Primary education must be comprehensive: moral-intelligence-physical-aesthetic.

(Baonghean) - We went to Hung Loc Primary School (Vinh City) during recess. This group played jump rope, another played hopscotch, chess, cards, soccer, stilt walking, etc. and the largest group was the bamboo dancing group. All the teachers went out to the yard to play with the students, and the teachers and students became “friends” of each other.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Mai - Principal of the school said: having attended training courses organized by the Department and the Ministry to instruct teachers, she formed the idea: we must change the way of doing primary education, we must innovate and not follow the old way. In primary school, we must implement comprehensive education and not just focus on cultural subjects. Because only by taking care of comprehensive education can we achieve the goal of the level of education, which is "to help students form the initial foundations for the proper and long-term development of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and basic skills for students to continue studying in secondary school". And, for the school to implement comprehensive education well, she chose the path: seriously organizing extracurricular activities and life skills education for students.

Bamboo dance during recess at Hung Loc Primary School.

All beginnings are difficult: Difficulties in terms of facilities, methods and ways of doing things, etc. But the most difficult thing is the awareness of the teaching staff and parents. There is no other way but to propagate and mobilize; use the results of the pilot class, the results of previous work to convince and motivate teachers to do the next work. Now teachers no longer worry or hesitate because they have to spend time designing and organizing extracurricular activities; have to read and research to integrate life skills training into their lessons. On the contrary, everyone is enthusiastic and dedicated to implementing the innovations proposed by the school. The number of parents who only care about their children's math and literature studies is still there, but not as much as before. The majority of parents support the school's way of organizing educational activities when they see their children really progress in many aspects: knowing how to study hard; knowing how to be polite; knowing how to give in to each other; knowing how to serve themselves; know how to help parents and everyone in the family; more confident, more active in daily life and communication;...

Last weekend, Le Loi Primary School (Vinh City) spent a day organizing the Phu Dong Sports Festival. To prepare for this festival, the homeroom teachers announced the plan to their classes very early, disseminated the competition rules, and selected students to join the tug of war, ball passing, and chess teams. The whole class was very excited and came to school earlier than usual. The teachers did not forget to prepare drinks, fresh milk, and snacks to nourish the students.

Ms. Hong Van, a first grade teacher at Le Loi Primary School, said: I find activities like this very useful. Students who are usually shy are now sociable and can develop their strengths to help the team and class win the competition. This is truly an environment and opportunity for teachers to equip and train students with necessary life skills; students know how to protect themselves; cheer and ask when their friends fall, wipe their sweat with a towel, give them water to drink to continue the competition, and encourage their teammates to try their best to win. Seeing those actions, I am deeply moved, seeing the students growing up.

“In fact, life skills education for students has been implemented by schools for a long time, but it has not been systematic, systematic, and has not received due attention. In the past few years, with the direction of superiors, schools have paid more attention and done more in depth. In fact, at Le Loi Primary School, classes that effectively organize extracurricular activities and take care of life skills education for students have more discipline, better awareness of students, students study harder, and the quality of learning progresses faster.” Those are the shares of teacher Ngo Thi Thu Dung, Vice Principal of Le Loi Primary School.

Quynh Hau Primary School, Quynh Luu District has linked life skills training for children through the movement of "building a friendly school, active students". Thereby, the school enhances the sense of responsibility of each teacher and parent in training life skills for children from speech, behavior, paying attention to activities of taking care of trees, cleaning the environment; especially building solidarity, helping each other in difficulties and hardships. With the viewpoint of "school is home, students are children", in recent years, Quynh Hau Primary School has had many meaningful activities, highly appreciated by parents and teachers.

With the motto of primary education "comprehensive education, forming and developing harmoniously the personality of children", the first problem that the education sector needs to solve is the awareness of teachers; facilities and funding for activities. Up to now, despite many difficulties, most primary schools in the area have integrated and organized many useful and intellectual activities, creating conditions for all students to participate in movements. Many schools have built and completed cultural codes of conduct in schools, established folk song clubs... In fact, many places have done quite well, achieving high efficiency, such as the highlands with Quy Chau and Con Cuong districts; the mountainous areas with Thanh Chuong and Quy Hop; the plains, cities and towns with Quynh Luu, Dien Chau and Do Luong. These districts have made important progress in innovation to improve the quality of comprehensive education, contributing to creating conditions for perfecting students' personalities right from when they are still in school.

Mr. Tran The Son - Head of Primary Education Department, Nghe An Department of Education and Training, said: The Department has directed the integration of life skills into each subject, encouraged the development of clubs and movements so that students have knowledge about life and behavior. However, some districts and schools still face major barriers in the awareness of management staff; this needs to be overcome to better perform the tasks of the school year. Reality shows that wherever management staff take the lead in implementing and directing, the innovation of primary education has achieved high results.

Innovating primary education in the whole province towards improving the quality of comprehensive education on the basis of promoting extracurricular activities and life skills education for students is a necessary and correct policy to help students confidently enter life. With that meaning, the education and training sector of Nghe An is making every effort for this policy and considers it one of the important tasks that must be carried out immediately in the 2011-2012 school year.

Thao Nhi