A school that serves the community.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training's issuance of new school start and end times for preschools and primary and secondary schools in the city has brought immense joy to many parents, especially those who work during regular office hours.

Students of Dang Tran Con Primary School, Ho Chi Minh City, on the first day of the 2025-2026 school year. The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training issued a document regulating the start and end times of school for students at all levels - Photo: Provided by the school.

Because these school start and end times correspond to working hours in offices and businesses...

Specifically, schools will open at 6:30 AM to welcome students. The first class period in primary, secondary, and high schools will start at 7:00 AM and no later than 8:00 AM. The end of each school day will be no earlier than 4:00 PM and no later than 5:00 PM.

Before the above regulation was introduced, some high schools made things difficult for parents by setting dismissal times too early. Students would leave as early as 3 PM or 3:30 PM, leaving parents who were self-employed with no choice but to complain.

Therefore, the regulations on school start and end times issued by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training have helped solve a difficult problem for many families: who will pick up the children? And after picking them up, who will look after them..., while parents don't finish work until 4:30 PM or 5:00 PM.

However, some primary and secondary schools have argued that the department's timetable is difficult for them because students are only allowed a maximum of 7 lessons per day, as stipulated by the Ministry of Education and Training.

From the beginning of the school year, the school has maintained a stable timetable: 4 lessons in the morning and 3 lessons in the afternoon, with classes ending at a maximum of 3 PM or 3:30 PM. Now that the Department of Education and Training has issued a new regulation, they don't know what students will be allowed to do to make it so late that they don't leave until 4 PM.

It's true that the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training issuing regulations a week after the new school year has already begun will certainly force schools to adjust their timetables.

Schools can absolutely overcome this with simple technical solutions: extending recess, increasing lunch breaks, setting later start times for morning and afternoon classes, etc. The question is whether schools are conscious of their responsibility to serve the community!

Everyone knows that schools cannot be separated from society. Schools must work alongside parents, meeting the legitimate needs of workers – citizens who are directly creating wealth and potential for the country.

Can society achieve sustainable development when, even during working hours, countless parents are constantly worried about picking up their children? Can the country become prosperous and strong when workers are constantly distracted and preoccupied with transporting and caring for their young children?

The reality has proven that, right from the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, after 3 PM (the dismissal time of many junior high and elementary schools in the city), many agencies and units have turned into "unintentional daycare centers".

How can parents leave their children when they have to return to work after picking them up? This is not just an inconvenience, but a social paradox – where schools have not fulfilled their mission of serving the community.

Of course, high schools can be considered an exception, because students of this age are already capable of traveling independently. In places where the majority of students commute to school by car, not relying on parental transportation,

The Department of Education and Training should allow high schools to independently arrange school start and end times to suit their needs. A rigid system like that of primary or secondary schools, where students are still highly dependent on adults, should not be applied.

HOANG HUONG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/truong-hoc-phung-su-cong-dong-20250915093617349.htm