Is class starting at 6:30, or even 6:00, suitable for today's students?

Some universities in Ho Chi Minh City have the first period starting at 6:30 am, but only a few students choose to study it. The question is, is early class time suitable for the current pace of life?

Ho Chi Minh City University of Education is one of the few universities in Ho Chi Minh City that stipulates that the first period starts at 6:30 a.m. - Photo: TRAN HUYNH

The fact that Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade plans to start classes at 6:30 am is causing heated debate among students and the online community. However, in reality, at 6:30 am, students from several schools in Ho Chi Minh City are already sitting in the lecture halls to start their first class of the day.

Flexible study hours according to credits, period 1 in some places starts at 6:30 but few students choose it

According to the schedule of the Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, there are 16 periods per day with three shifts, but the first period starts at 6:30 and the last period ends at 9:00 p.m. According to Mr. Nguyen Trung Nhan - Head of the school's training department, the school's study and teaching schedule has been applied for many years, in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training .

With credit-based training, the school builds a flexible timetable by arranging courses at different time slots, including period 1.

Accordingly, students can choose suitable study hours and lecturers according to their wishes, but it is not mandatory.

For example, advanced math is scheduled in period 1, or periods 2, 3, 6, 8… Students can choose to register for this course in any appropriate period.

"However, in reality, the number of students who choose to study period 1 is very small, only about 10% of the total number of students. Most of the students who choose to study period 1 are students who live in the dormitory (located right on campus), or have houses near the school. Besides, I have asked students who choose to study period 1, they said that they like to study early, and can skip the following periods to do other things," Mr. Nhan added.

Mr. Huynh Trung Phong - Director of the Center for Student Support and Entrepreneurship Development of Ho Chi Minh City University of Education - also said that the school has a schedule of two shifts, each shift has three periods. In which, the first period starts at 6:30 am.

"This school schedule has been set by the school for a long time, not recently. However, in reality, not all faculties in the school use shift 1. Only in faculties with shift 1 schedules do students have to enter class from period 1 at 6:30. Students studying shift 1 attend school quite regularly," said Mr. Phong.

University study hours: same credits, different "alarm clocks"

Meanwhile, Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology stipulates a five-shift school day: two shifts with six periods in the morning (period 1 starts at 6:45), two shifts with six periods in the afternoon, and one shift with three periods in the evening (ending at 8:15 p.m.).

According to Mr. Cu Xuan Tien - Head of Admissions and Student Affairs Department of University of Economics and Law - Ho Chi Minh City National University, the school hours for full-time students of the school start in the morning at 7:00 am, the last class of the afternoon usually ends at 4:30 pm (for 3-credit courses). Besides, there are a few part-time classes (2 credits) that will end at 5:45 pm. Full-time students of the school do not study in the evening.

Mr. Van Chi Nam - Vice Principal of the University of Natural Sciences (Ho Chi Minh City National University) - said that the school has different study schedules at its two training facilities, in which facility 1 (227 Nguyen Van Cu, Cho Quan ward) has 12 periods per day with the first period starting at 7:00 and the last period ending at 6:00 p.m., facility 2 (Ho Chi Minh City National University urban area) has 10 periods per day with the first period starting at 7:30 a.m. and the last period ending at 5:00 p.m.

At Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, full-time students of the first degree program have a daily schedule of 10 lessons, divided into two sessions: morning and afternoon. Mr. Le Van Hien - Head of the school's training department - said: "Currently, the school organizes teaching at three campuses with different study time frames, depending on the number of lessons for each subject. For subjects with 5 lessons per session (at campuses 1 and 2), the morning session starts at 7:00 a.m. and the afternoon session ends at 5:25 p.m. For subjects with 4 lessons per session (campuses 1 and 2), the time is divided more specifically, but the first lesson in the morning also starts at 7:00 a.m. and the afternoon session at 4:35 p.m. As for campus 3, the study time frame has been adjusted to start from 7:30 a.m. in the morning and end at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon."

Some schools have first period at 6am, but…

Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology - Vietnam National University stipulates 16 study and teaching periods per day (50 minutes/period) with three shifts (morning, afternoon, evening). In which, the morning shift consists of six periods with period 1 starting at 6:00; the afternoon shift has six periods with period 7 starting at 12:00; the evening shift has four periods with period 13 starting at 18:00 and period 16 ending at 21:10.

Despite the school hours being regulated like that, according to the school representative, in reality, both campuses 1 and 2 of the school start studying from 7am (from period 2). Periods 1 and 16 of the day are only for special cases such as work-study classes in remote provinces, students who need to study early, and have specific requests from lecturers and students.

TRAN HUYNH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/gio-hoc-bat-dau-tu-6h30-tham-chi-6h-co-phu-hop-voi-sinh-vien-ngay-nay-20251027073935364.htm