A study about teachers’ lives in Binh Thuan, Tay Ninh and Hau Giang by the Institute for Policy Development under the HCM City National University and released in mid-November 2024 showed that 25.4 percent of teachers said they gave extra lessons in school, and 8.2 percent of teachers ran extra classes outside school.

The statistics came from interviews with 13,000 teachers and educational managerial officers in September and October 2024.

Researchers found that teachers mostly gave private tutoring in Maths, Literature, English, Physics and Chemistry. Primary school teachers had 8.6 hours of private tutoring a week, while the figures were 13.75 hours for secondary school teachers and 14.91 hours for high school teachers.

Teachers ran extra classes in school, at home, at learning centers, online, and through open courseware. 

At the time the institute was carrying out the research, Circular No17/2012 was valid which prohibited private tutoring at home. However, teachers still ran extra classes, both online and offline.

Asked about their wishes, two thirds of surveyed teachers (63.57 percent) said they wanted to legalize private tutoring so they can earn extra money.

The new circular, expected to take effect on February 2025, doesn’t prohibit private tutoring, but sets up strict requirements to tighten tutoring.

According to MOET, the new circular is designed with three major principles. First, ensuring the legal rights of teachers and students. Second, extra classes must not affect curricular programs. Third, preventing factors that may lead to students having to attend extra classes though they don’t have demand for private tutoring.

The circular clearly stipulates that teachers and schools must not organize extra classes for primary school students, except classes related to arts, sports and life skills. Teachers who are teaching at schools must not give private tutoring (outside school) to their students (teachers collect fees from students). 

Teachers of public schools cannot manage and regulate private tutoring outside school, but can provide extra lessons.

The circular pointed out that extra teaching and learning in school is applied only to three subjects: students whose learning results are next to fail; students selected for the teams of students to attend competitions: and students voluntarily registering to attend review classes to attend final exams in accordance with schools’ plans.

In all three cases, students don’t have to pay fees. Schools have to take responsibility for arranging budgets for plans to ensure benefits for all students.

In school, there must not be more than two extra teaching periods for every academic subject. Extra teaching must not be given within the time scheduled for the curricular program.

The teachers and organizations who provide private tutoring and collect fees from students must complete business registration to be covered by the Enterprise Law. 

Teachers who provide extra lessons outside schools must report to headmasters about teaching subjects, locations, teaching mode and teaching time.

What do parents say?

Having two children who are secondary and high school students, Vu Binh An, a parent in Nam Tu Liem district in Hanoi, applauded the new circular, saying that the new regulations won’t cause difficulties for teachers and students.

“If parents and students have demand for extra classes, they can choose teachers to learn with, while they don’t have to go to the extra classes run by their teachers at school,” she explained.

“If teachers want to provide extra lessons to improve their income, they will have to improve themselves to attract students,” she added.

Many parents agreed with the view that teachers should not be prohibited from giving private tutoring.

Tran Hong Kien, a parent in Cau Giay district in Hanoi, is happy because his son is attending an extra class. “My son’s learning achievements have improved considerably,” he said.

He said that it would be better not to prohibit private tutoring, because students have demand for private tutoring and teachers want to give extra lessons.

“Where will students go to get extra lessons if they cannot approach the teachers who want to give the lessons?” he noted, adding that teaching and learning must be done on a voluntary basis.

Hoang Linh