A small kid taking an e-class
Teaching in very high-risk cities and provinces countrywide went online with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, elementary, middle, and high schools have completed the midterm examination of the first semester of the school year 2021-2022.
Explaining this, Le Duy Tan, Head of the Secondary Education Department under the Department of Education and Training in Ho Chi Minh City, said that it is not possible to require all students to participate in classes on the internet due to obstacles in network connection and equipment.
Students have self-perceived knowledge differently in a face-to-face classroom or online classes. However, the knowledge gap will be wider in online teaching due to many various reasons such as conditions of transmission lines, terminal devices, learning environment, and students’ self-discipline for online learning, Mr. Tan said. Therefore, an online lecture is a temporary solution in the current time.
Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training Nguyen Van Hieu requested teachers to review students' knowledge to take appropriate measures for supplementing their knowledge.
Teachers at the primary level should pay attention to supplementing the knowledge and skills that students have not yet mastered while their counterparts in middle schools and high schools have plans to consolidate knowledge by teaching all students in a class. Teachers can provide extra private lessons for small groups of pupils.
According to Dr. Nguyen Thuy Phuong, a lecturer at the University of Paris ( in France), when students return to schools, schools have two options including prioritizing the implementation of the educational program or paying attention to developing students’ cognitive skills and social skills being affected by the prolonged epidemic and social distancing.
Looking at the matter from different viewpoints, education researcher Nguyen Thuy Uyen Phuong, founder of one of the first intensive extracurricular school systems in Vietnam, said that when students return to school, schools need to adjust programs and student study habits.
After a long time of studying online, many students are used to sitting in front of a computer screen for 3-10 hours a day, losing the habit of taking notes due to the habit of using mobile phones to take pictures and watch video clips, online lectures, keyboard interaction.
Ms. Phuong predicted that, when schools reopen, students should perform extracurricular activities to supplement the mainstream curriculum and provide all students with the opportunity to acquire new skills and improve old ones. At that time, families will help schools to improve the quality of education.
Some recent educational studies exploring and comparing the different teaching modes have to date, focused on learning outcomes, the online mode of learning has been used increasingly as a supplement to traditional face-to-face teaching. According to researcher Vu Duc Tri The, the Covid-19 pandemic has supercharged reliance on connected technology and pushed education deeper into digital ecosystems for more than 10 years, exerting great pressure on both teachers and learners.
Online learning requires students to get online login to certain websites for their lectures, assignments, and queries. The Internet in itself is also a temptation for the wastage of time. There are a lot of TV shows, games, social media groups, pop-ups, and many other disturbing things. A student is vulnerable to all bad and mischievous distractions which he is not inside the boundaries of school and universities. To overcome this problem one needs to be self-disciplined for online learning.
The education sector needs more solutions to pay attention to the mental health and social needs of students to achieve the goal of "Friendly Schools, Active Students".
