Nghe An officially guides the program to reduce the workload for middle and high schools

After issuing Official Dispatch No. 1113/BGDĐT-GDTrH dated March 30, 2020 of the Ministry of Education and Training on guidelines for adjusting teaching content for semester II of the 2019-2020 school year, Nghe An Department of Education and Training issued a document providing guidance to secondary education institutions (including junior high school and high school) in the province.

Accordingly, the Department requires schools to review the teaching content of semester II subjects in the school's 2019-2020 school year education plan to make adjustments to teaching content.

During the implementation process, for the contents of "Not taught", "Not implemented", "Not required", "Not done", "Not compulsory", "Not practiced", no teaching will be organized.

For the contents of "Guided self-study", "Guided self-doing", "Guided self-reading", "Guided self-review", "Guided practice at home", "Guided self-reading and practice at home", teachers are required to have instructions suitable to the subject's characteristics for students to perform. From there, they will acquire basic and core knowledge and skills to serve the next learning; pay attention to safety issues for students during the implementation process.

For the content "Encouraging students to self-study" (self-reading, self-watching, self-doing, self-implementing), based on the actual situation, students' abilities, the relevance of knowledge and skills in the guided part "Encouraging students to self-study" with the next program to choose appropriate content, guide and encourage students to implement.

The reduction program will help high school students reduce pressure. Photo courtesy of My Ha

For the content of “Integrate into a lesson”, “Integrate into a lesson…”, “Integrate into a section”, “Integrate into a topic”, when designing, it is necessary to select basic, core content, ensure knowledge and skills standards, and rearrange into a logical flow of knowledge content. From there, determine the content that can be taught via the Internet, on television, other forms and the content that needs to be taught directly in class.

For the content "Integration into lesson content", it is necessary to determine lessons that are suitable for the integrated knowledge content, ensuring systematic and scientific nature.

For subjects implemented under the advanced program, educational institutions shall base on Official Dispatch No. 1113/BGD DT-GDTrH to proactively adjust teaching content accordingly, suitable to the characteristics of the subject.

For the subjects of Fine Arts, Music, and Physical Education, units proactively adjust teaching content to suit the practical conditions of the educational institution.

Dang Thai Mai Secondary School (Vinh City) organizes online teaching for students during the Covid-19 epidemic. Photo courtesy of My Ha

The Department also requested that, after adjusting the teaching content of subjects in the second semester of the 2019-2020 school year, schools continue to review and select content to organize teaching via the Internet, on television and other forms suitable to local conditions.

When students return to school, it is necessary to arrange appropriate time to review, revise, and consolidate knowledge and skills in the parts students have learned; teach unlearned content and conduct periodic tests.

In particular, there will be no testing or evaluation of the knowledge content that has been simplified according to Official Dispatch 5842 of the Ministry of Education and Training and the contents of "Not teaching", "Not doing", "Not implementing"; "Encouraging students to self-study" according to Official Dispatch No. 1113/BGDĐT-GDTrH.

Previously, the Department also had instructions to adjust and supplement the teaching plan at primary education institutions. Accordingly, it will cut and reduce the additional class periods in addition to Decision 16/2006/QD - BGDĐT dated May 5, 2006 of the Ministry to prioritize teaching arrangements and complete the compulsory subject program. Review and streamline teaching content and educational activities (collective education, extracurricular education) to develop teaching plans.

Currently, Nghe An is teaching 2 sessions/day and studying 2 weeks in advance, so primary school students will not have much knowledge cut. Illustrative photo

During lessons, teachers only focus on completing core knowledge, do not give too many exercises or exercises that are too difficult for students, other requirements can be guided for students to study at home.

Regarding the reduction of workload for primary school students, Mr. Vo Van Mai - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training said: The reduction content has just been issued by the Ministry according to Official Dispatch 1125 dated March 31, 2019 to be applied nationwide to teach according to the compulsory program.

Accordingly, grade 1 students study 1 session/day, 23 periods/week. In reality, in Nghe An, 100% of primary schools teach 2 sessions/day, 28-32 periods/week, each week adding 5-7 periods beyond the compulsory curriculum prescribed by the Ministry. On this basis, the Department has directed schools to prioritize these additional periods to teach compulsory subjects according to the curriculum.

Currently, the Ministry has issued a list of reduced workloads from week 19 to week 35, while the majority of primary school students in Nghe An have completed week 21 (studying 1-2 more weeks). Thus, primary school students in Nghe An do not have to reduce workloads or have to reduce very little compared to the list issued by the Ministry.