Sharing with VietNamNet , Mr. Do Dinh Dao, Principal of Nguyen Huu Tho High School, Xom Chieu Ward (HCMC) said that in the new school year, students will start the first period in the morning at 7:30, 30 minutes later than before. Afternoon classes will start at 1:30 p.m. instead of 1:15 p.m. Students will be dismissed from school at 4 p.m.

According to Mr. Dao, these time adjustments have been officially announced by the school to students and parents.

“Since the Ministry of Education and Training issued instructions for teaching 2 sessions/day, including the adjustment of the number of periods in 1 day, the school has issued a notice to adjust the time for calculating study periods for students this school year. Accordingly, in the morning, students will start period 1 at 7:30, study 4 periods and finish at 11:00 (30-minute break between 2 periods). In the afternoon, students will start at 1:30 p.m., study 3 periods and finish the school day at 4:00 p.m. (15-minute break). Every day from Monday to Friday, students will study 4 periods in the morning and 3 periods in the afternoon. On Saturday, students will still have activities like previous school years, including 16 clubs to participate in fun activities, arts, singing and dancing, etc. to further develop their skills,” said Mr. Dao.

Teacher Dao said that the later class start time will give students more time to travel and have breakfast; parents can still conveniently pick them up and drop them off. After the school day ends at 4 p.m., students can stay at school to play sports and read books while waiting for their parents to pick them up.

Photo Nguyen Hue 1.jpg
Illustration: Nguyen Hue .

Similarly, Thanh Da High School (Binh Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) is also considering delaying class start times to ensure that after 7 classes, students leave at 4:00 p.m. According to Principal Le Huu Han, class start times will most likely be 7:30 a.m. in the morning and 1:30 p.m. in the afternoon, 15 minutes later than last school year.

Nguyen Du Secondary School (Ben Thanh Ward) and Vo Truong Toan Secondary School (Sai Gon Ward) also announced that they will change the morning class time from 7:15 to 7:30, and the afternoon class time will start at 1:30 instead of 1:00. School will end around 4:20-4:35 p.m.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training has issued guidelines on teaching 2 sessions/day for general education .

Accordingly, the Ministry of Education and Training requires that teaching 2 sessions/day must ensure effective implementation of the objectives of the General Education Program, ensure the duration of teaching subjects and organize educational activities; not cause overload, suitable for students' psychology and health. In addition, it must ensure the rights, meet the needs and aspirations of students, suitable for the actual conditions of the school and locality; effectively implement the policy of socializing education to ensure the principles of voluntariness, publicity, transparency, no coercion, in accordance with the provisions of law. At the same time, effectively use facilities, teaching equipment and teaching staff, promote the proactive and creative role of professional groups.

Teaching 2 sessions/day is clearly divided between session 1 and session 2 to ensure scientific, flexible and comprehensive development of students.

In which, session 1 is the time to implement the official General Education Program, including compulsory subjects and educational activities (for general education levels), elective subjects, selected subjects, advanced topics (for high school level) according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. This is compulsory teaching content to ensure the requirements of the General Education Program.

Session 2 is the time to organize supplementary educational activities, develop capacity, nurture excellent students, tutor students who have not met the requirements of the General Education Program, life skills education, financial education, art education, physical education, STEM/STEAM, career guidance, artificial intelligence, foreign languages... in the direction of comprehensive development suitable for the psychology of students at each level of education.

However, the organization of sessions 1 and 2 can be flexible in terms of time, balanced in terms of duration (not fixed in session 1 in the morning and session 2 in the afternoon), suitable to the conditions of each school. Encourage educational institutions to diversify teaching methods and organize educational activities to improve the quality of comprehensive education for students.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/nhieu-truong-hoc-o-tphcm-lui-gio-vao-lop-15-30-phut-2433201.html