Starting a new school year, starting a journey of anxiety

The new school year has begun, and many parents are worried about overcharging and the rampant practice of extra tutoring...

Today (September 5), millions of students from kindergarten to high school were excited to celebrate the opening day of the new school year 2016-2017. The new school year has officially begun, however, many schools have been open for a month.

Students are happy on the opening day

After many years of being organized in a complicated and costly manner, especially tiring for students, this is the second school year, the opening ceremony is organized in a concise way, cutting down on many formalities, especially welcoming guests, long speeches by officials... which most students do not understand. The way of organizing the opening ceremony is concise and solemn, and is welcomed by many parents, students and teachers. A high determination in the whole system has helped the children have a short opening ceremony but does not lose its meaning throughout the school year and especially leaves a deep impression on the first graders.

However, after the school opening bell, a series of old worries resurfaced in the minds of many parents, such as overcharging, rampant extra teaching and learning, and appropriate assessment and grading of students (especially at the primary level). The continuous reform of education has made many people uneasy because they have not yet found a standard model suitable for their country. Parents hope that, as well as the improvement of the opening ceremony, all long-standing problems will be thoroughly overcome by the education sector.

Regarding extra teaching and learning, many localities have held many meetings and proposed many solutions to limit this situation... but it still seems quite difficult.

Some say that if tutoring is voluntary, it cannot be banned. It is true that if parents and students want to learn extra, teachers cannot be banned from teaching extra. But in reality, the line between voluntary and “forced” is very thin.

For good, talented, and excellent students, the regular curriculum may not meet their learning needs and levels, so it is reasonable for them to need extra classes. However, it is also necessary to look at the situation where teachers “hide” lesson plans and do not teach the entire curriculum to students. If students do not take extra classes, they will not be able to do the tests in class. Such cases should be condemned and banned. But who will be the one to control this issue is important?

Furthermore, when teachers do not teach at school, they teach at centers or private homes. Not to mention, many of these centers are the “backyards” of educational management agencies?!

The issue of overcharging at the beginning of the school year seems to be a never-ending story. The fees are hidden under many “names” that parents cannot help but pay. Many fees are so unreasonable that parents do not dare to speak up for fear that their children will be “bullied” when they go to class. And in reality, there have been students who have been shunned by their friends and teachers just because their parents have spoken up about the unreasonableness in the school’s revenue and expenditure. Most importantly, the press has spoken out a lot, but when the management agency gets involved, no unit or individual has been found to be in violation. That also means that no one has been punished or held responsible for the overcharging.

The issue of commenting and grading primary school students according to Circular 30 has been a controversial topic for the past two years. Teachers are tired of piles of books and papers, overloaded with daily and year-end comments for students. Parents do not know how well their children are learning in order to grasp and tutor them. Not to mention, at the end of the year, because the understanding of the Circular is not clear and consistent, each school and each locality applies a different standard of reward and student evaluation, causing much controversy among students, parents and teachers.

From now on, parents and students begin a journey of both anxiety and hope./.

According to VOV