MOET officially spoke on the controversial pilot programs to teach Russian and Chinese
MOET affirmed: “First Foreign Language” is mandatory.
According to the Regulations of General Education program, issued together with Decision No.16/2006 / QD-BGDDT on 5-5-2006, students are able to choose one of four languages: English, Russian, French, and Chinese as their first foreign language.
In 2011, the Minister of Education and Training has issued Decision No. 2051 / QD-BGDDT on 18-5-2011 supplementing Japanese as first foreign language or second foreign language depending on the needs of local school.
"Second Foreign Language" is not mandatory. Depending on the needs of students and teaching conditions, schools can arrange the teaching program to meet the needs of students. Based on the first foreign language, students can choose one of five languages mentioned above as the second foreign language. The allocation of 2
nd foreign language training programs is only applied from grade 6 to grade 12 with the qualification equivalent to Level 2 according to language proficiency framework.
For example, students who learn English as their first foreign language can choose either Russian or French, Japanese, Chinese as a second foreign language. Recently, MOET also applied German and Korean in pilot teaching program as a second foreign language.
According to Decision 1400 / QD-TTg of the Prime Minister, one of the project "Teaching and learning foreign languages in National Education system from 2008 to 2020" tasks are: Developing and implementing new foreign language training programs at school to achieve proficiency levels as follows: Primary School graduated to meet level 1 according to language proficiency framework (LPF), Secondary School graduated to meet level 2 according to LPF; High School graduated to meet level 3 according to LPF.
MOET required to organize 10-year foreign language training programs, starting from grade 3 to grade 12 includes compiling textbooks and learning materials, teaching in school which must be consistent with the provisions of each degree. MOET also encourages educational institutions to actively build and implement bilingual programs.
Following the tasks outlined in Decision No. 1400 / QD-TTg on 30-9-2008 of the Prime Minister, the National Foreign Language Scheme 2020 has submitted to the Minister of Education and Training the implementation plan phase 2016- 2020 including completing the teaching program of Russian, Chinese under the 10-year system program which was built for the English, French and Japanese.
The construction of this program will ensure that students after graduated from primary, secondary and high school would achieve the required qualifications of foreign language proficiency framework with 6 levels.
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Related to the proposal of having a separate National High School Graduation Examination in HCMC, the MOET has not received any official documents yet but still notice the problem through mass media. MOET representative said: On June 7
th 2016, Minister of Education and Training has discussed with HCMC authority about its education and training development. Both agreed that HCMC Party Committee will issue thematic resolutions on the development of education and training, while directing the People’s Committee to develop a project on development city education and training to 2020, vision 2030.
In this project, Ho Chi Minh City will deploy a number of pilot training models which is consistent with the city characteristic, including "Strengthening the importance of city in performing National High School Graduation Examination processes under the supervision and support of the Ministry, to ensure the reliability, honesty, asserting exactly students qualification"(Conclusion notification No.552/ TB-BGDĐT-UBND dated in 29-7-2016).
After the meeting with the HCMC authority, Ministry of Education and Training has developed and published a draft plan for National High School Graduation & University Entrance Examination in 2017.
Accordingly, in 2017 the Ministry of Education and Training will continue to deploy National High School Graduation within the country, to be the basis for evaluating and grading high school students’ qualifications and university entrance results.
Once received an official proposal of Ho Chi Minh City, Ministry of Education and Training will review base on common regulations and policies as well as the specific conditions of the city.
