Limit Saturday Study: Reduce Pressure on Students

GD&TĐ - In the first week of the 2025-2026 school year, many parents in Ho Chi Minh City expressed concern that their children had to go to school on Saturday mornings, instead of having a day off like the previous school year.

Faced with this reality, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City has asked schools to arrange reasonable timetables to reduce study pressure, while creating conditions for students to rest and participate in extracurricular activities.

Parents are worried

In the first week of the new school year, many parents of secondary school students were surprised when their children had to go to school on Saturdays, instead of only studying until Friday afternoon as before. Ms. PTN, a parent of a 7th grader at Huynh Khuong Ninh Secondary School (Tan Dinh Ward), said that last school year her child studied two sessions a day from Monday to Friday and had Saturday off. However, this year, her child had to study five more periods on Saturday mornings, and the end of school time also changed, making it difficult to pick up and drop off.

“Last year, my child finished school at 5:00 p.m. I usually picked him up between 5:30 and 5:45 p.m. due to traffic jams. This year, he finishes school at 4:15 p.m. and has extra classes on Saturday mornings. Picking him up and dropping him off is very tiring. I think Saturdays should be for the children to rest, learn skills, talents, or prepare for lessons. I hope the school can arrange things flexibly for the convenience of students and parents,” Ms. N. shared.

Similarly, Ms. NHP, whose child studies at Hoa Lu Secondary School (Tang Nhon Phu Ward), said that studying on Saturday mornings disrupts her child's daily routine and English learning schedule. "Previously, my child only studied from Monday to Friday, and on weekends he studied English and played sports . Studying on Saturdays affects the development of his talents and personal abilities. I hope the school can arrange a reasonable timetable," Ms. P. said.

Students of Luong Dinh Cua Secondary School (Cat Lai Ward) at the opening ceremony of the new school year. Photo: MH

Review and arrange flexibly

Leaders of many secondary schools said that the timetable arrangement is being adjusted according to the new guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Training : Study at least 5 days/week, maximum 11 sessions and no more than 7 periods per day.

However, many parents complained that supplementary classes such as STEM, life skills, and English with native teachers are socialized programs and require separate fees. Therefore, they suggested that schools arrange these classes on weekends so that students who register can go to school and the rest can have their own time.

Ms. Lam Hong Lam Thuy - Head of the General Education Department (Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training), said: "We have received many complaints from parents and have asked schools to review and arrange reasonable timetables, limit organizing classes on Saturdays, especially when the new school year has just begun. Therefore, we have asked schools to review and arrange flexibly to ensure that this does not cause public outrage."

However, according to Ms. Thuy, in reality, at the primary and secondary levels, not all schools have the conditions to organize 2 sessions/day. If possible, schools should limit studying on Saturdays. Some schools have flexibly changed Saturday learning activities into self-study or online learning. This is a direction worth considering.

According to Ms. Thuy, Ho Chi Minh City has issued a list of educational activities and support services that are allowed to collect fees from social sources. However, not all schools must implement all of these contents. The selection must be appropriate, not causing pressure, avoiding the situation of "taking on too much" and forcing all students to participate.

Ho Chi Minh City currently has nearly 500 secondary schools with about 760,000 students, of which more than 93% of schools in the old Ho Chi Minh City have implemented 2-session teaching/day. Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the current difficulty is that there is no consensus in organizing teaching on Saturday mornings.

One of the reasons is the incorrect understanding of the regulation "no more than 7 periods/day" of the Ministry of Education and Training. According to Mr. Quoc, most secondary schools in Ho Chi Minh City teach 2 sessions/day. In addition to 29 - 29.5 periods/week according to the main curriculum, schools also have associated classes such as STEM, life skills, English with native teachers, international IT... These contents are not part of the main curriculum so they can be arranged flexibly, up to 8 periods/day. Scheduling 4 periods in the morning and 4 periods in the afternoon will be convenient for parents to pick up and drop off.

“Schools need to be flexible between the Ministry of Education and Training’s curriculum and the school’s, but students should not have to go to school on Saturdays. If they do, they should be used to nurture gifted students, tutor weak students, or organize sports clubs on a voluntary basis,” Mr. Quoc emphasized.

Mr. Cao Duc Khoa, Principal of Nguyen Du Secondary School (Ben Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City), said that according to the curriculum framework of the Ministry of Education and Training, grades 6 and 7 study 29 periods/week, grades 8 and 9 study 29.5 periods/week. Subjects such as STEM, life skills, international informatics, digital citizenship, native English... are school programs, linked with outside. If you only choose to teach about 5-6 periods/week, there is no need to spread it out to Saturday mornings.

Mr. Ho Tan Minh - Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, informed: "Last week, many schools arranged their timetables unreasonably, causing students to finish school at 3:00 p.m. or 3:30 p.m., causing difficulties for parents.

The Department will soon issue specific instructions on school start and end times for each level. It is expected that students will start school in the morning from 7am to 8am at the latest, and end school in the morning from 10:30am onwards; and the afternoon will end no earlier than 4:30pm.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/han-che-hoc-thu-bay-giam-ap-luc-cho-hoc-sinh-post748125.html