What does the principal say about students having to study school programs to pay off debt?

Parents of students at a secondary school in Ho Chi Minh City are upset that the weekly timetable has 10 school program periods and suspect that 'students have to study to pay off debt' because the school receives sponsorship from partner companies.

Timetable of Nguyen Van Phu Secondary School (Binh Thoi Ward, Ho Chi Minh City)

PHOTO: PROVIDED BY PARENTS

Parents of students at Nguyen Van Phu Secondary School (Binh Thoi Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) were upset and complained that "the school teaches too many school programs such as life skills, STEM, information technology, native English, digital transformation, intensive English... a total of about 10 periods per week".

In addition, according to parents' feedback, Nguyen Van Phu School's timetable intersperses school program periods with regular school hours, which means "students have no way out and are forced to study."

Since then, parents have been suspicious: "Because the principal has received funding from partner companies to invest in computer rooms, projectors, LED screens... so now he is forcing students to study to pay off their debt."

Principal: "There is no distinction between session 1 and session 2, so some classes are affected."

In response to parents' feedback, speaking with Thanh Nien reporters at noon on September 17, Ms. Vuong Thi Nga, Principal of Nguyen Van Phu Secondary School, explained that the timetable for students studying 2 sessions/day from Monday to Friday has 39 periods, of which 29 are in the 2018 General Education Program of the Ministry of Education and Training, the remaining 2 native English periods, 2 international IT periods are implemented according to the project of the Ministry of Education and Training, 3 English enhancement periods are the project of the City. In addition to the 2018 General Education Program, the school follows Document 2174/SGDĐT-GDPT on instructions for organizing 2 sessions/day teaching for general education, the school implements the school program with 3 periods: life skills, STEM, digital citizenship.

According to Ms. Nga, before the new school year officially started, on August 23, the school held a meeting with parents and asked for their opinions on the implementation of the lessons in the school program. Parents registered their children to study on a voluntary basis. As a result, out of a total of 1,249 students, 14 students did not register to study life skills, 12 students did not study native English, 12 students did not study international computer science, and 17 students did not study STEM.

Regarding the school's reflection that the timetable of the General Education Program subjects is interspersed with the school program, forcing parents to register their children for the program, the principal of Nguyen Van Phu Secondary School said: "The school tries to arrange the school program timetable in the opposite session, but according to the regulation of 2 sessions/day without distinguishing between session 1 and session 2, some periods are affected."

According to Ms. Nga, based on the registration of the parents, the school arranges the class schedule. For students who do not participate, the school offers 3 options for parents to choose from: If those classes are in the last period, the students can go home (if the parents can arrange a time to pick them up) or the students can go to the self-study room, library to read books or can sit in class to participate with their friends.

Ms. Nga added that the school has 31 classes and only a few classes have students who do not attend life skills and STEM classes because their parents do not register due to economic conditions and difficult family circumstances. In these cases, the school still creates conditions for students to participate with their classmates.

Image of the newly equipped computer room of Nguyen Van Phu Secondary School

PHOTO: PROVIDED BY SCHOOL

Socialization because the computer room is broken and degraded

Regarding parents' suspicion that "the principal received funding from partner companies to invest in computer rooms, projectors, LED screens... so he forced students to study to pay off debt", Principal Nguyen Van Phu affirmed: "This opinion is completely incorrect."

Ms. Nga said that in the 2025-2026 school year, after consulting, many parents registered for their children to study international computer science: 946/958 students registered (98.7%), so the school had to come up with a plan to repair and upgrade 2 degraded computer rooms (equipped 15 years ago). Therefore, this year, after parents registered, the school has implemented socialization to equip new computer rooms for students.

Ms. Vuong Thi Nga affirmed: "There is absolutely no way that the school receives equipment support and then forces students to study the school's program to pay off the debt. Receiving funding is in accordance with the policy of socializing education, there are no binding conditions between the school and parents."

Previously, at the conference on giving opinions on building school programs held on September 10, Ms. Lam Hong Lam Thuy, Head of the General Education Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, noted that Ho Chi Minh City issued a list of educational activities and support services that are allowed to be collected from socialized sources. "For example, the foreign language learning content includes 6 small categories. However, that does not mean that the school organizes all 6 contents. The selection must be appropriate and not put pressure on students and parents. Some schools "embrace" all the collected content, forcing students to study with foreign teachers, take extra math classes, learn software... causing frustration. It is recommended that schools consider and choose a maximum of 2 additional contents in the foreign language learning section (in addition to the main curriculum)", Ms. Thuy affirmed.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/nghi-ngo-hoc-sinh-phai-hoc-chuong-trinh-nha-truong-de-tra-no-hieu-truong-noi-gi-185250917131626023.htm