Nghe An presents its views through the implementation of the new textbook program

Overcoming shortcomings to implement new programs

Program, textbookGrade 1started to be implemented nationwide from the 2020-2021 school year. In Nghe An, the program was implemented simultaneously at 531 educational institutions across the province with the same set of textbooks. For Vietnamese books, 5 mountainous districts use a separate set of books "For Equality and Democracy in Education", the remaining districts use the "Canh Dieu" set of books.

Director of the Department of Education and Training Thai Van Thanh speaks at the conference. Photo: My Ha

Due to early preparation, especially the organization of training for teachers and staff, the purchase of equipment, etc., the implementation of the new grade 1 program in Nghe An was carried out quite smoothly. According to statistics from the whole province, in the 2020-2021 school year, 100% of primary education institutions in the province organized 2 sessions/day. Particularly for grade 1, there were 1,759 classes, reaching a rate of 87% of classes with 32 periods/week or more; 87.7% of grade 1 students studied foreign languages ​​with a duration of 2-4 periods/week/ from semester 2, 11,500 grade 1 students, accounting for 16.0% were introduced to the subject of Information Technology with a duration of 02 periods/week. In addition, some educational institutions in favorable areas have implemented STEM education activities for students.

Through assessment,General Education Program2018 has many advantages compared to previous programs. In addition to textbooks, the accompanying electronic learning materials are diverse, rich, easy to exploit and use, creating favorable conditions for teachers to build attractive, engaging lessons for students; students can understand more easily, be more interested in lessons, less bored; students can participate in many activities and experiences, thereby forming many important skills. At the end of the school year, students achieve many outstanding skills such as: reading, communication, self-control, self-study, critical thinking; students are much more active and confident.

Class time of first graders - Nghi Xuan Primary School (Nghi Loc). Photo: My Ha

At the conference, in addition to the achieved results, the conference also analyzed the difficulties and shortcomings. Specifically, although localities have been proactive in reviewing and rearranging schools and school sites, there are still many small-scale schools and many remote schools. The whole province still has 82 schools that have not invested in Foreign Language classrooms, 256 schools have not invested in IT rooms, not to mention 440 remote schools that do not have these classrooms; the minimum teaching equipment is still lacking, and localities have not proactively purchased and are waiting for superiors to provide.

The teaching staff is still lacking, the structure is not reasonable; the rate of students studying 2 sessions/day (32 periods/week) is not high, while the new program is designed to teach 2 sessions/day, 32 periods/week. Students in mountainous areas continue to suffer many disadvantages when they only study fewer periods than students in lowland districts.

Schools need to be "proactive and creative" in the spirit of openness.

Speaking at the conference, Director of the Department of Education and Training Thai Van Thanh highly appreciated the efforts and spirit of overcoming difficulties of teachers. Thereby, helping the implementation of the new program in Nghe An to achieve good results and become one of the most successful provinces in the country.

The conference was held online with the participation of a large number of officials and teachers at 21 locations in 21 districts, cities and towns. Photo: My Ha

In the coming years, the head of the education sector also predicted that the implementation of the new program for the following school years will still have "countless difficulties": The new program has a more difficult teaching method, following the orientation of approaching students' abilities. Therefore, if in the past teachers only taught students what, now they teach them how to do it, what to do to help students be creative in real life, putting students at the center of this change will be very stressful, requiring teachers to innovate, be creative and require school teachers to be proactive and creative in designing the school's teaching program.

In the above context, to implement the new program, the Director of the Department requested that localities and schools continue to do a good job of propaganda to create consensus among parents, students and the community. In particular, it must also be clarified so that parents understand that the use of textbooks is only a means of support and not a law like the old program: Currently, the whole country uses 3 different sets of textbooks and the task and responsibility of the Education sector is to teach according to the output standards of the 2018 general education program.

After 1 year of implementing the new program, students have achieved many outstanding skills such as: reading, communication, self-control, self-study, critical thinking; students are active and confident. Photo: My Ha

Prepare for replacementtextbookRegarding the use of reference books for grades 2 and 6 from the next school year, the leaders of the Department of Education and Training also affirmed: The Department will continue to receive opinions from the grassroots to inform publishers to adjust inappropriate issues in the textbook program for grades 2 and 6. The Department of Education and Training will also do a good job of managing the quality of textbooks and counting enough books to inform publishers, promptly providing enough for all students. The leaders of the Department also reminded teachers and schools to fully inform parents about the use of reference books because "the Department does not manage reference books, but that is the right of parents and students depending on the actual needs of each family".

Currently, the Education sector has also continued to advise on supplementing enough teachers and advising the Provincial People's Committee to issue funds and provide them to localities to promptly purchase enough essential teaching equipment to meet the new school year and the program to replace textbooks for grades 2 and 6.