Private tutoring is the 'shadow' of formal education and should be eliminated.

TPO - Dr. Dang Tu An - Director of the Vietnam General Education Innovation Support Fund, said that Circular 29 of the Ministry of Education and Training , which has just been issued, is like a breath of fresh air, completely eliminating the negative aspects of extra teaching and learning, aiming to naturally disappear and put an end to extra teaching and learning activities in schools.

TPO - Dr. Dang Tu An - Director of the Vietnam General Education Innovation Support Fund, said that Circular 29 of the Ministry of Education and Training, which has just been issued, is like a breath of fresh air, completely eliminating the negative aspects of extra teaching and learning, aiming to naturally disappear and put an end to extra teaching and learning activities in schools.

The relationship between teachers and students is distorted.

Extra teaching and learning activities have left negative and long-lasting consequences in education and society. At least four times, the Ministry of Education and Training has issued directives or circulars to rectify rampant extra teaching or limit negative aspects in extra teaching and learning.

Many people share the opinion that, extra teaching and learning today does not improve the quality of school education, but the relationship between teachers and students has been distorted in an unhealthy direction, right in the school environment.

Dr. Dang Tu An - Director of the Vietnam General Education Innovation Support Fund.

Therefore, schools will face difficulties and be affected a lot when having to carry out very unique educational activities, such as school culture, high humanity and absolutely non-profit activities.

In recent years, as our country has shifted strongly to a market-oriented economy , the management of extra teaching and learning has become more confusing, difficult and complicated.

Therefore, Circular 29 issued by the Ministry of Education and Training is like a breath of fresh air, completely eliminating the negative aspects of extra teaching and learning, aiming to naturally disappear and put an end to extra teaching and learning activities in schools.

Need to limit and eventually eliminate extra classes

Education in Vietnam, in the East and more broadly in many other Asian countries, has for a long time been deeply influenced by Confucian traditions and ideology. With typical characteristics such as, emphasizing learning, only aiming to have a lot of in-depth knowledge for students; "studying hard", trying to pass strict exams or the concept that only the teacher is the center, the only place to provide students with a solid theoretical knowledge foundation, with little practical application.

The above educational viewpoint continued to exist until 2013 when we had Resolution 29-NQ/TW of the Party on comprehensive fundamental innovation of education and training. The Resolution affirmed (understood as the philosophy of educational innovation) that the official educational program must help students develop comprehensively and creative thinking capacity, practice soft skills and non-cognitive skills instead of just focusing on providing knowledge in the old way to students.

Circular 29 issued by the Ministry of Education and Training is like a breath of fresh air, completely eliminating the negative aspects of extra teaching and learning, aiming to naturally disappear and put an end to extra teaching and learning activities in schools.

It is said that private tutoring is the "shadow" of formal education, so it is necessary to limit and eventually eliminate this activity to be consistent with the philosophy of educational innovation in Vietnam.

However, this is an arduous campaign, requiring perseverance to effectively implement the content of Circular 29. Not only must we change our thinking, eliminate old, long-standing, traditional ways of doing things, but we also need to respond to concerns, even disagreements, because they affect the interests of a group of teachers and staff responsible for organizing extra teaching and learning activities in schools.

Need a push to change exams

The new content in Circular 29 of the Ministry of Education and Training this time is to specifically regulate three groups of students who are allowed to take extra classes without paying in school.

Group (1) students do not meet the minimum learning outcomes standards according to the main curriculum. Countries with developed education systems are similar to us in determining extra teaching and learning for this group of students. Teachers teach and train without charging money, and on the other hand, coordinate with parents to have support plans to help raise students' learning outcomes to meet the minimum standards.

Group (2) fosters excellent students and group (3) senior students voluntarily participate in graduation exam review.

In the transitional phase of managing extra teaching and learning according to Circular 29, these groups of subjects need to be maintained and educated. However, if we change (must be revolutionary) the examination system, the groups of subjects who need extra learning in schools will also disappear and no longer exist.

"If we change (must revolutionize) the examination system, the groups of people who need extra classes in schools will automatically disappear," said Dr. Dang Tu An - Director of the Vietnam General Education Innovation Support Fund.

In some developed countries, the examination for gifted students with purely in-depth theoretical knowledge is only considered as encouragement and not considered as a national policy. They focus on evaluating the products made from the process of creating learning content in class, which is similar to our educational principle: "Learning goes hand in hand with practice".

Determining the graduation of students at all levels is done through the form of reviewing the learning results or evidence of comprehensive educational results of students. Therefore, it is not too stressful to organize extra classes and teaching like the transfer exams or graduation exams in Vietnam.

Finally, I believe that extra-curricular activities in schools should be considered as supplementary teaching activities, supporting formal teaching and improving the quality of comprehensive education. Organizing extra-curricular activities should contribute to the healthiness, as well as honoring and deepening the inherent values ​​of the school.

Learners are able to develop their full potential, always mature and bring benefits to themselves as well as to the country and people.

Circular 29/2024/TT-BGDDT regulates extra teaching and learning for general education and continuing education, including: principles of extra teaching and learning; cases where extra teaching and learning are not allowed; organization of extra teaching and learning; responsibility for managing extra teaching and learning activities.

Dr. Dang Tu An

Source: https://tienphong.vn/chuyen-gia-giao-duc-day-them-la-cai-bong-cua-giao-duc-chinh-khoa-can-tien-toi-bo-han-post1712163.tpo