For decades, educators have been teaching history as a compulsory subject in school but their effort of equipping their students of knowledge of the nation’s history has turned fruitless since a huge number of students have shown little interest in learning history.

The indifference of students, especially those in high school, to the subject is cause for concern. A few years ago, the public was shocked by the fact that a large number of students scored poorly for history in their tests.

In 2014, for the first time, apart from mathematics and literature as compulsory school subjects, high-school seniors were allowed to choose a third subject for their graduation exams. However, preliminary statistics from HCMC showed only 2-5% of students opted for history.

In some high schools in Hanoi and Haiphong, one or two students selected the subject. At Luong The Vinh High School for the Gifted in Hanoi, no students chose history. At Einstein High School in Hanoi, a 12th grader even made news headlines as he was the only one to register for the subject, according to Vietnam News.

Many people have expressed their concern about the fate of history as a school subject since the Ministry of Education and Training recently announced a tentative plan to integrate history into other teaching subjects.

The ministry has designed a 3-in-1 subject called Vietnamese citizens and fatherland, which is a combination of three separate subjects – history, civil education, and national defense and security.

The plan has sparked a public uproar and the ministry has sought to calm the public down by affirming that the subject of history will not disappear from school. The way the subject is taught will be changed only, the ministry notes.

Experts, scholars and educators have strongly opposed the proposal, saying the ministry is seeking to drive another nail into the subject’s coffin.

Many have thrown their weight behind the ministry’s reform of education by easing the workload on students rather than killing the subject.

Some suspect that the ministry seems to find ways to help students improve their academic records by integrating history into other subjects because students normally get low history scores.

The subject of history is about culture, tradition, patriotism and national pride but students always find the subject boring and time-consuming.

Most students want to learn stuff that can help them land a good job in the future. Meanwhile, history teachers point the accusing finger at outdated textbooks with a lot of facts and figures which students are forced to memorize.

And parents also discourage their children from focusing too much time and effort on subjects like history or literature. According to them, math, chemistry, physics or English could be their children’s passport to the future.

Teachers believe history is disregarded by students because few students study social sciences at university, but experts put the blame on the low qualification of history teachers.

Nghiem Dinh Vy, former deputy head of the Central Party Committee’s Ideology and Education Commission, says on Vietnamnet that teachers should play a central role in history education. Since history is unattractive to students, few high school graduates want to study history.

As a result, universities cannot enroll enough students of history and those admitted to the history faculty normally fail to enter their faculties of choice earlier. This explains why the quality of history teachers is mostly low.

Professor Nguyen Loc from the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences says in Vietnam News that it is dangerous if Vietnamese students turn their back to history.

“For many years, we keep talking about this same problem. But it’s incorrect to say history is not appealing. The way it is taught is not appealing.History can also help critical thinking and writing skills. In the advent of the Internet and social media, students can now access a wealth of information, not just from textbooks. Instead of forcing them to remember facts, let them think critically and ask questions.”

While reform may take years to bear fruit, there are ways to revive the subject. Even though there is a lack of supporting material, teachers can talk to students about history instead of lecturing them, and ask them to think about events rather than memorize them. Students should also be encouraged to explore materials available online or visit museums and exhibitions, he adds.