From the second semester of this school year, Yen Bai province has piloted teaching 5 days/week from Monday to Friday, with Saturday and Sunday off for secondary school students across the province.

Accordingly, the pilot program of organizing teaching 5 days/week (including teaching subjects, organizing educational activities during and outside of regular school hours) so that students have Saturday off creates conditions for teachers and students to have time for self-study, self-improvement, and participation in community and social activities.

The Department of Education and Training said that, basically, the policy of studying 5 days/week initially received the agreement and support of teachers, parents, and students in the province because students taking a day off on Saturday will help reduce pressure, and they will have time to have fun with their families or participate in activities to comprehensively develop their skills.

Teachers have more time to regenerate their labor, participate in training courses, and self-study to improve their professional expertise.

Ensure no impact on learning progress

The Department of Education and Training of Bac Giang has also recently issued a document on orientation, planning to pilot the implementation of teaching 5 days/week (off Saturday and Sunday) in the province.

To ensure consensus when implementing the pilot, the department requires its affiliated units and the Department of Education and Training to direct schools to organize propaganda and widely collect opinions from managers, teachers, staff, workers; professional groups; parents and students in the entire unit on the policy of organizing teaching and learning 5 days/week.

"The Departments of Education and Training must report and ask for opinions from the People's Committees of districts, towns and cities before directing and guiding secondary schools on the pilot implementation policy," noted the Department of Education and Training of Bac Giang.

Leaders of the Department of Education and Training of Yen Bai and Bac Giang both said that to implement Saturday school breaks, the first principle is that units must base on the guidance documents of the Ministry of Education and Training, organize a review of the conditions of facilities and teaching staff to prepare for teaching 5 days/week such as the ratio of classrooms and the ratio of teachers/classes to ensure or not.

Schools must also proactively calculate study time arrangements to ensure the number of periods according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training and in accordance with the actual conditions of the unit; ensure that it does not affect the study progress and quality of education, does not overload students and ensures strict implementation of regulations on extra teaching, extra learning, labor discipline, etc.

Based on that, the school proactively proposed plans to organize teaching 5 days/week, in which each unit, depending on the actual situation, considered which grade level could be piloted or how to arrange the number of study sessions per week to suit the conditions at the unit.

Previously, a series of localities such as Lao Cai, Ha Tinh, Lai Chau, Bac Ninh, Phu Tho... have implemented or piloted the practice of allowing secondary school students to take Saturday off. Although the methods are different, they all have the same purpose of reducing pressure on students, helping teachers and students have more time to rest, and students have the opportunity to learn more life skills.