SGGPO October 20, 2023 11:56

On the morning of October 20, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City held a conference to deploy the criteria and plan for implementing the model "Happy School". Attending were Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc, representatives of the Department of Culture and Society (Ho Chi Minh City People's Council), departments, agencies and branches of the city.

The conference aims to implement the Project "Building a culture of behavior in schools for the period 2019-2025" of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, issued on December 20, 2019 and Directive No. 08 of the Prime Minister, issued on June 1, 2022 on strengthening the implementation of school culture building.

18 criteria of "Happy School"

According to Ms. Cao Thi Thien Phuc, Head of the Department of Political and Ideological Affairs (Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City), the "Happy School" criteria set is implemented for kindergartens, primary schools, secondary schools, high schools, non-public educational institutions, continuing education centers, vocational education - continuing education centers, colleges and intermediate schools implementing continuing education programs at high school level in the city.

The set of criteria includes 18 criteria, divided into 3 groups of standards: 6 criteria on people, 8 criteria on teaching and educational activities, and 4 criteria on the environment.

Happy School aims to strengthen the building of a culture of behavior, thereby developing capacity and perfecting personality; improving the quality of education and training; contributing to building the image of Ho Chi Minh City people as kind, civilized, modern, affectionate, dynamic and creative.

Leaders of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City require educational institutions to implement the "Happy School" criteria set synchronously, in accordance with actual conditions, without formalities or achievements.

Students of Tan Binh Secondary School (Tan Binh District) participate in contributing and sharing with people in difficult circumstances.

The assessment of the Criteria is based on a survey of teachers and students' perceptions. Each criterion includes 3 levels: needs improvement, fair, excellent.

On that basis, any targets that have been performed well need to be maintained, and those that have not been achieved well need to have goals and directions for improvement.

Deployment based on needs, not performance

Speaking at the conference, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc said that Ho Chi Minh City is the first locality in the country to systematically implement the construction of "Happy Schools".

According to the Deputy Minister, many statistics and studies show that material wealth does not bring happiness. In recent years, about 30% of the population is unhappy, and the suicide rate is at an alarming level in some countries.

From that worrying reality, in 2012, for the first time, the world had a global report on happiness. Up to now, there have been reports on this content every year. Especially since 2013, the United Nations has chosen March 20 as the International Day of Happiness. Some countries also use national happiness indexes. However, policies towards this content are still limited. In the field of education and training, the criteria for evaluating "Happy Schools" have begun to receive attention since 2016.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc speaks at the conference

In Vietnam, since 2019, the Ministry of Education and Training has coordinated with the Vietnam Education Trade Union to launch the "Happy School" model.

"A happy school does not mean that students will study less, but that they will study with passion, and that their abilities and qualities will be maximized," said the Deputy Minister of Education and Training. He also affirmed that the construction of "Happy Schools" needs to be carried out according to the individual needs of educational institutions, not based on achievements, and based on learning from experiences from countries around the world.

"The implementation must be based on the spirit of voluntariness, the true interests of the unit, while doing it, we must learn from experience based on actual conditions, we should not administrativeize it, we should not include it in the annual emulation criteria, we should not be hasty, and we should avoid creating pressure," Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Phuc suggested.

Representatives of the Department of Education and Training of Thu Duc City and 21 districts, and professional cluster leaders signed the implementation plan for "Happy School"

Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Van Hieu said that the process of building and implementing the "Happy School" criteria set was carried out step by step, carefully, listening to the opinions of experts and school units.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu suggested that when implementing the Criteria, educational institutions should pay attention to parents and include them as one of the important subjects influencing the process of building a "Happy School".