Nghe An Provincial People's Committee officially issued a document on organizing 2 sessions/day of teaching.

After a period of consideration and consultation, on December 7, the Provincial People's Committee issued Document No. 9355/UBND-VX on organizing 2 sessions/day of teaching at Primary Education institutions from the 2018-2019 school year in Nghe An province.

The document affirms: Teaching 2 sessions/day aims to meet the requirements and wishes of parents, create conditions for care, improve the quality of comprehensive education for primary school students; implement the strategic goals of education development 2011 - 2020, create a solid foundation for innovation of general education programs and textbooks.

Class time of students at Nghi Dien Primary School (Nghi Loc). Photo: My Ha

To implement the organization of teaching 2 sessions/day, the Provincial People's Committee requires districts, cities and towns to base on current legal regulations and the number of employees working in educational institutions assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to review, arrange and reasonably allocate the teaching staff to organize well teaching 2 sessions/day at primary educational institutions.

The organization of 2-session teaching/day is carried out on the principles of voluntariness, democracy, publicity and agreement on the level of contribution of parents; ensuring inspection and supervision by the Parents' Representative Board and competent authorities. Approve the 2-session teaching/day plan and estimate the revenue and expenditure of educational institutions at the beginning of the school year (for the 2018-2019 school year only, implemented from December 10, 2018).

Regarding the above content, the Provincial People's Committee also requested the Department of Education and Training to step up propaganda and dissemination of the purpose and significance of teaching 2 sessions/day; be responsible for guiding, directing and building the program.

Organizing two sessions a day is an opportunity for schools to organize life skills activities. In the photo: Life skills class of students at Hung Dung 2 Primary School - Vinh City. Photo: My Ha

The Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Finance to guide the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to assign departments and steering committees of primary education institutions to base on the actual situation of the unit to develop revenue and expenditure estimates for teaching 2 sessions/day, submit to competent authorities for appraisal and approval according to the decentralization of financial and budget management;

The Department of Home Affairs is assigned to guide units to review, arrange and allocate a reasonable teaching staff to ensure balance in quantity, structure and training level to meet the requirements of teaching 2 sessions/day at educational institutions.

Previously, since the beginning of the 2018-2019 school year, organizing 2 sessions/day of teaching in Nghe An province has encountered difficulties after the suspension of Decision 1517. Meanwhile, schools lack teachers and do not have policies to collect funding for organizing teaching.

In mid-October 2018, the Department of Education and Training also developed 3 options to use the provincial budget to support teaching 2 sessions/day but were not approved. In which, the support level could range from 73.4 billion VND (option 3) to 107.9 billion VND (option 1) and 146.8 billion VND (option 2). The education sector also proposed that the province have a plan to arrange enough teachers to organize teaching 2 sessions/day.