Confused about teaching 2 sessions/day

The implementation of teaching 2 sessions/day according to the new instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training is facing many concerns and confusion from educational institutions and parents, especially in arranging timetables, revenue and expenditure, teaching effectiveness... when introducing subjects and extracurricular activities into schools.

Q TOO MANY VARIATIONS

On the forum group for parents of students in Hanoi, since the opening day of the school year until now, there have been many thoughts about teaching 2 sessions/day that schools are implementing.

Many opinions reflect that secondary school students should study 2 sessions/day and not more than 7 periods per day to reduce the pressure of studying for students, but schools are circumventing the law to distort it. Some schools have concentrated the morning class to 5 periods, the afternoon class to 2 periods, the afternoon class in the remaining time is called after-school care but in fact is studying cultural subjects, parents have to pay for the class (now circumvented as after-school care fee). This "care" fee is collected very high, unlike the resolution guiding after-school care. Some schools register outside centers and direct their students to affiliated centers to study extra after-school hours.

Parents in primary schools also have many concerns about how to arrange the teaching schedule of 2 sessions/day when some schools design it in the direction that school ends at around 3:20 pm. At the same time, the school also organizes many after-school clubs with fees. School ends at 3:00 pm while parents get off work at the earliest 4:30 pm - 5:00 pm, so many parents are forced to register for after-school clubs. Otherwise, they will have to hire someone to take their children to school and take care of them...

The 2025-2026 school year is the first year that schools will teach two sessions per day according to new guidelines from the Ministry of Education and Training.

PHOTO: INDEPENDENCE

A parent whose child studies at an elementary school in Ha Dong Ward (Hanoi) shared a list of nearly a dozen clubs that the school organizes after school hours with fees for parents to register and choose from. This parent said that even if they don't want to, they still have to choose a few clubs for their child to wait for their parents to pick them up.

In addition, the situation of arranging timetables alternating between regular and voluntary subjects continues to recur, making it difficult for students. If students do not want to "wander" outside the schoolyard, they are forced to register for classes.

BIG HUMAN RESOURCE "BOTTOM"

Up to this point, Hanoi has not yet had specific instructions on organizing 2 sessions/day for schools in the city. Currently, the leaders of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training said they are asking communes, wards and schools to review the conditions of facilities, teaching staff and related factors; at the same time, surveying parents' wishes to develop an implementation plan that is suitable for practice, ensuring substance and effectiveness.

According to some secondary school principals in Hanoi, the Ministry of Education and Training's encouragement to increase the teaching time for life skills and arts subjects is reasonable, but there needs to be a roadmap for training, recruiting or inviting experts to participate in teaching support. However, human resources are a big "bottleneck". Notably, many teachers are also concerned about the allowance regime if they are assigned to teach a second class.

The document of the Ministry of Education and Training instructs schools to survey the learning needs of students studying the second session before the new school year begins. However, in reality, not all schools do this. The principal of a secondary school in Hanoi said that in the 2025-2026 school year, the school will implement 2 sessions/day for grade 6, while grades 7, 8, and 9 will still implement 1 session/day. This is announced as soon as parents submit their applications directly to the school and no survey is conducted.

Many opinions also say that according to current regulations, the second session cannot be taught according to the curriculum and main subjects while the need to review and consolidate students' knowledge is very large. Therefore, if teaching is organized in 2 sessions/day, many parents will not agree, wanting to spend that time to serve the transfer exam review, improve foreign languages...

In the new school year, schools will have two sessions a day. Many schools are confused about the organization, causing frustration for parents.

Photo: Nhat Thinh

LOCAL GUIDE AND WAIT... GUIDE

It is noted that some localities have issued instructions for teaching 2 sessions/day. Mr. Bach Dang Khoa, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Bac Ninh , said that at the secondary level, teaching 2 sessions/day should only be organized and implemented in schools that have sufficient conditions in terms of teaching staff, facilities, teaching equipment and funding; not causing overload, ensuring health and psychology for students; flexibly arranging the duration of session 1 and session 2. In a morning/afternoon session, regular and extracurricular hours should not be inserted into one session.

According to Mr. Khoa, the implementation must ensure publicity and transparency; consult with teachers, students, parents and relevant organizations before approving the plan to organize 2 sessions/day. The Department also assigned the Department's financial department to develop a budget plan to have specific proposals.

According to the instructions of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training, the teaching content of 2 sessions/day is flexibly arranged. Session 2 will implement 2 contents, including reviewing and tutoring students who have not met the requirements of the program; training excellent students; organizing review for students to take the entrance exam to grade 10, high school graduation exam. In addition, teaching content can be arranged according to students' wishes into separate sessions for students' convenience, each student can study no more than 11 sessions/week.

Particularly for secondary school level, educational institutions proactively propose the need to arrange teachers to teach inter-school in each commune and ward to overcome the local surplus or shortage of teachers and to organize teaching 2 sessions/day.

Mr. Nguyen Tien Dung, Head of Secondary Education Department, Nghe An Department of Education and Training, said that organizing 2 sessions/day must be done voluntarily and depends on the actual situation at schools and no additional fees will be collected from students.

Similarly, Mr. Trinh Dinh Hai, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Quang Ninh province, affirmed that teaching 2 sessions/day is not mandatory but is organized based on the needs of students and parents. The first session is still the main curriculum that the school must ensure completion. The second session is supplementary, develops talents and supports personalized learning. All these activities must comply with regulations on extra teaching and learning, do not charge fees, and do not generate additional costs for parents. Mr. Hai also said that to organize 2 sessions/day effectively, the first requirement is that the teaching staff must be sufficient and reasonably allocated.

Many localities are waiting for specific instructions from the Ministry of Education and Training on mobilizing social resources when implementing 2-session teaching/day.

Photo: Nhat Thinh

However, localities and schools also believe that despite such principled guidance, if the second session is organized without collecting fees from students, the state budget will have to provide a lot more for schools to recruit and contract teachers. In addition to human resources, facilities are also a big challenge. The classroom ratio must be at least 1/1 so that students have a place to rest at noon, take breaks, organize boarding... This requires more staff and job positions while the education sector is already lacking in human resources.

Therefore, localities said that although there are guidelines in principle, how to implement and how to provide resources to organize 2 sessions/day at junior high and high school levels still have to wait for specific instructions from the Ministry of Education and Training on mobilizing social resources, whether to collect from parents or not, what content is allowed to be collected, what content is "banned". "If there is no such specific guidance, schools that recruit additional contract teachers, invite artists, athletes... to teach at school will have to have funds to pay, but collecting money from parents for the second session will very easily violate regulations on revenue and expenditure and regulations on extra teaching and learning", the leader of a Department of Education and Training in the north shared.

Students need to rest on weekends.

Middle school and high school students study in the morning and afternoon from Monday to Friday, which is very tiring. They need to rest more on weekends. On weekends, most parents arrange for their children to learn more skills and knowledge about literature, fine arts, foreign languages, etc. Arranging 2 or 3 periods on Saturday morning makes it difficult for parents to pick them up and drop them off. On the other hand, having two days on the weekend, students have more flexible time in studying. They will learn more subjects they love and want, and especially have the opportunity to promote their self-study role.

Tran Nhan Trung (Teacher in Ho Chi Minh City)

The Ministry of Education and Training needs to have unified direction.

The fact that students are required to study on Saturday mornings shows that schools that include too many subjects and lessons in the school's curriculum (with fees) in the official timetable is contrary to the spirit of the Ministry of Education and Training's policy of teaching 2 sessions/day to reduce the pressure of studying for students, helping them have time to rest, play, and recharge... Therefore, the Ministry

Education and training need to have unified direction, specific and clear regulations on the maximum number of subjects and lessons per week each grade can study in the school curriculum, with detailed instructions on teaching 2 sessions per day for each type of school and class.

Nguyen Van Luc (Teacher in Khanh Hoa)

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/lung-tung-day-hoc-2-buoi-ngay-185250911233135214.htm