Students in Ho Chi Minh City must go to school on Saturday mornings: Due to schools' misunderstanding of teaching 2 sessions/day

On September 10, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City held a conference to contribute ideas to the school education plan for the 2025-2026 school year with the participation of leaders of junior high and high schools across the city.

Students of Vo Truong Toan Secondary School in a STEM class - Photo: Provided by the school

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City - said that the current difficulty in organizing two-session teaching/day in schools is the lack of consistency in teaching on Saturday mornings. The biggest obstacle leading to teaching on Saturday mornings is the incorrect understanding of teaching no more than seven periods/day.

No regular classes on Saturday mornings

"The Ministry of Education and Training stipulates that no more than seven periods are taught per day, which means that these seven periods are used to implement the general education program. As for other subjects and educational activities, schools can balance them to teach, which means there can be more than seven periods per day.

Schools should not schedule regular classes on Saturdays. Instead, Saturdays should be used to nurture gifted students, tutor failing students, organize clubs... with the active and voluntary participation of students.

Some principals say, "I'm the principal, I have the right! So the school arranges for students to study five periods in the morning, only two periods in the afternoon and then go home, then on Saturday morning they study three more periods. That's not okay!" - Mr. Quoc said.

Mr. Quoc requested that after this meeting, principals of junior high and high schools in the city must review the school's educational plan and rearrange the study schedule for each grade to suit regulations and actual conditions.

He also asked junior high and high schools: "Do not take on too many subjects in the school curriculum, and do not include too much content in the school curriculum in teaching."

Also at the conference, Mr. Tran Ngoc Huy - Deputy Head of the General Education Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training - explained: "Teaching subjects in the school curriculum is organized according to the wishes of parents. That is, parents register for the school to open a class. Thus, it is impossible to arrange these subjects in the timetable for regular classes, unless 100% of parents in that class register."

New learning model makes parents "satisfied"

The most impressive part of the conference was the report by Ms. Tran Thuy An, principal of Vo Truong Toan Secondary School, Sai Gon Ward. Ms. An said: "Before developing the education plan, the school organized a dialogue and surveyed parents' opinions."

Survey results show that nearly 100% of parents agree with the timetable; class placement according to students' wishes, interests, and abilities; and the two-session/day boarding program.

Of which, 96.9% of parents agreed to participate in school programs (such as physical education, foreign language development through communication with foreign teachers, digital skills through international computer programs, artificial intelligence skills, STEM education, life skills education depending on the actual number of lessons of the type of class their children attend); 1.7% of parents did not agree to participate and 1.4% had other opinions.

In addition, 88% of parents agree to study directly at school from Monday to Friday. Online learning is flexible on Saturday. Therefore, students of Vo Truong Toan Secondary School only go to school from Monday to Friday.

Period 1 at this school starts at 7:30, the morning session ends at 11:15 so that students can have lunch and take a nap. The afternoon session starts at 1:30 and ends at 4:25.

"Our school teachers wonder why school can't end earlier this year, even though we have fewer classes than last year. I told the teachers that we are serving the people, teaching the people's children. Most of the parents in our school are workers and civil servants. If school ends too early, it will be very difficult for them to pick up and drop off their children," Ms. An said at the conference.

According to the two-session/day teaching plan of Vo Truong Toan School, the second-session program is divided into two types: The first type is educational activities implemented from the budget. Including review and tutoring for students whose final semester study results are not up to standard, training for excellent students, 10th grade entrance exam review for final year students, international exchange and cooperation activities, and other professional activities converted into teaching hours.

In particular, the school flexibly conducts the 10th grade entrance exam review according to each type of integrated class; English enhancement class; math supplementary class in English; Japanese as a foreign language 1 class; and general education class.

This task will be divided into three phases: Phase 1 is the first semester, grade 9 students will still study some subjects in the school program such as digital skills, STEM... At the same time, teachers will strengthen knowledge for students in direct and online forms on LMS.

Phase 2 is the second semester, the school will convert all lessons in the school program into enhanced lessons for three subjects that will be tested in grade 10: math, literature, and foreign language.

Phase 3 is after students have finished the final exam of the second semester, the school will transfer all lectures of subjects not included in the 10th grade entrance exam to the LMS system for students to study online. Direct study time will be reserved for teachers to review for the 10th grade entrance exam.

"For subjects in the school curriculum, even though we let parents choose in advance, if at the last minute a parent does not agree, the school will still meet directly to find out the reason.

In addition to the reason for not wanting to participate, if parents cannot afford to pay tuition, the school will work with partners to exempt or reduce tuition fees, ensuring that no student is left behind," Ms. An informed.

First year of implementation

The 2025-2026 school year is the first year that schools in Ho Chi Minh City will teach two sessions a day according to the new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. In which, schools are allowed to teach a maximum of seven periods a day, 11 sessions a week for middle and high schools. Some middle schools have arranged timetables for students to attend school on Saturday mornings, causing many parents to be upset and react.

Must demonstrate parental consent

According to the document guiding the teaching of two sessions/day of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, educational activities in the second session are carried out from socialized sources (ie school programs) must demonstrate scientific, effective and necessary nature; ensure voluntary participation of students, consensus of parents and be suitable to the conditions of organization and implementation of the school. In particular, schools must have documents to prove this.

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HOANG HUONG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hoc-sinh-tp-hcm-phai-di-hoc-sang-thu-bay-do-truong-hieu-chua-dung-ve-day-2-buoi-ngay-20250910223529606.htm