Nguyen Ba Minh, director of the Preschool Education Department under the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), told the press that MOET has asked the Ha Nam provincial education department to inspect the case and place the responsibility on individuals who got involved.

Minh affirmed that all the content of the preschool education curriculum that MOET set has gone through inspection and experts’ criticism and comments. MOET does not encourage activities which may cause incidents like the activity which took place at the private Tuoi Tho Preschool.

MOET has asked preschools and general schools to organize the teaching of life skills. The program aims to equip learners with necessary life skills, thus helping form good habits which can help them succeed in their future lives.

According to Bui Van Linh, Deputy Director of the Department of Political and Students’ Affairs Department, for preschool children, the life skill teaching program aims to help children become self-reliant and self-confident, teach them common safety rules and practice doing some simple things. Children are taught to show their feelings and have suitable behaviors towards their families.

The fact that three preschool children in Ha Nam province got severe burns during lessons about calling for help and escape in emergency situations has raised worries about the teaching of life skills at school.

As for primary school students, the program focuses on teaching the skills for communicating with parents, teachers and friends, the skills of building good relations with friends, and patience, punctuality and sympathy.

Meanwhile, high school students learn how to make decisions and solve questions, learn about critical and creative thinking, communication and collaboration, self-awareness and sympathy, emotional management and coping with difficulties.

The life skill teaching is integrated into learning subjects and education activities. Schools are encouraged to take initiative in organizing the activities to teach life skills or join forces with other establishments to organize life skill teaching activities.

PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc, at the conference discussing the tasks for the new academic year, emphasized that the life skill teaching still cannot satisfy the requirements.

Life skill education is now integrated into learning subjects and the skills are mostly shown in theoretical knowledge. Sudents need to practice behaviors in non-school hours and in clubs. Since the facilities at schools to organize clubs and extracurricular activities remain poor, students cannot have practice hours.

The lack of experience of teachers in teaching life skills is also a big problem. Regarding the case where three preschool children got burns, Minh said ‘there was a problem in the teacher’s operations’.

Linh Ha 

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