The sector has changed a lot by setting up international schools as well as adopting IT in educational activities and implementing world-standard English program and computer science. The move plays important role in improving human resources and building smart city.
Starting from the academic year 2016-2017, model of “advanced schools” in preparation for integration has brought “new breath” in teaching and learning according to renovation orientation.
According to the city Department of Education and Training, 16 preschools, 13 primary schools, eight junior high schools and three senior high schools in the city have applied model of “advanced school” for the academic year 2019-2020.
Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training Le Hoai Nam said that the model has gradually met students’ different learning need; therefore, it has helped students to achieve international level of knowledge and skills required to perform a task or a set of tasks as their peers in other schools in the Southeast Asian region and the world.
As the model orients toward international standard, facility in schools is improved and size of a class is small with fewer than 25 students resulting in individual attention, increased participation, and better communication between the instructor and students.
Principal of Hoa Mi Preschool in Nha Be District Nguyen Thi Hong Loan said that students of small class take part in various activities including English class with English-native speaking teachers and extra-activities to develop their skills.
Similarly, 13 advanced primary schools with 30 students each class all organize morning and afternoon classes using state-of-the-art facilities. Additionally, more than 90 percent of students in junior and senior high schools acquire English certificate A2 and they have knowledge of IT as per international standard.
Principal of Nguyen Du Senior High School in District 10 Huynh Thanh Phu said that for the academic year 2019-2020, the school has applied IT in vocational guidance and examination to value students’ performance.
Twelve grader Duong Minh Thanh said that the school used a testing software which offers some suitable jobs including salary level, working environment, market demand and qualification requirement for students. Each student was given a personal account to answer over 100 multiple-choice questions about their own interest and goal in 40 - 50 minutes.
Presently, the city is striving to have one to three advanced schools in each district. Schools having advanced classes will maintain this with orientation toward good all-round education. Apart from that, densely populated districts not able to apply model of “advanced school” should have road map to carry out.
Specially, the country starts to implement the new education program for the academic year 2020-2021 which will pave the way for enhancement of “advance school” model to improve training quality.
Being one of schools for gifted students in the city for years, Tran Dai Nghia High School in District 1 has delivered natural science subjects in English in the integrated combining curriculum.
Tran Dai Nghia School Deputy Principal teacher Pham Thanh Yen said statistically, the proportion of students getting international foreign language certificates such as FLYERS, TOEFL JUNIOR, IELTS was high in the school year 2018-2019.
Additionally, the school has taken heed of relationship with local and international universities to have more information of scholarships.
Furthermore, in the school year 2019-2020, the school implemented the project “Teaching second foreign language” to teach another language in addition to English.
Ho Chi Minh City led the country in English test in the national graduation examination for three consecutive years 2017, 2018 and 2019 with the most students getting 8 scores.
Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training Nguyen Van Hieu, the city reaped fruitful result thank to support of foreign language centers. More than 700 foreign language centers are operating in the city contributing greatly to English teaching.
