From the second semester, 12th grade students are at risk of not being able to review for exams at school.

(Dan Tri) - Circular 29 on extra teaching and learning stipulates that schools are not allowed to collect money from final year students to review for entrance exams and graduation exams, so this activity may have to stop from the second semester.

Final year students preparing for entrance exams and graduation exams are one of three groups of students that schools are allowed to organize extra classes for according to the new Circular.

However, the new Circular also stipulates that extra teaching activities in schools must not collect money from students.

Instead, schools must use state budget and other legal funding sources.

The Circular takes effect on February 14, the beginning of semester II of the 2024-2025 school year.

"The new regulation makes schools not know how to handle the graduation exam preparation of 12th grade students," said the principal of a high school in Hanoi .

For a long time, high schools have been organizing this exam review activity with fees ranging from 7,000 VND to 32,000 VND/student/lesson, applied according to Decision 22 of the Hanoi People's Committee issued in 2013.

70% of the school's tuition fees will be used to pay for teachers' salaries. 15% will be used to pay for the school's extra-curricular management and 15% will be used to support the costs of electricity, water, sanitation and repair of facilities for extra-curricular teaching and learning.

Students taking the 2024 high school graduation exam in Hanoi (Photo: Manh Quan).

On average, a high school has 500-700 12th grade students, each exam review class has 30-40 students/class, the fee is 8,000 VND/student/class period.

If each student studies all 4 subjects for the high school graduation exam, each subject has a maximum of 2 periods/week according to the new regulations, the amount of extra tutoring per week/student is: 4x2x8 = 64,000 VND. The amount of extra tutoring per month/student is 256,000 VND.

In general, the total monthly tuition fee of a school ranges from 128 to 179.2 million VND. If the school organizes review classes for final year students throughout the school year, equivalent to 9 months of actual study, the tuition fee can be up to more than 16 billion VND.

This means that the school's regular budget ensures a surplus of 16 billion VND to pay for graduation exam preparation activities in the context of new regulations that do not allow collecting money from students.

"The new circular will be applied from mid-February. The normal graduation exam review activities will last until mid-June. If schools still teach extra classes, we have 4 months to organize extra classes without charging money.

The total amount of money the budget needs to pay for teachers and facilities is about 7 billion VND.

The state budget has been allocated since the beginning of the year, and there is no part to pay for extra tutoring. If we do not collect money from students, we will not have the funds to organize review activities, and will be forced to push students to outside centers to review for exams.

From after Tet onwards is the peak exam review period for 12th graders. Right at the final stage for students, in the first year of reforming the high school graduation exam, if students do not have the opportunity to review at school, we dare not think about what the results will be," the principal expressed.

Another principal also shared with Dan Tri reporter: "Students in the inner city and central districts have many opportunities to study outside of school.

But students in suburban areas and outlying districts almost depend on school exam preparation due to low cost and guaranteed quality.

Students in schools with lower entrance scores need more close supervision from teachers in intensive classes at school.

In fact, we teach each subject for the high school graduation exam 4 periods/week. This intensity of study ensures that students achieve the desired graduation results.

According to the new regulations, if each subject can only be studied for a maximum of 2 periods and no money is collected, we don't know how to organize effective review sessions."

Many principals shared that they do not have a plan to organize review sessions for 12th grade students in the upcoming second semester.

"If we don't organize it, we feel insecure and guilty towards our students. If we still organize it and collect money, we will violate the regulations.

If we still organize it and don't collect money, we won't have the budget or funds to organize it, so we'll have to rely on the teachers' volunteerism.

However, because teachers voluntarily teach for free, the school has no basis and obligation to require them to work conscientiously and responsibly, and therefore, there is no guarantee of output results," said another principal.

Schools are still waiting for instructions from the Department of Education and Training regarding the contents of Circular 29 regulating extra teaching and learning that the Ministry recently issued on December 30.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/tu-hoc-ky-ii-hoc-sinh-lop-12-co-nguy-co-khong-duoc-on-thi-trong-truong-20250106234533844.htm