Organizing 2 sessions/day: Flexible arrangement, ensuring voluntary and appropriate

Organizing 2 sessions/day in general schools is very necessary to achieve the goal of comprehensive education, developing students' capacity; thereby also contributing to creating convenience for parents in taking and picking up their children to school. However, the implementation and organization in schools today is not synchronous and unified, especially the arising problems such as unreasonable timetable arrangement, too many associated subjects, voluntary subjects with fees in schools... make parents worried.

Organizing two-session-per-day teaching in secondary schools is essential to achieving the goal of comprehensive education and developing students' abilities. Photo: Mạnh Linh/News and Ethnic Minorities Newspaper

The education sector's guidelines for organizing two-session-per-day teaching allow schools to flexibly arrange the teaching time between the first and second sessions. Therefore, the timetable arrangement varies from school to school, depending on actual conditions.

Ms. Thu Phuong, whose child is in 8th grade in Long Phuoc ward, Ho Chi Minh City, shared that at the beginning of the school year, the homeroom teacher announced that the school would be offering three joint courses on a voluntary basis: life skills, STEM, and English with native speakers. Concerned about the effectiveness and increased costs, Ms. Phuong initially chose not to enroll her child in all three courses, opting instead for English with native speakers. Afterward, she received numerous phone calls from the homeroom teacher urging her to register her child for all three courses.

According to Ms. Phuong, the problem is that the school's timetable is poorly arranged, interspersed with voluntary subjects during regular class hours, but with few other educational activities for students who don't participate. Organizing voluntary subjects at the end of each school day or at the end of the week would be more appropriate.

Similarly, Ms. Mai Nhung (Long Truong ward) was also contacted by her child's homeroom teacher to persuade her child to register for voluntary courses. Although the class schedule already included voluntary courses at the end of the afternoon, the teacher said that if her child didn't participate, they wouldn't be allowed to leave because of the rule that classes must end before 4 PM. Ms. Nhung said that parents were happy about the policy of reducing the curriculum load and waiving tuition fees, but the school added many additional voluntary (fee-based) courses, causing confusion and increasing financial pressure. For a family with special circumstances, like Ms. Nhung's, who is raising two children alone, spending an extra few hundred thousand dong on voluntary courses is a significant expense.

From a management perspective, Mr. Ho Tan Minh, Chief of the Office of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, emphasized that the educational environment in schools is an equal environment for all students. The goal of organizing a two-session-per-day program is to create a comprehensive educational environment that meets the requirements for developing students' abilities; in addition to the required knowledge, students need to develop skills, arts, and sports .

The school principal is responsible for organizing and scheduling the two-session-per-day program, ensuring that the time allocated for the main curriculum is sufficient, while also organizing the school's program content and adhering to the regulations regarding daily study time. If students do not participate in voluntary learning activities, the school must organize other educational activities, clubs, sports, reading, and arts programs for them to participate in.

According to Mr. Minh, regarding the school curriculum, parents have the right to choose the necessary and appropriate learning content for their children on a voluntary basis and are not required to participate in all the content. However, with the goal of holistic education and the current social context, investing in additional learning content on skills for their children is very necessary.

In reality, skills-based education is necessary; the challenge is for schools to arrange reasonable timetables while simultaneously promoting free educational activities for students to participate in.

Nguyen Van Luong Junior High School in Phu Binh Ward currently operates a 5-day-a-week school week. In addition to the main curriculum, the school offers two supplementary courses: English with native speakers and International Informatics. According to Mr. Dinh Phu Cuong, the school principal, besides these two supplementary courses, which students can voluntarily enroll in, the school offers a variety of educational activities according to the school's curriculum (free of charge), with the strongest being sports clubs ranging from football and badminton to swimming. All content within the school curriculum (including both paid and free content) is scheduled separately and not included in the school's fixed, official timetable. These activities are held from 4 PM to 5:30 PM daily, including weekends.

At Truong Cong Dinh Junior High School (Gia Dinh Ward), classes are held 5 days a week, with 7 main lessons per day and some sessions including an 8th lesson for school-sponsored educational activities. The school offers 4 subjects in its curriculum through partnerships with other institutions: native English, international computer science, life skills, and STEM. Mr. Pham Thai Ho, the school principal, stated that the school collaborates with partner centers to consider waiving or reducing fees for disadvantaged students who wish to participate. On Saturday mornings, the school organizes clubs and provides review and enrichment sessions for gifted students.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/ban-tron-giao-duc/to-chuc-day-hoc-2-buoingay-sap-xep-linh-hoat-dam-bao-tu-nguyen-phu-hop-20250929115405310.htm