LookAtVietnam – MOET will make English a compulsory subject for elementary school students from the third grade through high school.

Another 28,864 classes with 750,600 students will learn English in 2010-2011. Primary school students will take four hours of English per week.

From 2010-2011, MOET expects that English will be taught to some 20 percent of third grade students, with gradual, yearly expansion. An estimated 70 percent of students will learn English in the 2015-2016 school year, reaching 100 percent in 2018-2019.

The number and percentage of primary school students learning English differ by location. More remote provinces say that they are not ready for the change yet.

Bac Ninh and Thai Binh provinces report that they have enough teachers to teach English as a compulsory subject for 100 percent of students from third to fifth grades.

MOET does not intend to teach English on a massive scale to first graders and only offers English as an optional, two hours per week course for third, fourth and fifth grade students.

First grade students can still study English with the permission and supervision of local education and training departments.

Reportedly, 25 provinces and cities have been teaching English to first grade students. Northern students are using the “ABC English,” program while southern students are learning with the “Let’s Go” series.

VietNamNet/DT, TP