VietNamNet Bridge - The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has asked high schools to continue the teaching schedule until May 31, but teachers and students say they need more time to prepare for upcoming high school exams.

High school students will have eight exam subjects for compulsory and optional finals for math, literature, history, geography, physics, chemistry, biology and foreign language.

The math, literature, geography and history tests, which will last 180 minutes, will require answers by essay. Physics, chemistry and biology exams will be multiple choice and last 90 minutes. The questions for the literature test include two parts – reading comprehension and writing essays.

MOET says the finals will take place in early July but the teaching schedule must be maintained until May 31, 2015.

However,  students say they want to finish studying non-exam subjects sooner to have more time to prepare for exams.

“We will have to continue lessons on citizen education, physical exercise and technology until the end of May 31, but these are not exam subjects,” a student at the Tran Phu High School in Hanoi said.

“We now feel worried about the exams and we cannot put our hearts and minds on our subjects,” he said.

A high school teacher in Hanoi said students and teachers oppose MOET’s request.

“Teachers who teach non-exam subjects are not happy because students are not concentrating on the lessons,” he said. “Students would rather spend time reviewing their exams than listen to teachers in class.”

“We will have to continue the normal working schedule to respect MOET’s instruction,” he said.

Nguyen Quoc Binh, headmaster of the Vietnam-Germany High School, said that high schools would meet difficulties when implementing the education ministry’s instructions.

He said it was difficult to organise the teaching of non-exam subjects.

Nguyen Xuan Khang, headmaster of Marie Curie School in Hanoi, said teachers were not happy about the new regulation. Only several students in a class, for example, may register to take the geography test, while the other 30 students do not. 

“What will the teachers do in this case?” he asked.

He said students and teachers were under stress if they have to continue the normal working schedule and review for exams. 

It would be better for schools to speed up the teaching of non-exam subjects and finish teaching soon, so they can spend the remaining time on exam preparations.

Infonet