VietNamNet Bridge - Giving more ‘power’ to primary school students, lowering the required standards on primary school teachers and changing the ways of criticizing and complimenting students are all measures the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has tried to implement to revolutionize education in the country. 

 

 

Under a draft regulations, every class would have a monitor and vice monitor, or chair and vice chair of the self-management board, to be elected by students or appointed by teachers. There must not be more than 35 students in every class.

The draft regulation has faced strong opposition from the public. More than 300 emails were sent to VietNamNet within one day, July 16, after the newspaper summarized the draft document.

A parent wrote that students should not be elected as ‘chair or vice chair of the self-management board’, because the titles ‘chair’ and ‘vice chair’ are not suited to small children.

“Small children cannot understand what ‘chair’ means and they may have illusions about the power given to them,” he wrote.

Hoang Hieu Hoa, a parent in Cau Giay district, noted that MOET should focus on reforming the curriculum and upgrading teachers’ qualification rather than on inventing titles for students.

“Primary school students are too young to understand what ‘self-management board’ and ‘Mr President’ mean,” he said.

A postgraduate, in an article published on Giao Duc Viet Nam, noted that he can see “negative reactions” to the draft document. 

In his eyes, the title ‘chu tich’ (chair) sounds “funny”, and he believes that it would be better to call it ‘monitor’ (lop truong).

Meanwhile, a parent, who introduced himself as a lecturer at a university, said that MOET was trying to apply the ‘principle of democracy’ in primary school.

“We, university lecturers, cannot elect our school principals, while small children can. This is quite funny,” he said.

The parent also noted that MOET’s tentative regulations were unfeasible. 

“The ministry says there must not be more than 35 students in every class. But I don’t think this is attainable in Vietnamese conditions,” he said.

“With 50-55 students, you should not dream of the classes with just 35 students,” he added.

Also under the draft document, primary school teachers must at least finish pedagogical intermediate school (2-year training).

The headmaster of a primary school in Dong Da District said that teachers with low education would affect education quality.

“Primary school teachers must finish junior college (3-year training) at minimum,” she said.

Van Chung