 |
|
Pupils of Tran Quoc Tuan primary school (Quy Nhon city). Photo Q.H |
More than 376,000 students of all grades in Binh Dinh began their new school year on September 5. On this occasion, Binh Dinh newspaper reporter interviewed Mr. Cao Van Binh, vice-director of Binh Dinh Education and Training Department, about tasks in the 2007-2008 academic year, the second year after the “campaign against the overpursuit of academic achievement and against cheating in exams” was launched.
Q: After launching the Two No’s campaign, what is the biggest result Binh Dinh’s education gained?
A: Most teaching staff of all grades were well aware of the campaign, so they were more serious in testing and evaluating students. The Binh Dinh’s education quality in the previous school year was, therefore, evaluated more exactly. The passing rate of upper secondary school graduates was of 71.37%, ranking 25th of 64 cities and provinces nationwide; meanwhile, the rate of primary school pupils finishing the curricula was of 98.1% and 97.2% of students at junior secondary schools graduated.
Q: What will Binh Dinh’s education do to deal with the problem of students “sitting in wrong class” in the 2007-2008 academic year?
A: Binh Dinh Education and Training Department studied the students’ knowledge at the beginning of the previous school year. The results showed that the percentages of weak students who were not sufficiently educated to study in their current grade were 5.32%, 7.48%, and 26.84% at the elementary, junior secondary, and senior secondary levels, respectively. This was partly because of some teachers’ overpursuit of academic achievement for a long time.
However, they have made considerable efforts to overcome the situation. As a result, in late 2006-2007 academic year, the number of weak students at all grades decreased with the rates as follows: 3.08% for primary school, 0.47% for junior secondary school, and 0.29% for senior secondary school.
Binh Dinh Education and Training Department steered all secondary schools to continue giving extra-classes to weak students and those who were not sufficiently educated to study in their current grade in the summer holiday. But schools and teachers should pay attention to these students and encouraged them to attend extra classes because most of them often felt ashamed.
Q: In this new academic year, what is Binh Dinh’s education going to do to improve the education quality?
A: In the 2007-2008 academic year, we’ll continue to carry out the Two No’s campaign with four key contents, that is, say no to the overpursuit of academic achievement and cheating in exams, say no to the violation of professional etiquette and students “sitting in wrong class”.
In the recent meeting, Binh Dinh Education and Training Department held a signing ceremony for the Two No’s campaign. To effectively conduct the campaign, in my opinion, it’s necessary to have a detailed plan and the investigation to deal with difficulties.
In order to improve the education quality, the most important aims are to develop the school network system, improve staffs’ capacity and quality of teaching.
