VietNamNet Bridge - The common error that most Vietnamese parents commit is that they overindulge children, thus bringing them up to be dependent people lacking in creativity, according to educators.

The school became well known after a video clip showing fourth graders carrying tables was posted on the internet by a parent.

A young primary school teacher in Hanoi, when asked what impressed her the most at opening day of the school year, said it was the image of hundreds of parents standing outside the school.

“It was Monday, and I thought parents had to go to work. I was really surprised when seeing so many parents waiting for their children,” she said.

The parents brought their children to school and stood outside for hours, waiting until school finished so they could bring the children home. 

“Why didn’t the parents let the children go to school themselves? I want to see independent students,” the teacher said, adding that Vietnamese parents tend to do all things for their children.

The common error that most Vietnamese parents commit is that they overindulge children, thus bringing them up to be dependent people lacking in creativity, according to educators.

On September 5, like all schools in the country, the Phuoc Dong Primary School in Nha Trang City, organized a solemn ceremony to welcome the new academic year.

The school became well known after a video clip showing fourth graders carrying tables was posted on the internet by a parent. The parent criticized the school’s board of management for ‘forcing students to work hard’.

“All parents want to see their children in clean and tidy white shirts and dark blue trousers on their first day of the new school year so that they can communicate in a clean environment. But their wish cannot come true," the parent said.

Nguyen Van Chau, headmaster of Phuoc Dong Primary School, said it was routine work to rearrange tables and chairs and tidy up classrooms to prepare for the new academic year.

He also stressed that schools not only have to provide knowledge to students, but also have to ask them to labor and practice to help them grow into useful citizens in society.

Phuoc Dong’s students gained a lot of encouraging achievements in the 2015-2016 academic year. Four of them won prizes at math competitions; four others won English competitions and two were selected to join the national competition team. 

Meanwhile, the school’s football team won a gold medal at a sports competition in Nha Trang City.

“We try to help our students have not only knowledge but good health as well,” he said.

Chau said, when observing parents and students attending the new school year opening ceremony, that every parent of first-grade students carried their children's schoolbags, while the children were empty-handed.

Dat Viet