Parents ignore ban on teaching of reading and writing to pre-schoolers The Ministry of Education and Training prohibits teaching of reading and writing before the first grade, but parents have ignored the advice.   “My child is going to the first grade this September. But he still cannot read and write. At preschool, teachers only teach him to count from 1 to 10. I feel anxious,”  a commenter named Quynh Hoa said on a forum for residents in the Linh Dam new urban area in Hanoi. “I am looking for a teacher who can give private lessons to my child, so that he can read and write before he begins going to school, or he would lag behind classmates,” she wrote. Quynh Hoa is just one of thousands of parents who ignored the ban by MOET and advice by education experts. Nguyen Hoang Diem Trang, a teacher of English at Nguyen Van Troi Primary School in HCMC, affirmed that parents will make a big mistake if they force their children to learn Vietnamese and English before first grade. The Ministry of Education and Training prohibits teaching of reading and writing before the first grade, but parents have ignored the advice. “What parents need to prepare their children before going to the first grade are self-confidence, energy and enthusiasm to speak their mind in the class,” she said. Tran Trong Khiem, deputy head of the Tan Phu district education sub-department, noted that Vietnamese parents always ‘followed the crowd’: they want to teach their children to read and write just because other parents do it. “Vietnamese parents tend to compare their children with other children, but they should compare their children with standards,” Khiem noted. “The curricula designed for preschools can prepare 5-year-old children well for the first grade,” he said. “Teachers don’t give marks, but only give comments about first graders. And parents have one more reason not to worry too much about their children at school." Le Ngoc Truong Khanh, a lecturer of the HCMC University of Education, commented that teaching children to read and write before first grade is ‘anti-scientific behavior’ because this would nullify children’s amenity. Meanwhile, Le Quynh Hoa, a parent in Cau Giay district, commented that in theory, education experts are right, but the principle cannot be applied in Vietnamese conditions. “Imagine that there are 50-55 students in every class. How can a teacher take care of so many students?” she said. “So, it would be better to teach your children to read and write before they begin the first grade. If your children cannot catch up with the classmates, they will be afraid of going to school,” she warned. NLD