Effective from February 14th, Circular 29 issued by the Ministry of Education and Training will regulate additional studies.

Previously, beyond regular school hours, schools could organize paid extra classes.

Now, under Circular 29, extra teaching in school is prohibited, except the extra teaching to weak students to improve their learning achievements, and to excellent students who need teachers’ support to attend competitions for excellent students at different levels (these students don’t have to pay for extra teaching). 

Schools have announced the halt of extra classes in school. Previously, students stayed in school all day, attending curricular lessons in the morning and extra classes in the afternoon, from Monday to Saturday. With the new circular, children will stay at home in the afternoon, without care from adults.

Understanding parents’ concern, schools are considering designing new teaching schedules when Circular 29 takes effect.

Tran Quoc Lap, deputy headmaster of Kim Son High School, said the school is piloting a five-day school week, with Saturday off, after the Circular 29 issuance.

According to the Vice Principal, Circular 29 says that afternoon times previously used will no longer be used. From February 13 to the end of February, Ninh Binh province will pilot the five-day school week model.

Circular 29 implies that afternoons will be free time for students. From February 13 to the end of February, the pilot 5-day-a-week schedule will be applied throughout Ninh Binh province.

“With the new schedule, teachers and students will have Saturday off,” he said. 

“The lessons previously held on Saturday mornings will now be scheduled for weekdays which were previously reserved for extra classes,” he explained. 

Currently, schools in the province arrange lessons previously reserved for Saturday morning for Monday and Thursday afternoons. 

Meanwhile, the afternoons of Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday can be spent to teach weak and excellent students, and prepare students for high school finals.

However, Lap said, the number of students to attend extra classes will be small compared with the total number of students at the school.

Currently, the school has not organized activities for Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, which means that students will be off on those days and parents will have to take care of their children.

The school will help parents enroll students in private tutoring centers.

"The school will not organize extra classes in school, but will just introduce and connect students with classes which are outside school and not under the management of the school,” he said, explaining that the introduction will help parents feel more secure about teaching quality.

However, he warned that the fees will be higher than that of the school’s extra classes.

However, this is just the plan for the immediate time, while further decisions will only be made after the trial period.

“There has been no detailed guidance. After the trial period, the provincial education department will collect opinions from schools and the public and report to the provincial leadership,” he explained.

H, the principal of a secondary school in Ha Dong district in Hanoi, said when Circular 29 takes effect, the school will shift to two-teaching session scheme.

The school will apply seven-period days, with four periods in the morning and three in the afternoon, running from Monday to Friday. The entire school will be off on Saturdays (previously, standard classes ran from Monday to Saturday).

“Instead of teaching five morning periods as before, we now only teach four. The remaining periods, along with those from Saturday mornings, will be evenly distributed to the afternoons from Monday to Friday,” he explained.

However, he said that this is just the plan designed by school, and will only be implemented if parents agree on it. Otherwise, the school will revert to morning-only standard classes and students will not come to school in the afternoon.

Dang Dinh Ky, Head of Nghi Loc district Education and Training Sub-department in Nghe An said schools are still awaiting further guidance from the Ministry of Education and Training and the Provincial Department of Education and Training on this matter. 

Thanh Hung