'Hanoi should temporarily allow online learning completely'

Agreeing with the desire to send children back to school, but experts and teachers said that face-to-face learning should not be tried when this method has many inadequacies.

On February 25, Hanoi recorded more than 9,800 cases of Covid-19, continuing the strong trend of increasing new cases in the community from the past two weeks. Number F0 is a teacher, students also increase rapidly, making schools reel with online and offline class schedules. In this context, many opinions wonder, should the city keep the school open?

As the person who is directly managing when the school has nearly 200 F0, 600 F1 students (accounting for 43% of the total number of students) and many teachers are infected with the virus, Ms. Nguyen Thi Niep, Principal of Yen Hoa High School (Cau Giay District), said that the organization of teaching and learning is “very hard”. The school has about 20 classes, out of a total of more than 40 classes, a higher proportion of students stay at home than go to school. The school administration stipulates that any class with more than 50% of F0 and F1 students will switch to online learning.

According to Ms. Nie, maintaining direct teaching when only a few children come to class is a mechanical way, because the classroom atmosphere will be very boring. Not to mention, many schools no longer have enough teachers to teach classes. “We have asked F0 teachers to still teach online if they are not too tired. Currently, it is very difficult to arrange and assign enough teachers to teach,” said Ms. Nie.

The principal of Yen Hoa school said that the determination to send children back to school is right, but it should be based on actual conditions. If there are too many F0, F1 students, she thinks it should be flexible to switch to completely online. Focusing on teaching in one form also helps teachers to observe and manage students and more easily design lessons.

The principal of a primary school in Dong Anh district also expressed his desire to return to online learning. This teacher said that online learning is definitely not as effective as face-to-face, but it must be face-to-face like when the epidemic has not yet occurred. Currently, schools in Hanoi are organizing in a very patchy way when there are constantly teachers and students of F0. “We have been teaching online for the past two years. This form may not be as effective as face-to-face, but it is certainly better than the situation where a few children go to class, and most learn through livestream,” he said.

Observing the situation that schools in Hanoi are under “unprecedented pressure” in the context of increasing Covid-19 cases, education master Dinh Thu Hong, primary school teacher of Gwinnett School District (Georgia state, America) also find it difficult to understand.

“I don’t know why the city tries to maintain face-to-face learning and still has to teach a large number of students online. How can such a half-hearted combination be effective,” Ms. Hong said. This expert said that with the complicated epidemic situation and the current shortage of facilities and support policies, Hanoi should allow schools to teach entirely online to stabilize and limit the infection. .

Ms. Hong emphasized that the online-offline teaching model, like the way schools in Hanoi currently deploys, is only effective when the facilities, equipment, transmission lines, and support policies are very good. . Not to mention, the combined teaching needs a roadmap, not a passive implementation according to the situation.

Another factor, according to Ms. Hong, that has a negative impact on learning effectiveness is the psychology and spirit of teachers, students, and parents. Receiving many shared messages from parents in Vietnam, she realized their fatigue with the prolonged online – offline situation.

“The morale of teachers, parents and students is not good, and the facilities are not secure, causing difficulties to accumulate. So maintaining face-to-face classes is meaningless,” said Ms. Hong.

With more than 30 years of experience in education and psychological research, Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam, Chairman of the Education Council, co-founder of Dinh Tien Hoang High School (Hanoi), believes that schools should be empowered. more than.

He affirmed, direct learning brings high quality, easy to manage students “but under normal conditions”. With 9,000-10,000 infections recorded every day like in Hanoi today, face-to-face learning is difficult to implement and not as effective as expected.

Dinh Tien Hoang School has about a third of teachers and students are F0. Students who do not qualify for face-to-face learning will be taught online in the evenings. Mr. Lam said, if the number of F0 in teachers increased to 50%, this form could not be maintained, forced to switch to online learning completely.

“If direct teaching is not effective, it should be flexible according to actual conditions. Empower schools to decide on the appropriate form of learning, based on the epidemic situation, the number of teachers and students, and aspirations. parents,” said Mr. Lam.

Sharing experiences from the US, Ms. Hong said that in the school district where she teaches, during the peak of the epidemic, schools taught 100% online. The district then sends a survey to parents and communicates expected school times directly to those who wish.

Initially, the district will accept up to 30% of students and then gradually increase. The rate of students returning to school will be based on the actual number of Covid-19 cases and their readiness for blended learning. When it came to the decision to combine the two forms of instruction, the district provided all classroom teachers with a new laptop and monitor, as that was a necessary condition for effective blended teaching.

“If there is no roadmap and equipment support, even if there is no stable Internet connection, blended learning will only make teachers, students and parents more difficult and tired.” Ms. Hong said.

According to Ms. Hong, based on the prediction of the peak of the epidemic from experts, school districts will decide when 100% of students can study face-to-face.

Thanh Hang – Duong Tam

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‘Hanoi should temporarily allow online learning completely’

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