No forced extra tutoring

The draft circular stipulates that extra classes and tutoring will not be organized within schools that already provide two-session-per-day instruction. Photo: Quang Vinh.

The aforementioned draft Circular consists of 4 chapters and 16 articles, which stipulate the principles of tutoring and supplementary learning, the organization of tutoring and supplementary learning inside and outside schools, the fee levels and management of tutoring fees, as well as the responsibilities of management in the field of tutoring and supplementary learning…

Accordingly, supplementary tutoring may only be organized when students have a need for it, voluntarily choose to attend, and have the consent of their parents or guardians. Organizations and individuals organizing supplementary tutoring are prohibited from using any form of coercion to force students to attend.

Specifically, the regulations prohibit cutting content from the school's curriculum to make way for extra classes; prohibit teaching content ahead of the curriculum outlined in the school's educational plan; and prohibit using examples, questions, or exercises from extra classes for student assessment. Particularly, it prohibits extra classes within schools that already offer two-session-per-day teaching.

A new feature of the draft Circular is that it does not specify cases where tutoring is prohibited, unlike Article 4 of Circular 17/2012/TT-BGDĐT.

Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh - Head of the Department of Secondary Education (Ministry of Education and Training) believes that tutoring and extra classes should be recognized as a real need for both teachers and students.

This shouldn't be banned or criticized. The issue that's causing public outrage is that students are forced to attend extra classes taught by outside teachers, even though they don't want to. In other words, in these cases, students and parents are forced to "voluntarily" participate. This is a problem that the education sector must address.

Regarding the new points in the draft circular as mentioned above, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh analyzed: With regard to extracurricular tutoring within schools, previous regulations specifically stated cases where extracurricular tutoring was prohibited. In this draft, the Ministry found it unnecessary to include these details, or to adjust them to ensure fairness and appropriateness. Therefore, the draft eliminates formal procedures, such as requiring teachers to seek permission from the principal to teach their students, as stipulated in the current regulations (Circular 17). Instead, teachers can teach, but must create a list of students, report to the principal, and commit to not forcing them to do so in any way. At the same time, teachers are prohibited from using examples, questions, or exercises taught in extracurricular tutoring to test or evaluate students.

According to Mr. Thanh, the draft regulations currently under consideration for managing extracurricular tutoring within schools aim to ensure that such activities are conducted openly and transparently, so that any questions or inspections can be verified with supporting documents.

Previously, in 2019, the Ministry of Education and Training announced Decision 2499, amending Circular 17/2012, and considered it a document prohibiting illegal tutoring. However, the issue of "permitted" tutoring is controversial because even this Circular lacks clarity in its regulations.

According to the 2022 Household Living Standards Survey results published by the General Statistics Office at the end of April 2023, in the field of education, the average annual expenditure per person for education is 7 million VND. Notably, spending on extra classes accounts for as much as 16.6%.

Although the education sector has issued numerous regulations to crack down on tutoring and extra classes, prohibiting it is one thing, but in reality, students are still overwhelmed with extra classes. Therefore, to this day, the focus on "prohibition" in tutoring has been on addressing it, rather than on "management."

This shows that tutoring and supplementary classes are still operating "underground." The reason is that while tutoring is a need, more importantly, many teachers consider it their main source of supplemental income to supplement their meager salaries. So, how to prevent tutoring and supplementary classes from being distorted and exploited, to meet the supply and demand laws of the market, and to become a beneficial activity... remains a problem that the education sector is struggling to solve. Looking back, since 2012, regulations on tutoring and supplementary classes have been in place and clearly stated in documents from the Ministry of Education and Training. However, for many years, the situation has not improved at all.

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The draft Circular regulating supplementary teaching and learning has just been published by the Ministry of Education and Training, and is open for comments from August 22nd to October 22nd. If approved, the official regulations will replace Circular No. 17/2012/TT-BGDĐT dated May 16, 2012, of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/khong-duoc-ep-buoc-hoc-them-10288762.html