needs of students and parents.

“The solution to prevent illegal tutoring is to strictly handle violations to deter and avoid the situation where the whole class and the whole school join together to study at the same center. When studying at the center, the physical conditions such as tables and chairs are not up to standard in size, the lighting does not meet regulations, and the tuition fees are very high...”, he said.

Regarding Circular 29, during inspections and working sessions with localities, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong emphasized that the Ministry does not prohibit extra tutoring but strengthens management solutions to ensure the rights of students and parents. Rampant extra tutoring wastes time and money of parents and students, negatively affecting students' development and teacher-student relationships.

He also said that teachers need to raise awareness and not think that the Ministry's "ban" on extra teaching means losing a source of income. The Ministry of Education and Training requires schools to improve the quality of regular school hours and pay attention to each group of students to find support solutions.

Regarding violations related to extra teaching and learning, the Ministry of Education and Training requires local authorities to handle them strictly, without excuses, without tolerance or compromise. Regarding information about violations of extra teaching regulations in Hanoi, the Ministry of Education and Training has issued a document requesting the Department of Education and Training to verify and handle them strictly.

Ha Linh

Source: https://tienphong.vn/gan-3-thang-siet-day-them-hoc-them-van-lien-tiep-xay-ra-vi-pham-post1737788.tpo