After the merger, History and Geography teachers face difficulties.

Parents buy textbooks and school supplies for their children. Photo: Nguyen Dung

Confusion in teaching and learning

Immediately after the merger of provinces and cities, many parents whose children study in the C00 block (Literature - History - Geography) expressed their concerns. Ms. Ngoc Tan (District 12, Ho Chi Minh City) whose child is about to enter grade 12 shared: "My child has been in this block since grade 10. Now the textbook content no longer matches the actual location. I am worried about how my child will do in the exams, because the books are one way, but the reality is different."

Not only parents, many schools are also confused. The change of name, administrative boundaries, maps... directly affects the teaching content but the guidance from the education sector is not consistent. While waiting for instructions from the Ministry of Education and Training , many schools in Ho Chi Minh City are temporarily adjusting the teaching content in a flexible way.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet - Principal of Hiep Tan Primary School - said that there is currently no official document from the Department of Education and Training about the new places. Teachers have to look up information from the locality to teach. For now, the school will prioritize teaching knowledge related to Ho Chi Minh City, then introduce more content related to Binh Duong and Ba Ria - Vung Tau .

Although it is affirmed that the assessment and testing still follow Circular 32 - meaning that what teachers teach will be tested on the same content - the lack of standardized documents makes it take teachers a lot of effort to look up and compare so as not to cause incorrect information for students.

According to Dr. Nguyen Thi Huyen Thao, a History teacher at Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted (HCMC), the merger of provinces and cities and changes in the local government model directly impact social science subjects, especially History and Geography.

Not all teachers are familiar with the new administrative system. Therefore, the education sector needs to organize urgent training and develop supplementary materials for teachers to teach during the transition period. If there are no official revised textbooks, semester and graduation exams should stick to the old content to ensure fairness and stability for students.

Still using current textbooks

Previously, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a document to the Departments of Education and Training to provide comments on the draft revised curriculum for a number of subjects in order to promptly update the contents related to the rearrangement of provincial administrative units and the implementation of the two-tier local government model. This is an important legal basis for the revision of textbooks to ensure that they are consistent with new realities.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the subjects directly affected include: History and Geography (grades 4 to 9), Geography grade 12, History grade 10 and Civic Education grade 10. It is expected that the curriculum of the above subjects will be adjusted in terms of content such as: socio-economic regional boundaries, number and names of provinces/cities, population, regional area, administrative and economic maps, content of the Constitution and political system... ensuring accurate updates on changes in administrative boundaries and new development resources of each locality.

Speaking with Tien Phong reporter, Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Tung - Member of the Board of Members, Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Vietnam Education Publishing House said that the Publishing House has directed member units to organize manuscripts and Editorial Boards to review and compile content on requirements, knowledge, data, place names, maps, charts, socio-economic information, related to changes in administrative boundaries and two-level government, and report to the Ministry of Education and Training for instructions on corrections.

“Immediately after the Ministry of Education and Training issues the revised program content, the Publishing House will revise the textbooks and submit them to the Ministry for review and approval according to the correct procedure,” said Mr. Tung, affirming: “The principle of revising textbooks is to closely follow the requirements, fully update information, data, place names, maps... but minimize changes to the core content. The revision will ensure scientific and modern standards, approaching the quality of international textbooks and continuing to develop learners' capacity and qualities as the program's objectives have set out.”

According to Mr. Tung, while waiting for the textbooks to be revised and updated according to administrative boundaries and two-level local authorities, under the direction of the Ministry of Education and Training, teachers and students will continue to use the current textbooks. The Ministry of Education and Training will provide specific instructions on this matter, with the spirit that schools and teachers will be proactive in adjusting language materials, lesson content, and teaching topics based on local realities and two-level local authorities.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/sau-sap-nhap-giao-vien-mon-lich-su-dia-ly-gap-kho-post1767664.tpo