100% of teachers at a mountainous school in Nghe An volunteer to teach students for free

Voluntary applications

“Thank you 16/16 teachers of Yen Khe Secondary School! We love our school and our students” is the message from principal Nguyen Van Hao to the school’s teachers after receiving voluntary applications from teachers to teach extra classes.

Talking about this, Mr. Hao said: I was really surprised when the policy just proposed received the consensus of the collective. That helped me reduce a burden whenCircular 29officially came into effect. Thus, extra teaching and learning at our school is still maintained and completely free.

This school year, Yen Khe Secondary School has 11 classes with nearly 400 students, most of whom are ethnic minority children, including some Dan Lai children. However, because this is not a boarding school for ethnic minorities, the students still have to go back and forth every day. Due to difficult circumstances, many parents in the school work far away, leaving the children to live with their grandparents.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Hao, in the past, in addition to teaching regular classes in the morning, the school organized extra classes for students in cultural subjects in the afternoon. In particular, for grades 6, 7, 8, the duration was 2 sessions/week, and for grade 9, some additional sessions of Math, Literature, and English were added to review for students taking the 10th grade entrance exam.

Regarding the tuition fee, according to the agreement between the school and parents, each student is agreed to pay 18 thousand VND/session. This amount is to pay for electricity, water, stationery and remuneration for the tutor. Organizing afternoon classes is not only for practice and consolidation of knowledge but also a solution to limit students from going out, getting involved in video games and other unhealthy games when their parents are not around to supervise them.

With this special nature, when Circular 29 took effect from February 14, many teachers in the school were very concerned and worried. In fact, although extra teaching had ended since the first semester, after the Lunar New Year, many teachers proactively asked the school to borrow facilities to teach extra knowledge to students without charging.

Based on this idea of ​​the teachers, in the Party cell meeting and the agency meeting, the school's Board of Directors encouraged teachers to teach extra classes for free and received 100% consensus. Accordingly, each teacher will arrange to tutor students in the class they are assigned to 1-2 sessions/week.

Volunteer for students

With this free volunteer teaching, not only 9th graders but all other grades receive extra tutoring outside of regular school hours with all subjects such as Math, Literature, English, Natural Science, History - Geography...

What is admirable is that, in addition to the school's regular teachers, there are 2 English teachers from other schools who also volunteer to teach extra classes. Among them, Mr. Dang Ngoc Quy is a teacher at Thach Ngan Boarding Ethnic Secondary School, more than 20km from Yen Khe Secondary School, who still ensures to teach both regular classes and extra classes for grades 7-8 every Friday. Teacher Nguyen Thi Tra Ly - a teacher at Bong Khe Primary School, although having to teach 2 levels, is still willing to share with the school's students because English is always a difficult subject for students in the highlands.

Thanks to the efforts of teachers, today (February 19), less than a week after Circular 29 took effect, afternoon classes at Yen Khe Secondary School have reopened.

Sharing about this, teacher Hoang Thi Tu Nga - Literature teacher said: This year I am in charge of Literature subject of grade 9 - the final class, preparing for the entrance exam to grade 10. Because this is the first year of taking the exam according to the new General Education Program, the reference exam has many new points, especially the use of materials outside of textbooks for the literary essay test. In fact, students at our school have many limitations in their ability, so they have difficulty accessing and analyzing paragraphs and poems. In today's class, I was happy that class 9A1 attended class fully (only 2 students were absent with permission).

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Taking advantage of the precious time, I reviewed the reading comprehension part of the sample exam for the students. This part is worth 4 points this year and if the students have a firm grasp of the knowledge, I believe they will do well in the Literature subject this year.

Teacher Hoang Thi Tu Nga - Literature teacher

Like many other teachers at the school, although she has been working for more than 20 years, teacher Tu Nga does not teach extra classes at home. Extra classes at school are also very rare, so stopping extra classes according to Circular 29 does not greatly affect the income and feelings of teachers. Currently, in addition to organizing free review sessions for students, the school's Board of Directors has also asked parents to cooperate, pay attention to managing and training their children to study at home.

Along with the review, the school also instructs teachers to increase homework assignments for students to practice every week. According to the plan, every 2 weeks, teachers will visit students' study corners and discuss with parents, reminding them to complete their homework. From mid-March 2025, the school plans to increase review sessions for 9th grade students to prepare for the 10th grade entrance exam.

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Although we have to work overtime, all teachers voluntarily teach students for free with a relaxed, responsible and enthusiastic spirit. With that spirit, I believe that, despite the changes in the school year plan, the teachers' teaching movement will be maintained stably until the end of the year and our school will still maintain the quality of teaching and learning, ranking among the top in the district.

Teacher Nguyen Van Hao - Principal of Yen Khe Secondary School (Con Cuong District)

My Ha