Parents waiting for children at school

The Ministry had further sought to reduce pressure on primary students, asking schools to opt for comments on a student's performance rather than the traditional grading system.

But many schools in HCM City have continued to offer extra classes until 8pm, which remain popular with parents because they do not want their children to fall behind their peers. The extra classes also serve the purpose of keeping children occupied because most parents cannot collect their children at 4.30pm, the authorised end of classes.

"I teach 15 students, mostly children of my acquaintances," said a teacher at Go Vap Primary School. "Parents have needs, but we have to do this in secret."

Le Ngoc Diep, head of the Primary Education Division of the HCM City Education and Training Department, agreed, saying extra classes are more popular in the inner city because parents often could not get off work to collect their children.

Pham Thuy Ha, headmaster of Nguyen Van Troi Primary School, said many parents do not have time or are unable to supervise a child's extra study, so they have to find another solutions. Primary teachers, who earn less than secondary school teachers, see the extra classes as a way to supplement their income.

The HCM City People's Committee issued a new resolution about extra classes, making teachers report to their headmasters and local authorities. But Ha said teachers were skirting the rule by under reporting the number of students they were teaching by as much as 50 percent.

DTriNews/NLD