HCMC promotes digital transformation, improves teacher quality

As for preschool, according to the statistical report of the Department of Preschool Education under the HCMC Department of Education and Training, by the end of the school year 2021-2022, the whole city has 465 public preschools, 844 private and people-founded preschools, and 1,582 independent kindergarten groups.

Compared to the school year 2020-2021, the number of schools, independent kindergarten groups, and pupils has all dropped sharply due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many non-public preschools have faced a shortage of teachers and have been unable to support laborers as the Covid-19 pandemic lasted for many months.

Overcoming all these difficulties, preparing for the school year 2022-2023, Ms. Luong Thi Hong Diep, Head of the Department of Preschool Education, said that one of the key tasks of the new school year is to continue to implement the school year theme "Building a green - safe - friendly preschool", strengthen the State management, and implement tasks under the direction of the Ministry of Education and Training and the People's Committee of HCMC.

In addition, the whole school level continues to strictly take measures to prevent and control diseases, protect the health and safety of children, maintain and improve the quality of preschool education universalization for 5-year-old children, aiming to pilot universal preschool education for children under 5 years old.

Especially, Thu Duc City and 21 districts are interested in dealing with the shortage of teachers, improving the quality, and developing the contingent of administrators and preschool teachers to meet the requirements of educational innovation, and implement the plan "Building a child-centered preschool for the period 2021-2025", promote the construction of national standard schools, and strengthen digital transformation in educational management.

Highly appreciating the results and achievements that all school levels achieved, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of HCMC Le Hoai Nam said the school year 2021-2022 had experienced many difficulties due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of these, the preschool level suffers the most damage due to a large number of non-public schools and independent kindergarten groups. Nearly 20 non-public schools and 79 independent kindergarten groups have been dissolved due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. On the other hand, the preschool curriculum cannot be taught online like other levels. Amid such difficulties and pressures, the units had made great efforts to overcome difficulties to maintain teaching for pupils through television and video clips. At the same time, preschool pupils also return to school and end the school year later than other levels, but still ensure the curriculum and the requirements set forth for the preschool level. The units maintain the child-centered approach and progressive teaching methods, ensuring enough study space for all residents. Moreover, at present, preschool pupils are the group that has not been vaccinated against Covid-19, and are not forced to wear masks, so schools need to be proactive in disease prevention plans, regularly cleaning and disinfecting classrooms and ensuring that there is no source of infection in the school. For the primary school level, according to Ms. Lam Hong Lam Thuy, Head of the Primary Education Department under the HCMC Department of Education and Training, the 2018 General Education Program has been posing many challenges for school units from the requirements on facilities, teaching equipment arrangement, supplementation of the teaching staff, and the increase in the teaching rate of two sessions per day for students. Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of HCMC, suggested that schools promote the spirit of initiative and creativity, develop a 5-year strategic plan, forecast the demand for teachers to actively advise the Department of Education and Training to have a timely replenishment plan in the coming school years. In the school year 2022-2023, the city aims to continue to increase the percentage of students who have two learning sessions per day and ensure 300 classrooms per 10,000 people of school age. Each locality pays attention and selects units to implement according to advanced, regional, and international integration models, and at the same time encourages schools in neighboring areas to strive to follow advanced criteria to approach and improve the quality of teaching for students.

On this occasion, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Director of the Department of Education and Training of HCMC, decided to award certificates of merit to 24 groups and 24 individuals with achievements in the school year 2021-2022 for the primary school level.