This information was shared by Ho Tan Minh, chief of office for the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, during a meeting with middle and high school principals on the afternoon of 10/9.
"Schools must stop dismissing students at 3 p.m. and then requiring parents to pick them up. The education sector cannot create such difficulties for working parents," he said.
He added that the Department will soon issue guidelines for school start and end times for all grade levels to ensure consistency and convenience for parents and students. The proposed start time for morning classes is between 7 a.m. and 8 a.m. at the latest, depending on the grade level. Morning classes will end from 10:30 a.m. onwards, and afternoon classes will not finish before 4:30 p.m.
Deputy Director of the Department, Nguyen Bao Quoc, asked schools to arrange reasonable two-session daily schedules, calculating start and end times to facilitate parent pick-ups and drop-offs.
"Some schools teach 5 periods in the morning and only 2 in the afternoon, then dismiss students. This is unacceptable," Mr. Quoc said.
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Parents in Ho Chi Minh City take their children to the high school graduation exam location in June. Photo: Nguyet Minh |
Parents in Ho Chi Minh City take their children to the high school graduation exam location in June. Photo: Nguyet Minh
Ho Chi Minh City currently has about 1.1 million middle and high school students, most of whom attend two sessions per day. Previously, the old Ho Chi Minh City area stipulated that the thu nhat period started from 7 a.m. to 7:15 a.m., with a maximum of 8 periods per day.
However, the Ministry of Education and Training's two-session daily teaching guidelines, issued in early August, stipulate a maximum of 7 periods. Many principals have said that if the previous school year's timeframe is maintained, students will be dismissed after 3 p.m., making it difficult for parents to pick them up.
Therefore, many schools have proactively pushed back the start times for morning and afternoon classes by 15 to 30 minutes so that dismissal time falls after 4 p.m.
The 7-period-per-day regulation has also led many middle schools to change their schedules, adding a Saturday morning session. However, this faced opposition from parents, leading to the reduction of non-compulsory subjects like life skills, STEM, and advanced English to allow students to rest on weekends.
This afternoon, the Department instructed schools to arrange reasonable two-session daily schedules without extending to Saturday. If there are Saturday classes, they should be used for gifted student enrichment, tutoring for underachieving students, or organizing sports clubs based on student voluntarism and initiative.
Le Nguyen
