Brian Jeffrey
The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has put forward a new draft circular with the aim of governing tutoring practices, seeking to replace Circular No. 17/2012/TT-BGDĐT. This new circular embodies significant changes focused on addressing the negative aspects of tutoring, specifically the coercion of students to attend extra lessons, while still permitting essential and lawful supplementary education.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Thanh, the Head of the Secondary Education Department at MOET, outlined the reasoning behind the proposed revisions in an interview with VietNamNet. He stressed the genuine necessity for tutoring for both teachers and students and clarified that the ministry’s intention is not to ban tutoring entirely but to regulate it in a manner that mitigates adverse practices.
Mr. Thanh remarked, “The primary concern that has garnered public attention is teachers tutoring their own students outside of school hours and sometimes pressuring them to attend these sessions. Our objective is to manage and eliminate this coercion.”
The draft circular introduces several significant alterations. Notably, teachers will no longer need permission from their school principal to tutor their own students off-campus. Instead, they are required to report their tutoring activities, including the student list, and guarantee not to compel students to attend these sessions.
Moreover, teachers must commit not to incorporate content from their tutoring sessions into official assessments to ensure fairness for all students. These measures aim to diminish negative practices and promote transparency in the tutoring process.
Furthermore, the draft circular tackles the categorization of subjects into ‘main’ and ‘secondary’ groups, which has contributed to inequalities among teachers. The goal is to administer in-school tutoring clearly and equitably with proper record-keeping and oversight.
Another notable modification is the elimination of the ban on public school teachers from organizing tutoring outside school premises. Nonetheless, this adjustment does not relax restrictions on commercial tutoring ventures.
Mr. Thanh clarified, “According to the Law on Public Employees, public school teachers are prohibited from engaging in business activities. Hence, they may partake in tutoring but not establish it as a business. This distinction has caused some confusion, which we aim to address in the final circular version.”
Concerning elementary school students, the draft circular continues to prohibit in-school tutoring, except for extracurricular pursuits such as arts, sports, and life skills training. The objective is to manage these activities transparently and ensure that no additional tutoring occurs within school premises for elementary students, particularly as most schools operate on a two-session-per-day schedule.
To counter the potential misuse of their positions by teachers reserving essential knowledge for paid tutoring, the draft circular mandates teachers to report their external tutoring activities to their school principal and provide a student attendance list.
If any detrimental practices emerge, students and parents are urged to report them promptly, with the school principal being accountable for upholding the integrity of the official curriculum. The draft also empowers schools and the wider community to monitor these activities.
“We are establishing a legal framework for schools to follow, and it’s imperative for schools and the community to actively oversee these practices,” remarked Mr. Thanh.
