End negative phenomena, build a healthy educational environment

Comrade Le Minh Thong spoke at the meeting. Attending were Vice Chairman, Head of Education and Training Department of districts, cities and leaders of departments and branches. Photo: My Ha

The meeting discussed synchronous solutions to end negativity in the education sector and build a healthy educational environment. In particular, the main issues discussed were the organization of teaching 2 sessions/day, the issue of revenue and expenditure during the school year, rectifying the situation of extra teaching and learning, and the problem of teacher surplus.

Leaders of Yen Thanh district give their opinions on the implementation of teaching 2 sessions/day in the area. Photo: My Ha.

Regarding the organization of teaching 2 sessions/day, according to delegates, this is an inevitable requirement at the present time, in order to meet the needs and aspirations of parents and students; it is a solution to contribute to improving the quality of comprehensive education, creating a premise for textbook innovation.

However, in Nghe An, the implementation of teaching 2 sessions/day is still facing many difficulties because the teacher ratio is only 1.3 teachers/class (while the regulation is 1.5 teachers/class). Meanwhile, the collection of fees for the second session is still inadequate and many places have not received the consent of parents.

Organizing two sessions a day at primary school will help students enhance their skills. Photo: My Ha

Regarding the issue of surplus teachers, many localities also explained in the meeting about transferring teachers from secondary school to primary school. In addition, it was also suggested that the province and the Department of Education and Training have solutions to direct and provide guidance for localities to contract guest teachers, avoiding the current situation of illegal contracts.

Concluding the meeting, comrade Le Minh Thong said that at this time, it is necessary to soon have a document to replace Decision No. 1517/QD-UBND.VX on approving the 2-session/day teaching plan (issued since 2015) and advise on issuing a new document with a spirit of openness, democracy, in accordance with the law and receiving the consensus of the majority of people.

In solving the problem of teacher surplus, the Provincial People's Committee's viewpoint is that it cannot be solved hastily because there are partly objective and historical reasons. Transferring teachers from secondary school to primary school at this time is also a necessary solution, but in the implementation process, it is necessary to propagate, explain fully, and arrange reasonably to receive the support of the teaching staff and schools.

Faced with pressure to reduce staff but lacking teachers, comrade Le Minh Thong suggested that localities should try to make reasonable arrangements and requested the Department of Education and Training to soon submit a document to the province to have a mechanism for contracts, recruitment, and teacher arrangement, ensuring the organization of teaching and learning.

Besides, before the new school year, he requested that localities need to be ready to prepare necessary conditions, pay attention to issues of facilities, teaching equipment, school security...

Regarding staff streamlining, at the meeting, comrade Nguyen Thi Kim Chi - Director of the Department of Education and Training said: Implementing staff streamlining, from 2015 to now, the education sector has streamlined 1,800 people.

By 2021, according to the plan to reduce the remaining 3,100 positions on schedule, the education sector will continue to streamline in the spirit of reducing leadership positions, serving and maintaining the teaching staff to ensure teaching and learning tasks in schools.