The Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training has agreed to shorten the new school year ceremony and also fix event for September 5 nationwide, according to a Hanoi education official.
Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training Nguyen Hiep Thong said, this new idea followed a recent suggestion by Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam and proposals from education and training departments in many cities and provinces.
Deputy Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training Nguyen Hiep Thong
From this year, the new school year ceremony will be shortened to just an hour, instead of the whole morning as in previous years.
"For many years, teachers and parents have complained about the lengthy ceremony, leaving pupils having to stand for hours, even in the hot weather," Thong said.
The official added that, "All the parents and teachers we talked to were very happy with the new idea. It is also the good news for many public schools which must have spaces to hold the ceremony."
The ceremony will be started with the welcome of students of Grade 1, 6 and 10 (the first grade of the primary school, the secondary school and the high school respectively). The national anthem will then be played and the national flag raised.
Schools can arrange whatever they want after the ceremony. However, high schools are forced to devote one hour to teaching their students about a ‘civilised and elegant lifestyle’ after the ceremony.
"We’ll work with local traffic police to hopefully minimise the traffic issues," the official noted.
