Many high schools in Ho Chi Minh City have increased the number of classes.

Ho Chi Minh City: Many high schools have changed their timetables, increasing the number of afternoon classes or adding Saturday mornings to avoid teaching more than 8 periods per day as required by the Department of Education and Training.

Quoc Bao, a 12th grade student at Vo Truong Toan High School in District 12, said he had just received notice of a change in the school's timetable, effective from October 30. Compared to the old schedule, Bao had to attend an extra afternoon class during the week.

Previously, Bao studied from Monday to Saturday morning, 5 periods each session and three afternoons a week. In total, on Wednesday and Friday alone, he studied 9 periods a day. According to the new schedule, these two days, Bao only studies 8 periods, the remaining periods are transferred to another session.

"I hope the schedule will be kept the same as before, concentrated into a few days so that I can rest and study more instead of spreading it out like the new schedule," Bao said.

Similarly, Nguyen Thi Dieu High School in District 3 also adjusted its schedule a week ago, with no more than 8 classes per day. Kieu My, a 10th grade student at the school, said the number of afternoon classes has increased by one.

Nguyen Du High School students in a Literature class in March. Photo: Le Nguyen — Nguyen Du High School students in a Literature class in March. Photo: *Le Nguyen*

Meanwhile, Ms. Thu, a parent of a 12th grade student at a high school in District 3, reported that her child has to attend extra classes on Saturday mornings since the new timetable was implemented. Previously, her child only went to school twice a day, from Monday to Friday.

"Changing the timetable disrupts my child's daily routine and extra classes. I still want my child to rest and not have to go to school on Saturdays," Ms. Thu said.

Nguyen Huu Tho High School (District 4), Nguyen Cong Tru High School (Go Vap), Linh Trung High School (Thu Duc City) also announced that students will come to school on Saturday mornings, reducing the number of periods per weekday to 8 instead of 9 as before.

This move comes from the request of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training during a meeting with high school principals on October 10. The Department said this is a regulation of the Ministry of Education and Training . If the school teaches two sessions a day, the morning must not exceed 5 periods, the afternoon must not exceed 3 periods, and each week must not exceed 6 days. This regulation has been carefully studied to ensure effective learning for students.

Ho Chi Minh City currently has more than 200 high schools with more than 260,000 students, all of whom study two sessions a day. The reason why many schools previously arranged a timetable of 9 periods/day is because in addition to the main curriculum (about 30 periods per week), the second session program of about 6-9 periods, schools also have skills classes, STEAM, career guidance in the form of socialization (about 4-6 periods). Therefore, the total number of study periods per week for students is often more than 40. If arranged exactly 8 periods per day, students have to go to school on Saturday or add an afternoon class.

Le Nguyen

*Student and parent names have been changed

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