Educators shared their opinions on the shortcomings of textbooks which they said is too heavy with unnecessary lessons.

 Both students and teachers want to reduce workload of textbooks

The headmaster of Luong The Vinh High School told a National Assembly delegation who visited the school recently that the curriculum in its current form was putting pressure on students.

"Ours is one of the top high schools in Hanoi. The students here have high test scores on entrance exams to the school and their universities of choice. Even for well-performing students, though, I think the curriculum is too much. About 30% of the maths programme is unnecessary unless a student is aiming for a degree in maths," he said.

A teacher at the school agreed that the curriculum was too heavy, particularly on the theoretical side, giving the example of seventh-grade students having to study Tang poetry, which is too complex for a student of that age.

According to Chuong, even though the Ministry of Education and Training knew that there are many unnecessary lessons, they have done a poor job of revising the curriculum.

"The amended curriculum issued last year has few changes. Exercises in the textbooks are usually interconnected, so that if the ministry wants to cut some thing out, they must cut it from all of the lessons in the book, not just from one lesson." Nguyen Hoang Liem, maths teacher in Lien Mac Secondary School said.

Many teachers claimed that the curriculum is causing troubles particularly for students in mountainous and remote areas.

Pham Van Dai, Headmaster of Hanoi-Amsterdam High School suggested creating a separate textbook for gifted students. "70% of the new textbook is compulsory while the rest can be either augmented or streamlined to give more flexibility to teachers and students," he said.

On the other hand, Cuong said the curriculum lacks good lessons on morals and life skills. "The society is being flooded with so many new evils, but schools seem to be doing little to prepare students to deal with them."

Dao Trong Thi, Chairman of the NA Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children, said they are gathering opinions and will change the curriculum after 2015.