Ministry of Education and Training inspects preparations for High School Graduation Exam and new general education program

Receiving and working with the delegation were comrade Bui Dinh Long - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Thai Van Thanh - Member of the Provincial Party Executive Committee, Director of the Department of Education and Training, and a number of related departments, branches and sectors.

Prioritize resources to implement the new general education program

At the meeting, Director of the Department of Education and Training Thai Van Thanh reported to the working delegation on preparations for implementing the new General Education Program for grade 1, school year 2020 - 2021.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Dinh Long spoke at the meeting. Photo: My Ha

Accordingly, in the next school year, Nghe An will have more than 65,000 first graders. To prepare enough teachers, the Department of Education and Training has coordinated with the Department of Home Affairs to develop staffing needs, advise the Provincial People's Committee to allocate job positions to districts from the 2020-2021 school year at a rate of 1.4 teachers/class, and 1.5 teachers/class in the following years, ensuring the structure to organize teaching and educational activities according to the innovation roadmap.

At the same time, the province has arranged and planned the network of schools and classrooms and has reduced 26 primary schools and 15 separate schools, basically ensuring the organization of teaching 2 sessions/day (program of 32 periods/week), teaching IT and Foreign Languages.

A working group from the Ministry of Education and Training inspected functional classrooms at Nam Thanh Primary School (Nam Dan). Photo: My Ha

At the same time, direct primary education institutions to base on the program requirements to advise on the construction of facilities and classrooms to ensure sufficient teaching and learning at a ratio of 1 room/class. Review and build additional functional classrooms.

Nghe An has completed the selection of textbooks for grade 1 and is coordinating with publishers and the School Equipment and Books Joint Stock Company to provide textbooks to students before August 15. Nghe An is also one of the provinces that has done a good job in teacher training with more than 3,000 principals and teachers having received professional training.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong speaks at the meeting. Photo: My Ha

However, in addition to the achieved results, the implementation of the 2018 General Education Program still faces many difficulties when the network of schools in mountainous, remote and isolated areas is still small and fragmented, many schools and remote schools do not have electricity. Ensuring facilities to serve the teaching of Information Technology and Foreign Languages ​​still faces many difficulties.

Some primary education facilities do not meet the material conditions, the number of students per class in urban areas and cities is high, making it difficult to organize teaching and educational activities. The shortage of teachers still occurs in many localities and some cadres and teachers have limited professional and technical capacity, especially in applying IT to teaching.

Don't be subjective with the High School Graduation Exam

At the meeting, the delegation also heard about the preparations for the 2020 High School Graduation Exam. This year, Nghe An has nearly 32,000 candidates taking the exam at 61 exam locations and is expected to have about 1,360 exam rooms. Over the past time, the province has built up funding sources, organized propaganda, prepared facilities, provided training and planned locations for printing and grading exam papers, etc.

Director of the Department of Education and Training Thai Van Thanh reports on Nghe An's preparations. Photo: My Ha

Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong acknowledged Nghe An's efforts in recent times.

This school year is a particularly important school year for the entire education sector, therefore, in order to effectively implement the replacement of textbooks according to the new General Education Program, the most crucial step is to fully prepare facilities and build a team to meet the requirements of the task. Therefore, in the immediate future, the Ministry recommends that the province pay attention and prioritize the arrangement of sufficient staff for the education sector. At the same time, it is necessary to continue investing in facilities and equipment to better serve teaching and learning.

Regarding the 2020 High School Graduation Exam, it is necessary to organize it seriously, objectively and especially not subjectively, and strictly follow the exam regulations. In addition, it is necessary to strengthen prevention and inspection work at the exam at all stages from printing, transporting, and preserving exam papers.

The Deputy Minister of Education and Training also has great confidence in Nghe An's experience in preparation, especially with the participation of the entire political system. However, for the exam to take place smoothly, the province needs to soon have a plan to inspect facilities, increase training, and develop plans to promptly respond to unusual incidents.

A lesson of first graders at Hung Loc Primary School (Vinh City). Photo: My Ha

At the meeting, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Bui Dinh Long also pledged to make every effort to organize the 2020 High School Graduation Exam safely and in accordance with regulations. At the same time, mobilize the participation of the entire political system to prepare conditions for the implementation of the new General Education Program for grade 1, school year 2020 - 2021.