Parents in Vinh City race against time as school changes timetable

Difficult for parents

Before the Hung Kings' death anniversary holiday, all primary schools in Vinh city held "unusual" parent meetings to announce new school schedules for first and second grade students.

Accordingly, if before, students had 33 periods a week, now the study time will be reduced to 30 periods. This means that some study sessions and schedules will be reduced.

Class time of students at Truong Thi Primary School. Photo: SH

At Le Mao Primary School, before this change, many options were proposed. Initially, the school planned that on Wednesday, students in grades 1 and 2 would study 2 periods in the morning. After that, they would be allowed to go home. Only students in grades 3, 4, and 5 would study until the end of the session.

However, after a survey, this schedule was not approved by parents, so the school changed it to Friday afternoon. On this day, students will have 2 periods in the afternoon (those who are learning life skills will have 3 periods). After the class ends, parents will have about 20 minutes to pick up their students (during recess). Parents are also not allowed to leave their children at school because it will affect grades 3, 4, and 5 who are still in their last 2 periods.

"I have two children studying at the school, one in 2nd grade and one in 5th grade. Now the school schedule has changed, one child is picked up at 3:30 p.m. and the other at 4:30 p.m. It is very inconvenient and affects work at the office," said a parent.

Other schools have also proposed many other options. For example, at Trung Do Primary School, the school initially intended to let the children go home early on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons (3 periods per session). But after discussion, the school decided to let the children study 2 periods on Wednesday mornings and then go home early. Hung Binh Primary School lets the children go home early on Saturdays...

Comments from the education sector

Ms. Phan Thi Hong Mai - Principal of Trung Do Primary School said that this change in school schedule is difficult for both parents and the school. "In fact, if parents do not come to pick up their children on time, they will have to stay at school and managing them after school is quite difficult," Ms. Mai said.

This change is actually a "reluctant" move to comply with the inter-sectoral guidance on organizing 2 sessions/day, which was issued in early April 2018. According to this document, the Department of Education and Training instructed students in grades 1-2 to only teach 28-30 periods/week, and students in grades 3, 4, and 5 to teach 30-32 periods/week. The number of planned periods is reduced compared to the guidance on program distribution at the beginning of the new school year.

In Vinh city, the city has long organized 33 periods/week for all levels of education, so learning has been stable since the beginning of the school year. Now, with just over a month left until the end of the school year, the change in the number of periods leads to a change in the timetable, which affects and cuts down the organization of teaching and learning at schools, the transportation of students by parents, and the curriculum of students.

Extracurricular hours of students at Hung Binh Primary School. Photo: SH

At this time, the Vinh City Department of Education and Training has also approved the budget for organizing 2 sessions/day of teaching. Accordingly, the budget for teaching and learning will be set at 70,000 VND/month/student, lower than the general regulation of previous years.

School representatives also said that the early implementation has helped schools resolve the long-standing "debt" situation with teachers. However, the province's regulation that this amount can only be used to pay for teaching 2 sessions/day and cannot be used for other extracurricular activities like previous years will make it difficult for schools to teach and learn. Meanwhile, the budget for regular expenses is not much.