Hanoi (VNA) – The National Assembly (NA)'s Committeefor Culture and Education has submitted to the NA Standing Committee a report affirming that many voters,experts, scientists and teachers disagreed with a plan to make history aselective subject in senior high school curriculum.

The report said that during the implementation of the 2018general education programme, many voters as well as the public showed concerns about the plan, which is scheduled to be realised in the 2022 – 2023 schoolyear, holding that it will affect the education of national patriotism andhistorical traditions among students.

It analysed that as history becomes an optional subject in senior high school education, there will be three possibilities.

In the first one, if students choose history as one of thefive selective subjects, they will have 210 lessons in total in three academicyears, 70 more compared to the 2006 general education programme.

In the second scenario where students select history as oneof the five selective subjects and make it one of their thematic subjects forin-depth study, they will take 315 lessons in three years, up 175 lessonscompared to the 2006 general education programme.

In the last possibility when students do not choose history,they will have no lessons at all and historical knowledge will only be associatedwith some other subjects.

As part of efforts to perform the task assigned by the NA insupervising the renovation of curriculum and textbooks for the senior high schooleducation, the committee held consultations with experts, scientists andteachers, and attended a meeting of the Government Office on history subject inthe general education programme, said the report.

The committee commented that compared to the 2006 generaleducation programme, history education in the 2008 general education programme hasmany new contents and has been made more simple, with focus on shaping capacityand morality for students through renovated teaching, testing and evaluatingmethods.

The report underlined that the majority of voters, experts,scientists and teachers showed disagreement with the plan to make history aselective subject in the senior high school curriculum. They stressed thesignificance of the subject in political and ideological education for youngergenerations, inspiring their patriotism and national pride, educating themcultural traditions and history, providing them with the capacity to think,act, and behave properly in social life, thereby forming the virtues ofVietnamese citizens, global citizens, said the report.

It underscored that if students choose not to take historylessons, they will miss the chance to access important and educationalknowledge that are significant to them in their ages.

The report also pointed out that in countries around theworld, history remains a compulsory subject in their national senior highschool curriculum.

Therefore, the NA Committee for Culture and Education askedthe Ministry of Education and Training to acquire ideas of people, historicalexperts and NA deputies, keeping history a compulsory subject in the 20218 generaleducation programme with suitable knowledge contents, while continuing torenovate the methods of teaching, examining and evaluating for the subject andinspiring their love for history./.