Kids take extra classes despite an official ban

VNA

Ha Noi – In Viet Nam, extra classes are taken for granted – for children already attending school. But now, five-year-olds who have just "graduated" from kindergarten are being taken to pre-school classes.

Although there is still nearly half a year left to the new school year, the race has begun to find good schools and good teachers. It also means pushing children to learn the alphabet and develop good hand writing in special classes.

No one, including teachers and parents, seems to take much notice of an official ban on the practice, declared by the Ministry of Education and Training in September 2009.

The ban on pre-school classes is simply not working. It was aimed at avoiding harmful effects on children's health and erasing any unfair advantages pre-school studies may give children.

All parties involved have their own reasons for keeping the new pre-school tradition alive.

"I don't think I am doing something wrong," said one teacher. "The Ministry bans us from forcing children to go to our classes, but what if this is the parents' will? We even have their application letters asking us to help their children out."

The teacher was upset that doctors can work in other clinics in their extra time, while teachers cannot teach extra classes in their free time.

This teacher, who is an excellent primary school teacher, has an extremely busy schedule trying to fit in two extra classes a day, which brings his earnings to about VND50 million (US$2,380) a month.

With such an income, it is unlikely he wants to stop such a handy money-making machine.

Tran Thanh Nga (not her real name) has taught at Thanh Cong A Primary School for seven years for a lowly VND2.5 million (US$120) per month.

She can barely make ends meet in today's world of inflated costs.

"My salary is not enough to support myself and my family. It isn't even as much as my house-keeper gets," said Nga.

She told Viet Nam News that by teaching three extra Vietnamese classes a week, she could earn at least another VND1.2 million.

She finds it hard to say no, especially when pupils are the children from her own circle of acquaintances.

Many teachers are faced with a dilemma when parents keep asking them to open extra classes to teach their children.

Asked why parents wanted their children to take classes even before being accepted at a primary school, Nga said most feared that the large number of children in standard school classes would hinder learning.

Do Minh Phuong, 31, whose daughter will start at Nguyen Du Primary School this September, decided to take her to a pre-school class starting next month.

Although the child already knows the alphabet and can read stories in picture books, Phuong still thinks it is not enough.

"Study programmes are getting harder and harder. Preparation will be much better as it helps my daughter overcome her shyness in the early school days," said Phuong.

She admitted she felt uneasy about letting her daughter stay at home while other children were taking the special classes.

Le Tien Thanh, Director of the Primary Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training, said the current primary education programme was designed appropriately and there was no need for pupils to take extra classes.

The ministry has instructed primary schools to cease running extra pre-school classes.

Thanh also said that the ministry had organised frequent inspections to control pre-school classes.

"Teachers at our school are asked to sign a commitment not to teach extra classes," said Dinh Thuy Duong, headmistress at Thanh Xuan Trung Primary School in Ha Noi.

Those who keep teaching will lose their bonuses and their title of "good teacher". Duong said she was firmly against parents who pushed their children into pre-school classes.

She thought the practice harmed children by helping create bone defects and short-sightedness.

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