Ho Chi Minh City: Students are not allowed to go to school on Saturdays.

According to the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, schools do not schedule classes on Saturdays. If the curriculum cannot be guaranteed, they are allowed to teach a maximum of 8 periods a day.

Ho Chi Minh City schools do not teach formal curriculum on Saturdays. (Illustration: Nguyen Hue)

At the conference to give opinions on the secondary school education plan for the 2025-2026 school year this morning (September 10), Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the duration of 7 periods/day in 2-session teaching is regulated to ensure the implementation of the 2018 General Education Program. However, schools can flexibly arrange their timetables, with some days having more than 7 periods.

According to Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc, the current difficulty in organizing 2 sessions/day of secondary and high schools in the city when implementing the new regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training is between the school and parents when there is no agreement on teaching on Saturday mornings. The biggest problem is the incorrect understanding of the regulation "no more than 7 periods/day", leading to the need to organize additional classes on Saturday mornings.

Mr. Quoc said that the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City had discussed with the Director of the General Education Department, Ministry of Education and Training, and agreed that the teaching of 7 periods/day is for implementing the 2018 General Education Program. For the activities in the second session, schools can proactively arrange the timetable with more than 7 periods. When understanding and implementing like that, schools will not teach the 2018 General Education Program on Saturdays.

Mr. Quoc suggested that schools could use Saturdays to conduct other educational activities such as training excellent students, tutoring weak students, sports activities, organizing clubs, etc. Schools should be proactive and flexible in arranging their timetables, and can arrange some online classes combined with face-to-face classes.

"The Ministry's guidance applies to the main curriculum. Schools can arrange other content in some sessions, meaning they can teach a maximum of eight periods per day," Mr. Quoc explained.

At the conference, Ms. Lam Hong Lam Thuy, Head of the General Education Department, said that specific guidance documents will soon be issued. She noted that with supplementary teaching content, schools need to choose appropriately, on a voluntary basis, without putting pressure on students and parents.

"Some schools are taking on too much, forcing students to study with foreign teachers, and taking extra math, software, and computer science classes... causing frustration. We suggest that schools consider this," said Ms. Thuy.

Ho Chi Minh City currently has nearly 500 secondary schools with about 760,000 students. In the old Ho Chi Minh City area alone, there are 299 schools, more than 93% of which teach two sessions a day. Many schools have joint, voluntary programs, alternating with the official program of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/tp-ho-chi-minh-khong-de-hoc-sinh-di-hoc-thu-bay-327255.html