VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Education and Training’s (MOET) initiative to include citizenship education as a high-school final exam subject would help ease school violence.

MOET’s Minister Phung Xuan Nha said on November 16 before the ongoing National Assembly’s session that the subject Giao Duc Cong Dan (citizenship education) will be included on the national high-school finals in 2017. The decision is hoped to help ease the escalating school violence.

Nha said the number of students who commit acts of school violence and have problems in morality and lifestyle accounts for a small proportion of the total 22 million students, but they may still affect and influence other students. 

Therefore, Nha believes that adding Giao Duc Cong Dan on the list of exam subjects is a reasonable decision.

Bui Sy Loi, deputy chair of the National Assembly’s Committee for Social Issues, said though Giao Duc Cong Dan is an important subject, this does not mean that school violence would be eased if it becomes an exam subject.

Loi, talking to the press on the sidelines of the ongoing National Assembly’s session, said one mustn’t put the responsibility of reducing school violence on the shoulders of any single teacher or any subject.

The Ministry of Education and Training’s (MOET) initiative to include citizenship education as a high-school final exam subject would help ease school violence.

He went on to say that families and schools need to join forces to educate students and minimize the social negative impact on students. It is also necessary to apply a series of measures to ease school violence instead of relying on one subject.

“Citizenship Education is an important learning subject, but it does not play the decisive role,” Loi said, adding that children need to be educated at families, schools and in society as well.

Loi said that school violence is a burning issue now. Both male and female students fight each other. And in many cases, students fight in groups.

“This is a manifestation of the students’ culture and weakened morality,” he said.

Le Hong Hoa from Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School in Hanoi, with 35-years of experience in teaching Citizenship Education, said to improve students’ awareness of lifestyle and morality, teachers need to change their teaching methods and make the subject more interesting. 

They need to integrate knowledge and teach life skills in case study methods so as to help students better understand lessons.

For many years, students have been neglecting the subject because they found it the boring, and it is not on the final exam.


Thanh Mai