Number of students increasing rapidly, universities getting overloaded.
According to the Ministry of Education and Training, there are 46 universities and 17 junior colleges in Hanoi. Besides, there are also nearly 40 vocational high schools with the total number of students accounting for 43 percent of the number of students in the whole country. Meanwhile, there are 112 schools in HCM City.
Hanoi and HCM City are the two big cities where most of the key universities with very high numbers of students are located.
Material facilities poor, number of students increasing rapidly – what to do?
Tran Thanh Binh, Director of the School Design and Research Institute under the Ministry of Education and Training, said that the average area of schools is too low Most of the schools have the land of less than 10 hectares, lack basic functional areas, and their the education environment is generally bad.
Analysts have blamed the current situation on the too rapidly increasing number of students. Meanwhile, schools’ actual land area have been reduced because parts of the land have been used for different purposes.
The Hanoi University of Technology with 34 hectares of land was designed in 1960s to fit 2000 students. Meanwhile, the number of students has increased 10 times.
newly established schools have been running in even worse conditions. The classrooms are located on small areas or in houses which were not designed as classrooms. It is common that students of the same schools have to go to classrooms located in different places. Meanwhile, the schools are not located in easily accessible areas.
some schools have made large investment of hundreds of billions dong to upgrade their facilities. The Hanoi Economics University, for example, carried out the project to fit 15,000 students of the school. However, the school is located on Giai Phong Road near the key traffic point. Meanwhile, many other schools are located in the area with no urban roads, thus making it difficlut to travel.
Relocating schools to suburb areas? It’s not easy
The only solution to the current problem is to relocate the schools to suburb areas, where the there is more available land. The HCM City authorities have reserved 2210 hectares of land in Dong Bac new urban area for 50 schools to move in.
Hanoi is also planning to bring 40,000 students of the Hanoi National University to Hoa Lac new urban area, 30 kilometres from the city centre More than 10 universities and junior colleges will be moved to satellite urban areas such as Gia Lam (the area will gather agriculture, polytechnique and technology schools), Soc Son (polytechnique and information technology), and Son Tay (social sciences, pedagogical and tourism schools)
However, experts have warned that it is not easy to relocate and re-equip the schools, because the project will need a huge sum of capital which goes beyond the capacity of schools, while the state budget remains limited.
Then a new solution has been suggested that schools can exchange their campuses in the inner city for the capital to be invested in suburb areas.
This measure has been applied by the HCM City University of Physical and Sports Education is after getting the approval from the Ministry of Education and Training and HCM City authorities. This means that the city’s authorities will auction a land plot (which has the same value with the current land plot of the school) in order to get money to help the school build a new campus. After everything is prepared at the new campus, the school will hand over its current campus to the city.
However, the project is facing a lot of difficulties. An official from the school said that the land plot for auction has not been sold.
Dr Pham Van Nang, President of the HCM City Economics University, said that the school has been talking about the relocation for the past 10 years. However, no considerable progress has been made so far.
Read more at http://www.vnnewstime.com/education-news/number-of-students-increasing-rapidly-universities-getting-overloaded/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Showing posts with label HCM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HCM. Show all posts
Friday, August 10, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Teaching English for First Graders - Where to Start?
Teaching English for first graders: where to start?
The HCM City Education and Training Department has decided that students will not have to sit the exam to be able to enroll in intensive English classes. Those students, who want to study English, will only have to register their demand with the schools. However, the problem is that there are too many students who want to learn English, while the number of English teachers remains modest.
“160 first graders have registered to learn English. The students are now put in the same classes with the students who do not have the demand to study English. However, they will be put in separated classes from the second semester. What I am worried about is that the splitting cause a great chaos,” said a teacher of Bau Sen Primary School in District 5 in HCM City.
Nguyen Xuan Bao, Headmaster of Bau Sen Primary School, said that he still does not know what to do with the students who have registered to study English. The students must be divided into four classes, while in current conditions, the school can only arrange two classes. “Recruiting English teachers proves to be the biggest problem now, because it will not be easy to find teachers if we can only offer modest pay,” Bao said.
Under the current regulations, the teachers who teach English to first graders, under the pilot programme must obtain TKT certificate granted by Cambridge ESOL. In order to obtain the certificate, teachers must attend a training course in English teaching skills with foreign teachers. However, the problem is that teachers themselves would have to pay the tuition for the training course, estimated at six million dong.
“I agree that TKT certificate is a necessary document which shows teachers’ qualification. However, it is unreasonable to force teachers, who have modest income, to pay for the training course,” said a headmaster of a primary school in District 3 in HCM City.
She went on to say that the school really wants to pay the tuition for the teachers, but it cannot arrange the money. Meanwhile, students only have to pay 50,000 dong a month for English classes, which is not enough to pay the teachers.
Shortage of classrooms also causes headache to primary schools. The city’s Education and Training Department has decided that every class can only have a maximum of 35 students. Meanwhile, schools say they cannot arrange enough classrooms for so many students,
“We have no idle classrooms. All the rooms have been used to ensure that all the children in the district can go to school,” headmaster of a primary school in Tan Phu District said.
It seems that many schools are puzzled when implementing the pilot English teaching programme. At some schools, students, who who want to study English, are put in the same classes with those who don’t. At other schools, students who study English are put in special classes. Yet other schools still have not begun to accept registrations from students who want to attend English classes.
Headmaster of a school in District 3 complained that his school is still awaiting guildelines from the local education sub-department. “Our teachers are very worried. They fear that when the classes are re-arranged, this will affect the teaching quality,” he said. As first graders are small children who may not adjust well and find it difficult when put in other classes where they have to sit with new friends and study with new teachers.
Though the HCM City Education and Training Department has decided that first graders can also begin to study English, some educators still believe that it would be better to start teaching English in the second grade.
Read more at http://www.vnnewstime.com/education-news/teaching-english-for-first-graders-where-to-start/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
The HCM City Education and Training Department has decided that students will not have to sit the exam to be able to enroll in intensive English classes. Those students, who want to study English, will only have to register their demand with the schools. However, the problem is that there are too many students who want to learn English, while the number of English teachers remains modest.
“160 first graders have registered to learn English. The students are now put in the same classes with the students who do not have the demand to study English. However, they will be put in separated classes from the second semester. What I am worried about is that the splitting cause a great chaos,” said a teacher of Bau Sen Primary School in District 5 in HCM City.
Nguyen Xuan Bao, Headmaster of Bau Sen Primary School, said that he still does not know what to do with the students who have registered to study English. The students must be divided into four classes, while in current conditions, the school can only arrange two classes. “Recruiting English teachers proves to be the biggest problem now, because it will not be easy to find teachers if we can only offer modest pay,” Bao said.
Under the current regulations, the teachers who teach English to first graders, under the pilot programme must obtain TKT certificate granted by Cambridge ESOL. In order to obtain the certificate, teachers must attend a training course in English teaching skills with foreign teachers. However, the problem is that teachers themselves would have to pay the tuition for the training course, estimated at six million dong.
“I agree that TKT certificate is a necessary document which shows teachers’ qualification. However, it is unreasonable to force teachers, who have modest income, to pay for the training course,” said a headmaster of a primary school in District 3 in HCM City.
She went on to say that the school really wants to pay the tuition for the teachers, but it cannot arrange the money. Meanwhile, students only have to pay 50,000 dong a month for English classes, which is not enough to pay the teachers.
Shortage of classrooms also causes headache to primary schools. The city’s Education and Training Department has decided that every class can only have a maximum of 35 students. Meanwhile, schools say they cannot arrange enough classrooms for so many students,
“We have no idle classrooms. All the rooms have been used to ensure that all the children in the district can go to school,” headmaster of a primary school in Tan Phu District said.
It seems that many schools are puzzled when implementing the pilot English teaching programme. At some schools, students, who who want to study English, are put in the same classes with those who don’t. At other schools, students who study English are put in special classes. Yet other schools still have not begun to accept registrations from students who want to attend English classes.
Headmaster of a school in District 3 complained that his school is still awaiting guildelines from the local education sub-department. “Our teachers are very worried. They fear that when the classes are re-arranged, this will affect the teaching quality,” he said. As first graders are small children who may not adjust well and find it difficult when put in other classes where they have to sit with new friends and study with new teachers.
Though the HCM City Education and Training Department has decided that first graders can also begin to study English, some educators still believe that it would be better to start teaching English in the second grade.
Read more at http://www.vnnewstime.com/education-news/teaching-english-for-first-graders-where-to-start/
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Saturday, March 10, 2012
HCM City to Set Primary School English Schedule
HCM City to set primary school English schedule.
Only on September 16 did primary schools receive word from the HCM City Education and Training Department requesting schools to prepare for universal English teaching program.
VnnNews – Only on September 16 did primary schools receive word from the HCM City Education and Training Department requesting schools to prepare for universal English teaching program. The department will not hold a meeting to discuss the plan until September 23.
Nguyen Ngoc Long, Headmaster of Hoa Binh Primary School, noted that the school has some basic equipment for English teaching, but lacks others like computers, TVs and cassettes or CDs. Long stressed that, besides qualified teaching staff, material facilities would play a very important role in the English teaching program.
According to Long, the biggest difficulty at his school is overcrowding. There are now 40 students in every class, while under current regulations state a class must not have more than 35. Too many students will lead to ineffective teaching.
According to Nguoi Lao Dong, most primary schools in the trial English program are facing difficulties. Some schools even say they don’t know how to begin.
Nguyen Thi Luong Thanh, Headmaster of Phan Dinh Phung Primary School, reported that his teachers attended an English teaching course organised by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). Still, English classes have yet to begin even though the new school year kicked off one month ago. Thanh pointed out that, since the document from the city’s education department has just arrived, only now can teachers begin drawing up plans for the program.
Nguyen Thi Huynh Thoa, Headmaster of Duoc Song Primary School, confirmed that the school’s material facilities and teaching staff have been ready. Now difficulties lie in deciding on teaching methods and organizational options.
The English program for primary school students clearly stipulates its standards and goals. MOET has developed a syllabus and released a guide for the program’s implementation.
MOET also encourages teachers to use other textbooks, if they believe they can bring more efficiency and effectiveness to their teaching.
The goal of the program is to have students reach the equivalent of the A1 level of European language standards when they finish primary school.
Some question if such a teaching program and required English standards will put pressure on students. Nguyen Thuy Phuong Truc, an English teacher at Nguyen Thuong Hien Primary School, responded “No.”
HCM City Education and Training Department on September 23 will chair a meeting of leaders from districts’ education sub-departments, English experts and headmasters of primary schools to discuss the program.
The city education department has requested that schools inform parents about the trial program. They also released the names of three textbooks that are slated to be used, namely Let’s Learn in English, Let’s Go, and Family Friends.
Read more at http://www.vnnnews.net/hcm-city-to-set-primary-school-english-schedule
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
Only on September 16 did primary schools receive word from the HCM City Education and Training Department requesting schools to prepare for universal English teaching program.
VnnNews – Only on September 16 did primary schools receive word from the HCM City Education and Training Department requesting schools to prepare for universal English teaching program. The department will not hold a meeting to discuss the plan until September 23.
Nguyen Ngoc Long, Headmaster of Hoa Binh Primary School, noted that the school has some basic equipment for English teaching, but lacks others like computers, TVs and cassettes or CDs. Long stressed that, besides qualified teaching staff, material facilities would play a very important role in the English teaching program.
According to Long, the biggest difficulty at his school is overcrowding. There are now 40 students in every class, while under current regulations state a class must not have more than 35. Too many students will lead to ineffective teaching.
According to Nguoi Lao Dong, most primary schools in the trial English program are facing difficulties. Some schools even say they don’t know how to begin.
Nguyen Thi Luong Thanh, Headmaster of Phan Dinh Phung Primary School, reported that his teachers attended an English teaching course organised by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET). Still, English classes have yet to begin even though the new school year kicked off one month ago. Thanh pointed out that, since the document from the city’s education department has just arrived, only now can teachers begin drawing up plans for the program.
Nguyen Thi Huynh Thoa, Headmaster of Duoc Song Primary School, confirmed that the school’s material facilities and teaching staff have been ready. Now difficulties lie in deciding on teaching methods and organizational options.
The English program for primary school students clearly stipulates its standards and goals. MOET has developed a syllabus and released a guide for the program’s implementation.
MOET also encourages teachers to use other textbooks, if they believe they can bring more efficiency and effectiveness to their teaching.
The goal of the program is to have students reach the equivalent of the A1 level of European language standards when they finish primary school.
Some question if such a teaching program and required English standards will put pressure on students. Nguyen Thuy Phuong Truc, an English teacher at Nguyen Thuong Hien Primary School, responded “No.”
HCM City Education and Training Department on September 23 will chair a meeting of leaders from districts’ education sub-departments, English experts and headmasters of primary schools to discuss the program.
The city education department has requested that schools inform parents about the trial program. They also released the names of three textbooks that are slated to be used, namely Let’s Learn in English, Let’s Go, and Family Friends.
Read more at http://www.vnnnews.net/hcm-city-to-set-primary-school-english-schedule
http://www.languagecorpsasia.com
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