HCMC: No compulsory subject schedules on Saturdays

(Dan Tri) - According to the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, schools do not schedule compulsory subjects on Saturdays. Weekends are reserved for tutoring activities, training gifted students, clubs...

Secondary school students can study up to 8 periods/day (Photo: Huyen Nguyen).

On the evening of September 10, speaking with Dan Tri reporter, Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training, said that he had asked secondary schools to arrange reasonable timetables, not spreading them to Saturdays, to avoid disrupting the lives of students and parents.

Currently, most secondary schools in the old Ho Chi Minh City area teach 2 sessions/day. In addition to 29-29.5 periods a week according to the program of the Ministry of Education and Training (main curriculum), schools have additional teaching sessions on STEM, life skills, English with native teachers, international IT, etc.

Because some schools understand that the regulation of teaching 2 sessions/day of the Ministry of Education and Training requires only 7 periods per day, while previously it was 8 periods, so they need to arrange to teach on Saturday to finish the program. This has led to the reaction of some parents in recent times.

Explaining this content, Mr. Quoc said that the guidance of the Ministry of Education and Training is applied to the official curriculum.

"Schools can arrange different content in some sessions, meaning they can teach a maximum of 8 periods per day," he explained. Adding that, Mr. Quoc said that schools scheduling 4 periods in the morning and 4 periods in the afternoon will be more convenient for parents to pick up and drop off.

However, he stressed that schools have the flexibility to arrange their timetables between the Ministry's and the school's programs, but the Department encourages students not to have to go to school on Saturdays.

If there are weekend study arrangements, schools should use them to nurture excellent students, provide tutoring for failing students, or organize sports clubs based on students' voluntary initiative.

At the conference organized by the Department this morning, Ms. Lam Hong Lam Thuy, Head of the General Education Department, noted that with supplementary teaching content, school programs and educational institutions need to choose appropriately, in the spirit of voluntariness, without putting pressure on students and parents.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/tphcm-khong-xep-lich-hoc-mon-bat-buoc-vao-thu-bay-20250910185343047.htm