As a part of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee project “ Building intelligent urban model”, the education sector targets to build smart schools with two bases comprising of intelligent school management centers and electronic senior high schools.

Junior high schoolers of Le Quy Don school are studying STEM class

Within three recent years, the sector in HCMC has seen greater progress in increasing application of technologies in classrooms.

In a meeting early this year, Director of the municipal Department of Education and Training Le Hong Son announced his department of operating electronic information portal in all educational institutions with the aim to increase connection between parents and schools.

Simultaneously, the sector also build database system to link with the city’s kind. Several projects such as smart school card, smart libraries or smart schools initially receive great support of schools.

Accordingly, in 2019, the Department will continue enhancing technology application projects concentrating on measures to improve administrative reform and building online public service, software for online teaching and learning to serve students’ demand.

One of the first step of the project “ Developing and technology adoption in the education sector” for the period 2016-2020 with the vision to 2025” launched by the Department in early year comprised of admission of the first grade, sixth grade and tenth grade will be registered online and pilot of five electronic senior high schools including Le Hong Phong and Tran Dai Nghia schools for the gifted students, Le Quy Don, Nguyen Hien and Nguyen Du.

However, piloted schools have awaited the Department’s new guideline because schools have applied it for years, said a principal.

Apart from that, digitalization of admission is supported by leaders of education bureaus because it can help reduce bribery for places in the most sought-after schools, saving time for parents and transparent enrolment. However, it should have good preparation of software with great storage capacity to run smoothly plus preparation of IT personnel in education bureaus.

In its road map, the Department prioritized to choose smart schools which have applied advanced school model with good teaching staffs and small classes. However, in reality, many people were worrying the pilot project will repeat the same mistake of previous advanced school model.

The question is that what’s the difference between smart school model and advanced school model? And why the Department has not reviewed the advanced school model before applying new model.

Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training Nguyen Van Hieu said that the smart school model will operate on the basis of IT application and media in management and controlling of educational activities as well as building online interaction between school, family and society.

In the smart school model, teachers ought to use interactive boards and e-learning lectures, practical software and virtual experiments. Tests and examination will be done in computer or personal portable devices. Students will learn in internet and use electronic textbooks as well as work in group work or teamwork and self-study.

Because of rapidly growing population increases, building a smart school is difficult as a representative from the Department of Education said.

On the one hand, schools which carry out smart school model must reduce the size of classes to ensure teaching and learning quality; but on the other hand, schools must guarantee enough seat for residents especially in outlying districts with population explosion like districts 12, Go Vap, Binh Tan, and Hoc Mon.

Worse, low salary of teachers is hard to attract good students into the pedagogy. Therefore, teacher Nguyen Hoa said along with developing smart schools, with orientation of technology application, the sector should combine several measures in a bid to raise teaching and learning quality including teaching soft skills to schoolers and increasing extra-activities.

SGGP