Provincial Party Secretary: Not promoting discipline in schools will cause moral deviation

Chaired by comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh - Member of the Party Central Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, comrades in the Provincial Party Committee's Standing Committee had a working session with leaders of the Provincial Department of Education and Training. The conference listened to and gave opinions on the results of the implementation of tasks in the 2017-2018 school year, and the direction and tasks for the 2018-2019 school year. This activity is part of the regular work program of the Provincial Party Committee's Standing Committee in July. Photo: Dao Tuan

According to the report of the Department of Education and Training, in the 2017-2018 school year, the province recognized 48 new national standard schools, bringing the total number of schools meeting the standards as of June 30, 2018 to 1,043 schools, equivalent to 68.66%. The provincial education sector has well organized the entrance exam for grade 10 at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted and the 2018 National High School Exam. Regarding the quality of education, Nghe An continues to maintain its top 3 nationwide. There are 89 students winning national prizes, including 4 first prizes, 23 second prizes, 38 third prizes, 24 encouragement prizes, 1 student selected for the team to compete in the International Chemistry Olympiad and 1 project selected to participate in the 2018 International Science and Technology Competition in the United States.

In 2017, there were 46,437 people working in educational institutions receiving salaries from the budget; 2,508 people working under contracts in public kindergartens receiving salaries from the central budget according to Circular 09/2013/TTLT-BGDĐT-BTC-BNV (Joint Circular between the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Home Affairs), 100% of teachers met the standards.

Provincial Party Secretary gave a speech directing the working session. Photo: Dao Tuan

Speaking to open the discussion at the working session, the Provincial Party Secretary requested the Department of Education and Training to clarify the inspection contents that the Provincial Party Standing Committee requested the Provincial People's Committee and the Education sector in 2017. Accordingly, there are 3 inspection contents at primary schools that the Provincial Party Standing Committee requested the Provincial People's Committee to carry out. These are the ratio of teachers in national standard schools having excess or shortage, the right or wrong teacher contracts at schools and the collection and expenditure of socialized funds for the 2-session/day schooling form.

Comrade Nguyen Thi Kim Chi - Director of the Department of Education and Training spoke at the conference. Photo: Dao Tuan

Responding to this content, comrade Nguyen Thi Kim Chi admitted shortcomings and the existence of improper use of socialized revenue and expenditure. The most common of which is that primary schools use this revenue to pay contract teachers. Regarding this content, the Director of the Department of Education and Training also requested the Provincial Party Committee and the Provincial People's Committee to take measures to handle schools that arbitrarily sign contracts for primary and preschool teachers.

Currently, the province has more than 1,000 surplus teachers, of which 50% are contract teachers, concentrated in the districts of Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Thanh Chuong, Anh Son and Nghi Loc. The Department has also worked with the districts to arrange and assign surplus teachers to teach primary and preschool levels.

Comrade Nguyen Thi Thu Huong - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee of the Provincial Agencies Bloc requested the Department of Education and Training to clarify some contents related to educational activities. Photo: Dao Tuan

Frankly giving her opinion to the provincial Department of Education and Training, comrade Nguyen Thi Thu Huong - Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee of the Provincial Agencies said that the report summarizing the school year mainly talked about the field of general education, not clarifying the role of the sector in the management of colleges, vocational schools, and intermediate schools. According to the Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee of the Provincial Agencies, the management of revenue and expenditure in schools, extra teaching and learning activities, revenue from socialization, school security, vocational guidance and learning promotion activities as well as activities to improve moral qualities and life skills for students have not been clarified. In addition, foreign language training centers and skill teaching centers for students are currently flourishing, how to manage their activities.

Explaining this content, the Director of the Department of Education and Training accepted the opinion of the Party Secretary of the Bloc, and at the same time said that in the past time, the Department of Education and Training of the province has coordinated with functional agencies to strengthen inspection and supervision and has revoked the licenses of a number of centers.

Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of the Provincial Police Department, has warned about a number of issues related to school security. Photo: Dao Tuan

Warning about school security, Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Member of the Provincial Party Committee, Director of Nghe An Police Department said that recently, a number of teachers have been lured into making inappropriate statements on social networks. Regarding the issue of extra teaching, extra learning, and extra fees in terms of school security, the Director of the Provincial Police Department affirmed that this activity is causing mixed public opinion, being exploited by bad elements, distorting and causing instability in security and order. Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau also suggested that the province needs to have solutions to rectify extra teaching activities, and any schools that violate the law must be severely punished to set an example.

Acknowledging the achievements of the provincial education sector in the 2017-2018 school year, Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council Cao Thi Hien also affirmed that this is a complex and sensitive field. Therefore, the Vice Chairwoman of the Provincial People's Council requested the Department of Education and Training to regularly organize inspection and examination activities and to report specifically to the Provincial People's Committee after each implementation, on that basis to have solutions to rectify educational activities.

Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Xuan Dai said that building national standard schools does not necessarily have to focus on the number of schools but on the quality of education. Photo: Dao Tuan

Considering that Nghe An is currently mainly interested in training and nurturing excellent students without any specific solutions to improve the quality of general students, Permanent Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Le Xuan Dai said that Nghe An's recent National High School Exam ranking 42nd nationwide partly reflects the objective fact that the province's education is focusing on "fighting cock" students.

In addition, comrade Le Xuan Dai also warned that drugs are infiltrating schools, many teachers are involved in drug transportation, storage, and trafficking. The Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee also noted the construction of national standard schools, according to which it is not necessary to focus on the number of schools but on the quality of education.

Comrade Le Minh Thong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee spoke at the conference. Photo: Dao Tuan

Regarding the arrangement and assignment of the teaching staff, comrade Le Minh Thong - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee requested the Department of Education and Training to strictly implement the policy of streamlining the payroll in the spirit of Resolution 6 of the 12th Central Committee. Accordingly, the solution to this problem is to reduce teachers, increase the number of students, focus on socialization and autonomy in the school system.

Concluding the conference, Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh requested the Department of Education and Training to pay attention to universal education and determine the rate of students attending school each year. In particular, the Provincial Party Secretary noted that the provincial Department of Education and Training needs to strengthen discipline in the school environment.

“If discipline is not promoted, it will lead to deviations. The school environment must be orderly and healthy. If the education sector cannot maintain discipline, many other consequences will arise.”– Comrade Nguyen Dac Vinh emphasized, and affirmed that the Provincial Party Committee will monitor this content.

Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh requested the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Education and Training to have solutions to improve the quality of education and solve problems that reality requires. Photo: Dao Tuan

Regarding human resources and staffing in the education sector, the Head of the National Assembly Delegation said that if the education sector does not reduce, no sector can reduce. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate the overall network of schools, classes, teachers, and students in order to make appropriate arrangements.

Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh also requested the Provincial People's Committee to soon approve and report to the Provincial Party Standing Committee on the issue of investment in key schools. In addition, he requested to cancel documents and decisions on illegal collection before the new school year.

Provincial Party Secretary Nguyen Dac Vinh affirmed that ethical standards must be promoted in the educational environment. Photo: Dao Tuan

The head of the Provincial Party Committee also requested the Provincial People's Committee to convene a conference to summon all Chairmen of the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to prepare for the new school year. On that basis, he directed localities to seriously rectify education and training activities.

In the process of appointing school leaders, the Provincial Party Secretary requested to tighten ethical standards for principals and vice principals. “In the educational environment, if the leader does not ensure this standard, it is unacceptable” – the Provincial Party Secretary frankly said.