Vietnam Education Ministry, Experts Argue about Teaching History

The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and local education experts are debating the history teaching methodology in high school as the ministry wants to integrate the subject into other classes to reduce pressure for students while local teachers and professors insist on keeping the subject separate as before. This happens as the country has seen several problems with the teaching of history recently. The MOET faced strong opposition from historians and experts a year ago, when it decided that history was an optional subject for the 2014-2015 high school graduation exams. Teachers and many other professors warned that if History was no longer a compulsory exam subject, students would not study the subject though it is an important issue. In addition, the local media has reported many situations where students do not know important timeline in the history of the country. In addressing this issue, Do Ngoc Thong, deputy director of the MOET’s Secondary Education Department, emphasized that restructuring the learning subject system was a must because there were too many compulsory subjects. MOET’s committee on reforming the curricula and textbooks for general education believes that it would be better to integrate three subjects – citizen education, national defense & security and history, which would promote student awareness of the citizens’ responsibility for the fatherland. In the future, students would have one subject – citizens and the fatherland – instead of three subjects. However, a teacher from a high school in Hai Duong province said that history has not been highly ranked compared to major subjects such as Math, Literature and foreign languages for many years. He said that the decision to integrate History into other learning subjects, MOET is trying to ‘declare death’ for an important subject. The teacher and his colleagues polled 1,167 students at the high school asking whether they agree with the MOET’s decision.939 students said they wanted an independent subject. Scientists have also expressed their disagreement with MOET’s tentative plan on integrating history into other learning subjects. Nguyen Quang Dat from the Social Sciences and Humanities Academy said MOET’s idea ‘sounds interesting, but equivocal’. Tran Trung Hieu, a history teacher from the a well-known high school for the gifted in Nghe An province, in a letter to the editorial board, said the MOET decision was inconsiderate of the particularly important role of history education, which will help form patriotism and personality. Currently, high schools students have to take 13 classes each academic year, varying from Literature, History to Mathematics, Physics, and Biology. (Vietnamnet.vn Oct 12, An Ninh Thu Do – Capital Security Nov 12, Nguoi Lao Dong – Laborer Nov 9, VTC News Nov 11)