The province determines to overcome difficulties and complete new school year plan

 On the morning of September 23, Provincial Department of Education and Training held a conference to summarize the 2020-2021 school year and set out tasks for the 2021-2022 school year. Attending were Nguyen Van Loc, Member of Provincial Party Standing Committee, Head of Provincial Party Mass Mobilization Committee, Chairman of the Provincial Fatherland Front; Nguyen Loc Ha, Member of Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of Provincial People's Committee. The conference was transmitted online to municipalities in the province. In the last school year, despite being affected by the Covid-19, the quality of teaching and learning activities at all levels continued to be improved; 2021 high school graduation exam achieved high results...

Nguyen Loc Ha (left end), Member of Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; and Dr. Nguyen Thi Nhat Hang (second from right), Director of Department of Education and Training, hand over the title of Excellent Teacher awarded by the State President to teachers.

 Good results from continuous effort

The 2020-2021 school year was the first school year that the education and training branch implemented a fundamental and comprehensive educational renovation in schools across the country, starting with grade 1. This was also the school year in which this branch overcame many difficulties and challenges in performing new tasks, while there were bad effects caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In Binh Duong, from the end of the last school year, students in the province temporarily stopped going to school and switched to online learning. At that time, teachers and students in many schools were preparing for the high school graduation exam, but due to the pandemic, they switched to teaching and learning online.

Nguyen Thi Nhat Hang, Director of Provincial Department of Education and Training, assessed that due to the spiraling development of the disease, the time that preschool children had to stay at home was actually long, thus affected the order and discipline of children that were applying regimes according to the age development requirements. General educational establishments organized face-to-face teaching at schools when they met necessary conditions, or taught online on television and over the internet in social distance period, thus the quality of teaching and learning was affected. In addition, conditions of material facilities, equipment, the ability to use information technology of a part of teachers, the self-study skills of a part of students, and the development of digital learning resources for online learning did not met the requirements.

Another difficulty was that some schools that had a higher number of students per class than prescribed, especially primary schools; and many schools reduced classes by 2 sessions per day due to the lack of classrooms. In particular, many schools gave 1 lesson per day for grade 1, affecting the implementation of the 2018 general education program in terms of study time and duration.

Difficulties piled up, but with dedication, the spirit of all for the sake of dear students, teachers made efforts to effectively organize online teaching. At the end of the school year, provincial Department of Education and Training gained remarkable results. The quality of mass education continued to be improved; spearhead education quality was preserved; the quality of educational universalization was maintained and improved. In particular, at the high school graduation 2021 exam, Binh Duong was named the first in the country in terms of exam results. Specifically, the overall average score of the exam subjects was 7,030 points, ranked first in the country; the average score of 7/9 exam subjects ranked first, second and third in the country; high school graduation exam scores as compared according to subjects had the lowest deviations among 63 provinces and cities.

Be determined to complete tasks of the new school year

The new school year 2021-2022 has come, but the Covid-19 in the province is still complicated. Once again, teachers and students of schools have to organize online teaching. Leaders of the education and training branch acknowledged that, amid the raging Covid-19, the solution of living together in safety with the disease is inevitable. Along with the whole country, the education training branch must also adapt with many urgent and long-term strategic measures. In particular, the branch enhances the application of information technology and digital transformation in education as a foundation for effective implementation of teaching activities. This is a requirement in the current conditions. Accordingly, Department of Education and Training has been building a database of lectures and materials for students in the school year 2021-2022 of subjects: Literature, math, English for grade 9, grade 12; and Math, Vietnamese for grade 5.

At the beginning of the new school year, Department of Education and Training asked leaders of educational institutions need to renew their management methods, develop school education plans and scenarios for safely adapting to the Covid-19 with a high sense of responsibility; be dynamic and creative in the way of thinking and doing; continue to increase the autonomy of teachers. Schools need to understand changes in the new general education program, in which schools not only teach knowledge but also focus on teaching ethics, good personality traits to comprehensively develop 5 qualities and 10 abilities for students. Especially, after two months of online learning, depending on the actual situation of each locality, Offices of Education and Training, educational institutions in districts, towns and cities need to actively and flexibly apply suitable plans for teaching activities.

Nguyen Loc Ha, Member of Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee: The education and training branch need to actively develop and have a flexible plan to begin the new school year according to the Covid-19 situation. Namely, to effectively implement measures on pandemic prevention and control, coordinate with the health branch, proactively develop scenarios and solutions to cope with the Covid-19 developments; strengthen medical supervision in schools to prevent the spread of disease; absolutely not to be subjective, negligent, not satisfied with the results achieved...

Dr. Nguyen Thi Nhat Hang, Director of Department of Education and Training: In the pandemic context, managers and teachers need to keep up the spirit: Every teacher to be an example of self-study and creativity in each field. Let's turn the immediate difficulties into opportunities to awaken the hidden strength within each administrator, teacher and student. I believe that, with the joint effort, administrative staff, teachers, and students of the province will together overcome difficulties, successfully carry out missions and tasks in the new school year.

Ms. Huynh Thi My Ngan, Head of Education and Training Office of Thuan An City: The Covid-19 situation in Thuan An city is still spiraling, some teachers have participated in both supporting the pandemic fight and teaching activities. To guarantee well teaching activities, Office of Education and Training directed schools to assign the remaining source of teachers to assist teaching online. Despite the difficulties, education and training branch has started the programs of junior high school level and above from September 20. Particularly at primary level, teachers connect online to gather students, help 1st grade's students get acquainted with online learning, review knowledge, and start the program from October 4.

Reported by Hong Thai - Translated by Ngoc Huynh