6 documents of the Ministry of Education and Training that make public opinion angry

Dr. Hoang Ngoc Vinh - former Director of the Department of Vocational Education, Ministry of Education and Training, said that recently, a number of issues have greatly affected the reputation of the education sector related to the project to reform the national high school exam and a number of immature statements by the ministry's leaders.

“These incidents remind the industry to be more cautious in its statements and to conduct more thorough research before making decisions,” said Mr. Vinh.

After the fourth controversial draft circular expelling students for prostitution, Professor Pham Tat Dong, Vice President of the Vietnam Association for Promoting Education, commented that through this incident, it can be seen that the team assisting the minister is too weak, allowing very elementary and unacceptable mistakes to occur.

"For show" rules

Referring to the draft circular on regulations on student work for teacher training programs at college and intermediate levels that is soliciting public opinion, lawyer Vu Tien Vinh - Director of Bao An Law Firm, Hanoi - said that if there is a case of a student being arrested for prostitution for the fourth time, this can be understood as "professional practice".

Lawyer Vinh pointed out four unreasonable points in the draft. Firstly, the current database system on administrative sanctions is not complete, making it difficult to control how many times a person has violated the same act.

Second, Vietnamese law does not have provisions allowing authorities to publicly disclose personal information of administrative violators related to prostitution.

With this regulation, the school cannot have information on how many times a student has violated the law. Even if the school publicly discloses the number of violations, it is an invasion of privacy. Students have the right to sue the agency that provided the violation data to the school.

Third, the draft's mention of students being expelled for prostitution for the fourth time is just a provision for show, not effective.

Fourth, according to the lawyer, the concept of "prostitution" is understood to include harboring and brokering prostitution, but the draft stipulates the act of "harboring and brokering prostitution" in section 16 and only the first violation will result in expulsion from school.

Teachers who beat students can be fined up to 30 million VND

Previously, in early October, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a draft decree on administrative sanctions for violations in the education sector, aiming to prevent negative events in the educational environment.

In particular, Article 32 of the draft stipulates: "A fine of 10 million to 20 million VND for acts of insulting the dignity and honor of students. A fine of 20 million to 30 million VND for acts of violating the body of students".

Mr. Nguyen Quoc Binh, Principal of Le Quy Don Secondary and High School, Hanoi, said that the handling of teachers is regulated by the law on civil servants and public employees, and teachers who violate the law will be disciplined.

Therefore, the ministry needs to reconsider whether to apply Article 32 or not? Paying fines is sometimes in the nature of… spending money to eliminate the behavior.

Lawyer Do Hai Binh, Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association, informed that Clause 2, Article 32 of the draft stipulates "A fine of 20 million to 30 million VND for acts of physical abuse of students", however, it does not specify what acts of physical abuse of students are.

If the draft is passed, Article 32 of the decree will overlap provisions of the current law.

Banned from writing in textbooks

On September 24, after public outrage over textbook monopoly and waste for many years, Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha issued a directive that students should not write or draw on books, causing waste.

The Ministry requested the Director of the Department of Education and Training to instruct local educational institutions to thoroughly educate each manager, teacher, and student on the preservation of textbooks for use and reuse. At the same time, the institutions should instruct students to study textbooks to carry out learning activities and record learning results in notebooks, not to write or draw in books.

According to many teachers, the Ministry of Education and Training's request not to write in textbooks is only a temporary solution. The important thing is to redesign the books to suit the intended use.

After receiving mixed opinions from the public, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Secondary Education, Ministry of Education and Training, said that the above directive was intended to require teachers to guide students to limit writing in books, not to completely ban it.

This is not a mandatory requirement but only encourages teachers to implement active teaching methods and guide students so that they not only know how to preserve and maintain books, but also have good awareness in using books for a long time.

Inconsistent

On August 31, answering questions from the press at the regular Government meeting about single-use textbooks causing waste, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Huu Do said that during his business trip to Lai Chau, he saw old textbooks being reused. However, on September 20, Deputy Minister Nguyen Huu Do himself sent a document to the press, providing information contrary to the previous time.

The Deputy Minister explained that the current textbook is the version that has been used stably for many years. In addition to traditional questions and exercises (essays), the textbook has multiple choice exercises such as filling in the blanks, choosing true/false, pairing (connecting)...

At the same time, he affirmed that students should not do exercises or write directly in textbooks but should do them in notebooks or exercise books. If teachers do not guide them from the beginning of the school year and remind them regularly, students will get into the habit of writing directly in textbooks, causing waste.

Project withdrawal749 billion VND

In May, public opinion was stirred up about the project "Innovation of national high school exams and admission to full-time university, college of education, and intermediate pedagogical training in the period 2018-2020" of the Ministry of Education and Training.

According to this exam reform project, the national high school exam consists of 5 exams: Math, Literature, Foreign Language, Natural Science exam and Social Science exam. The Ministry of Education and Training will build a large enough standardized question bank, increasing the differentiation of the exam to meet the requirements of organizing the national high school exam according to the current general education program.

The total cost of implementing the project is more than749 billion VND, of which 2018 spent more than344 billion VND, 2019 more203 billion VNDand 2020 more201 billion VND.

Immediately after that, this project was withdrawn on the morning of May 22. The Ministry of Education and Training said that Minister Phung Xuan Nha had directed a re-examination of the project's content, finding that the financial content was calculated and integrated from many related sources, there was overlap, some content was not feasible; some items were indirect costs and not directly for exam organization activities.

The Minister directed to withdraw the project for further completion, the drafting department seriously learned from experience in building projects, especially when calculating financial content.

Ministry of Education and Training admits the document caused misunderstanding

In October 2017, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a document requesting the Departments of Education and Training to direct general education institutions to continue adjusting teaching content in a streamlined manner to suit teaching time and actual school conditions.

In particular, the Ministry of Education and Training requires: "Schools must not teach content, exercises, and questions in textbooks that exceed the required level of knowledge and skills of the current general education program. Absolutely do not teach content outside of textbooks."

According to Dr. Trinh Thu Tuyet, former teacher at Chu Van An High School, Hanoi, textbooks are one of the important factors but not the only ones providing knowledge and skills to students.

Agreeing with the above opinion, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen Thao - teacher at Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted, Ho Chi Minh City - is concerned that current textbooks are outdated, especially History textbooks.

On the same evening, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Secondary Education, Ministry of Education and Training, explained that the wording had caused misunderstanding that the ministry only allowed teachers to exploit and use textbooks for teaching. This was not in line with the ministry's directive.