Ministry of Education and Training withdraws proposal for 5-year junior high school

This morning, August 28, the Ministry of Education and Training officially withdrew the proposal to change the current 9+3 general education system (5 years of primary education, 4 years of middle school, 3 years of high school) to the 10+2 system (in which primary education is 5 years, middle school is 5 years and high school is 2 years).

The education system will remain the same as it is now. (Photo: VNA)

This opinion was presented by Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Vinh Hien when speaking at the Consultation Workshop of experts of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture, Education, Youth and Children on the Project on Innovation of Curriculum and Textbooks after 2015, held in Hanoi.

According to Mr. Hien, through the meeting of the National Committee on Education and Training Innovation, the Education and Human Resources Development Council as well as many experts with different opinions, the Ministry decided to keep the current system.

This change by the Ministry of Education and Training surprised many delegates.

According to Professor Nguyen Minh Thuyet, by proposing a plan and then withdrawing it, it shows that the Ministry of Education and Training needs to learn from experience. “Before proposing a plan, there must be careful research and assessment of its impact. Adding a year of school at one level and reducing a year of school at another level means many issues that need to be resolved, such as staffing, teacher titles, salary levels, whether there are enough facilities, who should be assigned to teach grade 10 in junior high school?...” Mr. Thuyet said.

This is also shared by Professor Pham Vu Nhat Tien. “The Ministry has never discussed in depth whether the education system should be 9 + 3 or 10 + 2, and suddenly proposed to switch to the 10 + 2 system without careful consideration, without research, without basis, and then suddenly asked to withdraw,” said Mr. Tien.

Regarding this issue, Professor Dao Trong Thi, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children, said that 9 years of general education is more than enough. Students who finish junior high school complete the basic program and can study a trade. Studying an extra year does not solve any problems but also leads to many arising problems such as junior high schools will not have enough facilities while high schools will have excess, teachers will be reallocated, etc.

Previously, on August 20, at the meeting on educational issues of the National Council for Education and Human Resources Development chaired by Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training proposed a plan to change the current 9+3 education system to a 10+2 system.

According to VNA