Nam, a second grader of an international primary school in Phu Nhuan district in HCM City, goes to Kumon Center to attend math lessons after the school hours.

When asked why Nam still has to have extra math lessons if he is excellent in math already, his mother said that she brings the boy to the math center because all the mothers at her office also do this.

“If you want your children succeed in their lives, you should spend money to fund their studies right now,” she said.

Nguyen, a parent in district 1 in HCM City, also said that she feels insecure if she does not let the child go to the math centers, which advertise to teach math with a modern method.

Nguyen complained that her child can begin attend math hours only one month after she paid tuition. “There were too many students registering the courses. So you see, the new method is so hot,” she said.

The parents in urban areas, who always put a high hope on their children’s education, believe that the currently applied teaching method has become out of date, and that it would be better to approach a new modern method.

As such, bringing children to the math centers proves to be the best choice for them, even though the tuitions for the lessons are very high.

On average, students have to pay 800,000-850,000 dong for a learning course which comprises of eight lessons, each of which lasts 40-60 minutes.

With the high demand, more and more math centers have been set up. Some centers have been continually expanding their networks with the schools located throughout the city.

Mathnasium Vietnam began operating in HCM City in March 2011, which then enrolled nearly 400 students. Just one year later, the number of students has risen to 8000. Mathnasium, which previously had two campuses, now has 23.

Similarly, the network of Kumon has also reached out to every important area in Ho Chi Minh City.

Kumon, Mathnasium and Mainspring are the most famous brands in the field in HCM City. The math teaching methods here have been advertised as the modern teaching methods coming from developed countries in the world such as the US, Japan and Singapore.

Nguyen Quach Nhi from Mathanasium Vietnam, said that the main purpose of the program is to deal with the students’ attitudes to mathematics just within a short time. (The program is especially useful for the students who are bad at math and do not like studying math). After finishing the training courses, students would be able to solve mathematics questions, have better presentation and explanation skills.

In Hanoi, UcMac, which has existed for the last 10 years, proves to be the best known brand. UcMac not only organizes the classes at its centers, but also joins forces with nursery and primary schools to bring the thinking math into the schools.

A teacher said the tuition hovers around 1.3-1.6 million dong for a training course.

Soroban turned up in the Vietnamese market later than UcMac, but it has had enough time to penetrate a lot of schools in the city.

A lot of parents, when asked about the new way of teaching math, said they are satisfactory with the learning results of their children, adding that these deserve the big sums of money they have to pay.

Thanh Le, a parent in district 1, proudly said that her daughter, a second grader, now can solve math questions designed for fourth graders already

Meanwhile, others still have doubts about the efficiency of the new method, saying that the children could be keen on calculating in their heads, but this does not mean that they are good at math.