VietNamNet Bridge – The new regulation set up by the city’s education department--that schools must not organize summer classes, has made parents wait around.

Phuong in Linh Dam new urban area, who has two children going to the Kim Giang Primary School, said the new regulation has upset her family’s plan.

In previous years, Phuong could send the children to summer classes which were opened since July 16. However, her children still cannot go to school, though the August has come.

“I have been told by the teacher that the city’s education department has instructed schools not to open summer classes this year,” Phuong complained.

Like many other parents, Phuong wants her children to start their study again after some days of relaxing. She fears that the children may forget the knowledge they got the last academic year and would lag behind the classmates when entering the new school year. Therefore, she is considering sending the children to private tutoring classes.

The Thai Thinh Primary School has also been shut silently the whole day. A notice board at the entrance door says students have to go back to school on August 14. The Phan Dinh Giot Primary School, which initially decided to call up students to school on August, has delayed the plan to August 20.

While the majority of schools have to obey the ban on running summer classes, some other schools still have been trying to “dodge” the regulations by organizing “summer activities” for the students who want to join extracurricular programs.

According to Huong, who has a daughter going to a primary school in Hoan Kiem district, all the students have registered to participate in the “summer activities,” which, by the nature, the summer classes, where students go to practice math and Vietnamese language lessons.

Huoong said her daughter began going to summer class on July 16, and now the girl has been busy fulfilling a series of home exercises.

The Hanoi Education and Training Department has decided to take drastic measures to stop the movement of going to private tutoring classes after the heavy criticism from the public.

Educators and psychologists have many times warned about the overloading of works that general schools have to bear, saying that students should have free time to relax in summer instead of continuing learning heard after a long academic year.

However, Huong said a lot of parents have the demand for bringing their children to class in summer, because the teachers at school can help their children review the lessons and take care for the children, while the parents are at work.

Therefore, Huong believes that the education department should not prohibit schools to organize summer classes, while it should let the parents and students decide themselves whether to go studying in summer.

Meanwhile, Pham Xuan Tien, Head of the Primary Education Division of the Hanoi Education and Training Department on August 2 affirmed that this is the request from the Ministry of Education and Training.

The Article No. 4 of the Circular No. 17 released by the ministry stipulates that schools must not organize private tutoring classes for the students who can go to school both in the morning and afternoon, and no private tutoring for primary school students.

Nguyen Hien