Schools struggle to prevent STEM from being 'put on hold'

On the afternoon of December 3, the Vietnam National Industry and Energy Group (Petrovietnam) coordinated with the Ministry of Education and Training to organize a conference to deploy the Petrovietnam STEM Innovation program to build 100 international standard STEM practice rooms by 2025 in 34 provinces and cities across the country.

At the conference, Mr. Luu Van Thong, Principal of Cau Giay Secondary School ( Hanoi ) shared that in May 2025, the school welcomed General Secretary To Lam to visit and present a modern STEM classroom. However, the problem is how to keep the STEM room "alive", operated, and not closed.

Students of Cau Giay Secondary School (Hanoi) compete in Robotics.

Determining that to operate a STEM room, the problem lies in people. Right in the summer of the last school year, the Board of Directors selected teachers in the Natural Sciences , Information Technology, and young teachers with the ability to quickly access technology for training. By the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, teachers were very confident in mastering technology and robotic equipment.

“Students must also have a deep understanding and mastery of technology. The school continues to select groups of students who are passionate about technology and STEM to train, operate the equipment themselves or operate it under the supervision of teachers,” said Mr. Thong.

To bring the lessons closer to life, the school organizes Robot and STEM tournaments for students to experience. Students are very excited to participate. Cau Giay Secondary School also established an AI and Robotics Club along with 11 other clubs, creating an environment for students to experience regularly.

In the near future, the school's students will participate in national and international Robotics competitions. Thus, the students will have an environment to learn, experience and grow a lot.

Director of the General Education Department (Ministry of Education and Training) Thai Van Tai said that the goal of the 2018 General Education Program is to form students with the core qualities and competencies of 21st century citizens. Among the competencies that need to be developed, there must be scientific and technological competencies. Therefore, the urgent task of schools is to promote integrated teaching so that students can develop this competency.

Mr. Tai emphasized that in the 2018 General Education Program, STEM education is a mandatory requirement, requiring all teachers to seriously research and implement it. Once a STEM room is in place, there must be someone to operate it, otherwise the classroom will be "closed", which is a waste.

The Ministry of Education and Training will develop content and documents and mobilize a team of training experts to ensure that STEM rooms operate effectively, become the core of the STEM education ecosystem, and contribute to creating a modern learning environment for students.

The Director of the General Education Department noted that when schools have STEM classrooms, they need to expand them to serve the entire area, and not be specific to one school, in order to increase investment efficiency.

According to the plan, by the end of 2025, the program will deploy 3 STEM classrooms according to international standards in each province/city, including 2 classrooms for high schools and 1 classroom for middle schools.

As of December 2, 100 rooms have been surveyed to develop implementation plans, of which 14 rooms have been completed and handed over to schools; 28 rooms are undergoing installation; 58 rooms are in the final stages of selecting suppliers with an expected implementation time according to schedule. STEM rooms will be handed over to schools no later than December 31 this year.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/truong-hoc-tran-tro-de-phong-stem-khong-dap-chieu-post1801642.tpo