Parents and students frantically search for new classes

Before Circular No. 29/2024/TT-BGDDT regulating extra teaching and learning took effect from February 14, 2025, a series of schools had stopped this activity, causing a lot of anxiety for parents and students.

Senior students worry about finding extra classes

Facing the pressure of the first high school graduation exam under the 2018 General Education Program, Nguyen Minh Hoang, a high school student in Hoai Duc district (Hanoi), said he is worried because the school has temporarily stopped tutoring for final year students pending adjustments.

Teachers are not allowed to teach their own students, while tutoring centers outside the school are quite far from home. Hoang is very concerned about how to make the most of his time studying for the exam to be able to enter the university he wants.

Like Hoang, many of his classmates are thinking about quickly finding a new extra class so they can confidently "practice" and enter the upcoming important exam.

Circular No. 29/2024/TT-BGDDT (effective from February 14, 2025) stipulates 3 subjects who are allowed to teach and learn extra in school without collecting money, including: students with unsatisfactory learning results, students selected for training excellent students, and students reviewing for the final year. For any subject, the extra teaching must not exceed 2 periods/week.

Regarding the regulation that schools are not allowed to collect tuition fees from students, principals of high schools in Hanoi and many other provinces and cities are wondering: If they do not collect fees, where will the school get the money to pay teachers? If teachers teach without pay, can the quality of teaching be guaranteed?

Principal of Luu Hoang High School (Ung Hoa district, Hanoi) Hoang Chi Sy said that right after the end of the Lunar New Year holiday, the school decided to temporarily suspend all enrichment classes in the school.

However, Mr. Sy said that stopping extra teaching and learning in schools at this time causes inconvenience to many parties: schools, parents, students, especially senior students. In particular, the tuition fees currently applied by schools are very suitable for the conditions of many parents.

The principal of Luu Hoang High School said that, implementing the old Circular and guidelines, the school is charging 7,000 VND/extra class period; equivalent to 21,000 VND/session. If taking extra classes at centers outside the school, the fee is at least 30,000 VND/period and the quality is difficult to verify. Meanwhile, many suburban areas do not have extra classes centers.

The Ministry of Education and Training needs to review and propose solutions.

According to the Government Office , the new regulations on tutoring and extra learning have received a lot of support, but there are still many concerns. Some opinions say that the root cause of tutoring and extra learning is due to the heavy curriculum, while the mentality of valuing degrees among many people is still quite common.

Currently, the curriculum, textbooks, high school graduation exams, and university admissions are all new, and the competition to enter prestigious universities is increasingly fierce. Studying is only for exams, so extra teaching and learning will continue to be distorted.

Faced with that reality, Deputy Prime Minister Le Thanh Long directed the Ministry of Education and Training to review and grasp the feedback information to promptly have solutions.

Associate Professor Dr. Chu Cam Tho, Head of the Department of Educational Research and Evaluation, Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, shares the concerns of teachers who are worried about their income from tutoring being reduced. However, Associate Professor Dr. Cam Tho said that many colleagues have seen this as an opportunity to change their work status.

In particular, the new regulations on extra teaching and learning were set in the context of teachers' salaries being increased across the board, many localities increasing investment in education, helping teachers to have income from the source of spending on training weak and good students.

According to Associate Professor Dr. Chu Cam Tho, when teachers have the need and creative labor, they can teach extra classes outside of school with transparency in work and teaching subjects to have a legitimate income, in compliance with regulations.

According to the draft Law on Teachers being submitted to the National Assembly for consideration, teachers' salaries will be ranked highest in the administrative career salary scale system. This is an important factor for teachers to feel secure in their profession, not having to depend on income from extra teaching; it is an important foundation in implementing management of extra teaching and learning, restoring the integrity of this activity.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/nha-truong-dung-to-chuc-day-them-hoc-them-phu-phuynh-hoc-sinh-cuong-cuong-tim-lop-moi-20250212134054966.htm