Huyen Ly, a ninth grader at a secondary school in Dong Da district, has a very busy working schedule. She is at school or extra classes from morning to evening and from Monday to Saturday, and has one learning shift on Sunday. 

Huyen, the mother of the schoolgirl, said Ly is a student in a French major class.

“There are more exercises for the students in classes for the gifted than for students in normal classes,” she explained. “She only gets home at 9-10 pm and has dinner at that time.”

Though the new academic year only began several days ago, students are as busy as bees with overloaded learning schedules.

“My daughter now goes to school and to extra French and math classes. In the future, she will have to attend classes in literature as well,” Huyen said, adding that if students don’t go to extra classes, they won’t pass the exams to state-owned high schools.

Meanwhile, Huyen’s daughter plans to sit the exam to a high school for the gifted in Hanoi. 

Hong Hanh, a parent in Hoai Duc district, said her daughter is a seventh grader and will only attend the high school entrance exam in two years. However, she still sends the girl to extra classes.

“She has English lessons at foreign language centers. As for math, she now studies with a private tutor,” Hanh said. 

“It is necessary to prepare for the entrance soon because students now are very good and the competition is very stiff,” she explained.

Minh Duc, whose son goes to Son Dong Secondary School, said there was no need to be surprised about students’ busy learning schedules.

“All students have to learn hard. If you don’t, you will lag behind,” she said. “Nowadays, if you don’t have high education levels, you won’t be able to earn money.”

Huyen said she feels sad as she cannot find the time to gossip with the daughter. “My daughter leaves home early in the morning and returns late in the evening. Our conservations cannot last for more than 15 minutes, because she always is busy with her work,” she complained.

The parent said she asks the daughter to go to bed at 11 pm, but the girl stays up until 2 am.

“I am afraid that she will become a robot with no human feelings,” Huyen said.

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