Logistical nightmare
On social media forums, the most heated debate among parents centers on the new, earlier dismissal times. Tuyet Mai, whose child just started 6th grade at the Practice High School (under Saigon University in Cho Quan Ward), shared that her daughter now finishes school at 3:55 p.m.
“My husband and I don’t get off work until 5:00 p.m., so we have to take turns leaving the office at 4:00 p.m. to get her”, she explained, exasperated. “In previous years, different grades got out at staggered times, which prevented traffic jams. This year, every class is dismissed at once. Some days, it takes us over 30 minutes just to exit the school gate. If this keeps up, it’s going to seriously impact our jobs.”
Beyond the weekday scramble, parents were also taken aback by the introduction of Saturday morning classes. Minh Hung, whose son is a 9th grader in an integrated English program at the same school, said the new schedule includes a full five periods on Saturday mornings for his son’s track.
“The school is weaving in subjects from both the core curriculum and its own special programs, so attendance is mandatory”, he explained. “It cuts into the students’ rest time and disrupts our family’s plans to relax or visit grandparents.” A group of parents recently submitted a formal petition against the Saturday classes but has yet to receive a response.
A majority of junior and senior high schools in central HCMC (Zone 1) have implemented Saturday morning classes for the first time this year. A vice principal at a high school in Thu Duc Ward attributed the change to a new regulation.
“Previously, all-day schooling wasn’t mandatory for secondary schools. So any educational institutions with suitable infrastructure can apply an 8-period 2-session school day optionally,” she said. “But starting this academic year, 2025-2026, all-day learning is. We’re now required to teach a minimum of five days and a maximum of 11 sessions per week, with no more than seven periods in a single day.”
This seven-period cap is the crux of the issue. While Saturday classes comply with the Ministry of Education and Training’s new rule, poor communication with parents has fueled a backlash.
Furthermore, as a “mega-city”, HCMC runs numerous special educational initiatives, like integrated English programs, advanced informatics, and even AI in schools. Fitting these extra programs into a seven-period day makes Saturday school an almost unavoidable reality for many.
Principals with creative solutions
In the face of these constraints, school leaders are demonstrating considerable autonomy. At Hung Vuong Senior High School in Cho Lon Ward, the morning bell now rings at 7:30 a.m., 15 minutes later than before. Principal Truong Thi Bich Thuy explained that while students used to have eight or even nine periods a day, the new schedule is a strict four in the morning and three in the afternoon, ending at 4:05 p.m.
To make it work without Saturday classes, the school has gotten creative. Its supplementary programs, which include advanced language courses and informatics, are held on Wednesday and Friday afternoons, while Saturday morning is reserved for online-only learning tasks.
“One of our key solutions is to shift some instruction online for subjects like Informatics and our Career Guidance Activities”, Thuy said. This hybrid approach allows the school to meet its curricular goals without requiring students on campus over the weekend.
Nguyen Du Junior High School has charted a different course. Principal Cao Duc Khoa stated that his school’s academic schedule runs strictly from Monday to Friday. Saturday mornings are reserved for optional, out-of-class activities like thematic workshops and life skills sessions, and they don’t happen every week. The core curriculum for grades 6-9 requires about 29.5 periods per week.
“By scheduling seven periods a day, we fulfill the core requirements and still have about six surplus periods for our own school-based programs, which are all implemented with parental consensus”, Khoa explained. To help working parents, the school also offers voluntary, fee-based arts and sports clubs after the official school day ends.
As for 9th-grade students, review activities to prepare for the 10th-grade entrance exam are organized after the end of the 9th-grade program (in May each year) and are not included in the fixed schedule from the beginning of the school year.
At Van Don Junior High School (Xom Chieu Ward), the schedule is arranged from Monday to Friday; only classes in the intensive English and integrated English programs have additional classes on Saturday mornings.
To support parents in conveniently picking up their children at rush hour, some other educational activities such as STEM and life skills are organized on a voluntary, fee-paying registration basis, alongside non-fee-paying arts and sports clubs for students to participate in after school hours.
Proactively adjusting start – end times
Implementing the 7 periods/day teaching regulation, many schools in Zone 3 of HCMC (formerly Ba Ria – Vung Tau Province) have proactively adjusted their start and end times this school year. Specifically, schools have set the start time for the first period from 7:30 a.m., 10-30 minutes later than the previous school year. Before the first period, students who arrive at school early can participate in some group activities.
Principal Tran Thi An Pha of Quang Trung Primary School in Tam Thang Ward said: “Adjusting the class start time later helps students have more time to rest and have breakfast, to ensure their health.” Along with that, the dismissal time has also been adjusted to be 10 minutes earlier to facilitate parents picking up their children and to give students more rest time. Primary schools, however, have not changed their dismissal times this school year.
In the 2025-2026 academic year, 2 sessions/day teaching becomes a mandatory task for secondary education, so the concept of a “second session tuition fee” no longer exists.
Currently, the HCMC Department of Education and Training has issued guidance on organizing 2 sessions/day teaching for general education from the 2025-2026 school year; however, schools are still waiting for guidance on budget subsidies to pay supplemental income to teachers participating in activities for fostering gifted students, tutoring weak students, and reviewing for final-year students.
Deputy Director Nguyen Bao Quoc of the HCMC Department of Education and Training stressed that schools must rectify the situation of improper extra teaching and learning; improve the quality of official class hours; ensure fairness for all students in accessing educational services. In particular, activities from social resource mobilization must ensure the principles of voluntariness, publicity, transparency, and compliance with the law.
For the plan to organize 2 sessions/day teaching, schools must ensure the effective use of existing facilities, teaching equipment, and teaching staff; promote the proactive and creative role of professional teams; and not fix session 1 as the morning and session 2 as the afternoon.
Instead, they need to diversify the forms of teaching organization, such as teaching in groups of students with the same level, ability, and interests; guiding students in self-study; combining in-class learning with out-of-class educational activities; organizing learning activities in multi-purpose rooms, libraries, schoolyards.
