HÀ NỘI – The National Assembly Standing Committee yesterday agreed to delay the implementation of the new National Curriculum for Primary and Secondary Education, as requested by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Speaking at the third day of the committee’s 15th session, education minister Phùng Ngọc Nhạ said that the ministry was initially required to launch the new curriculum for primary and secondary schools in the country from 2018.

However, the ministry asked for a delay due to incomplete preparations for launching the new curriculum.

Nhạ said that considering the lengthy process of drafting new textbooks and new curriculum and preparation for teachers and facilities, launching the programme as originally scheduled would be detrimental to education quality.

Thus, the ministry proposed starting the new programme for primary schools from 2019, for secondary schools from 2020 and for high schools from 2021.

“The delay would allow us to better prepare for the textbook drafting and curriculum building as well as provide us with more time for teacher training. This will help ensure the quality and efficiency of the new curriculum, especially for levels requiring students to study integrated subjects and to follow vocational subjects,” he said.

Members of the NA Standing Committee lauded the efforts made by the education ministry and the Government in this mater, however complained that preparations for the new education programme lagged behind the plan, particularly regarding teacher training and preparation of facilities.

While he agreed that it was necessary to delay the launch of the programme to ensure education quality, Chairman of the Legal Committee of the NA, Nguyễn Khắc Định, said that the report by the Government on this issue needed to cover some more issues, one being the estimate of impacts caused by this delay.

Notably, he said the Government needed to propose a detailed plan for the next moves if the National Assembly approves the request.

Earlier in the day, the Standing Committee discussed the plan to issue Government bonds to fund the Đèo Cả Tunnel project.--VNS