Circular No. 36/1999/TT-BGD guiding the implementation of the 40-hour workweek for the education and training sector.

CIRCULAR

Guidelines for Implementing the 40-Hour Workweek System in the Education and Training Sector

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Pursuant to Decision No. 188/1999/QĐ-TTg dated September 17, 1999 of the Prime Minister on the implementation of the 40-hour workweek system, the Ministry of Education and Training guides the implementation of certain specific points as follows:

I. APPLICABLE OBJECTS

1. Officials, civil servants, and workers in educational management agencies at all levels (Ministry of Education and Training, Departments of Education and Training, District Education and Training Offices) and research institutions on education;

2. Officials, teachers, and workers in educational establishments under the national education system.

II. PRINCIPLES AND CONDITIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION

1. Principles:

1.1. The education and training sector shall implement the 40-hour workweek system for officials, civil servants, teachers, and workers starting from October 2, 1999. However, due to the characteristics of teaching labor and other practical conditions, the implementation of the 40-hour workweek over five days with Saturday and Sunday off cannot be carried out simultaneously across the board, but must be done gradually, with separate plans for each level and grade, taking into account the specific conditions of each locality, each college, and university...

1.2. Based on the provisions of this Circular, the Director of the Department of Education and Training shall report to the People's Committee of the province or centrally-administered city to select appropriate implementation plans that fit the local situation; the Principals of universities, colleges, and vocational high schools (under the Ministry or central sectors) shall choose plans and report to the Ministry of Education and Training and their respective supervising ministries;

1.3. Educational establishments may not arbitrarily reduce the content of programs or the number of teaching hours;

1.4. The working system and teaching hour quotas for lecturers and teachers at various levels and grades will continue to be implemented according to current regulations and documents.

2. Conditions for Implementation:

When implementing the 40-hour workweek over five days, educational management agencies and educational establishments must ensure the following conditions:

2.1. Completion of assigned workload, ensuring quantity, quality, and effectiveness;

2.2. Strict observance of labor discipline;

2.3. No increase in administrative costs; no increase in staffing or salary fund; except for some special cases where the salary fund may increase but overall costs should not rise;

2.4. The daily wage rate for overtime pay, night shift pay, social insurance compensation instead of salary, etc., will still be implemented according to current regulations;

2.5. Timely resolution of administrative procedures as required by organizations and individuals;

2.6. For departments working continuously 24/7, reasonable shifts and schedules must be organized based on the current staffing to ensure the aforementioned conditions.

III. CONTENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION PLAN FOR THE 40-HOUR WORKWEEK SYSTEM

1. For officials, civil servants, and workers employed in educational management agencies at all levels and research institutions on education:

Starting from October 2, 1999, educational management agencies at all levels and research institutions on education shall implement a 5-day workweek (8 hours per day), with Saturday and Sunday off for officials, civil servants, and workers of their units. In cases where work requires attendance on Saturdays, the institution shall arrange a rotation schedule to ensure both work completion and two days off per week for each official, civil servant, and worker. Officials, civil servants, and workers need to enhance their awareness and sense of responsibility, strictly observe labor discipline, and fully utilize working time to complete tasks efficiently and with high quality.

2. For officials, teachers, and workers employed in educational establishments under the national education system:

2.1. Early Childhood Education:

Starting from October 2, 1999, early childhood education establishments shall shift the Saturday timetable to Thursday and organize teaching over five days, with Saturday and Sunday off. Professional activities for teachers shall be held twice a month on Thursday afternoons. Schools shall rotate teachers or caregivers to manage children during teacher professional activities.

If parents have the need to send their children to school on Saturdays, early childhood education establishments will meet these requirements through agreements between parents and schools, depending on the specific conditions of each locality.

2.2. Primary Education:

Starting from October 2, 1999, primary schools shall organize teaching and learning from Monday to Friday, with Saturday and Sunday off.

Localities with difficult school conditions that cannot uniformly arrange two consecutive days off for all schools may arrange one day off on Sunday and another day off during the week, depending on the specific conditions of each school.

Existing documents on teaching and learning plans in primary education shall remain valid. To ensure the teaching of nine subjects with quality, primary school teachers must prepare sufficient lessons and teach five periods per day, five days per week. Each week, one professional activity session (equivalent to four administrative hours) shall be arranged either outside regular class hours or on the day off.

Schools and classes organizing more than five sessions per week must strengthen teachers, both in number and type, through contractual arrangements. Funding for teachers hired on contracts and those teaching more than five sessions per week shall be provided by parents according to regulations. Teachers scheduled to teach a second session in addition to their planned first session (one session per day, five sessions per week) shall not exceed ten sessions per week.

To ensure that each lesson does not exceed 240 minutes, the opening flag ceremony at the beginning of the week and the closing activity at the end of the week shall not exceed 20 minutes; recess times during lessons on days with flag ceremonies and closing activities shall be shortened. Extracurricular activities according to topics specified for the year shall be arranged on a second day for schools organizing less than ten sessions per week, or on a day off for each topic.

2.3. Secondary Education and High School Education:

a. Academic Year 1999-2000:

On the basis of maintaining the content of the teaching program, educational plans, textbooks to ensure stability and the current status of infrastructure and teaching staff, implement measures to increase additional weeks of schooling and reasonably arrange the time to end the school year for each level of education. The specific implementation plan is as follows:

First semester:

From now until the end of the first semester, secondary schools and high schools will continue to organize teaching and learning for six days a week, with five classes per day, and rest on Sundays. Schools will allocate tasks and schedule timetables reasonably to ensure that officials, teachers, and workers still have two days off per week.

The end date of the first semester is January 8, 2000, for secondary schools and January 15, 2000, for high schools.

Second semester:

Secondary schools and high schools will conduct teaching and learning for five days a week from Monday to Friday, with five classes per day, resting on Saturdays and Sundays. In areas where infrastructure conditions are difficult, lacking classrooms, and lacking teachers, it is not possible to arrange two consecutive days off, they can arrange rest on Sundays and another day of the week.

The completion dates for the teaching programs of each class and educational level are specified as follows:

For classes in secondary schools: May 16, 2000

For grade 11: May 19, 2000

For grades 10 and 12: May 13, 2000

For the experimental specialized track grade 12 classes, to ensure the completion of the program by May 13, 2000, the Department of Education and Training will direct the experimental specialized track schools to flexibly and reasonably arrange teaching and learning for six sessions per week. Based on classroom facilities and actual management conditions, efforts should be made to ensure that officials, teachers, and workers still have two days off per week.

The end date of the school year and graduation exams: Remain unchanged according to the existing academic year schedule.

b. Starting from the 1999-2000 academic year:

Secondary schools and high schools will organize teaching and learning for five days a week from Monday to Friday, with five classes per day, resting on Saturdays and Sundays throughout the entire academic year. Based on the annual calendar, the Ministry of Education and Training will specify the detailed academic year schedule, the completion dates of the programs, and exam dates.

2.4. Vocational Secondary Education:

a) Vocational secondary schools with sufficient conditions regarding staff, teachers, classrooms, lecture halls, equipment, materials, etc., will organize teaching and learning for five days a week starting October 2, 1999.

b) The remaining schools, due to difficult infrastructure conditions, will organize teaching and learning for 5.5 or 6 days a week and implement a rotating work schedule for officials, teachers, and workers involved in teaching and administrative duties directly related to training to maintain continuous teaching and learning for 5.5 or 6 days a week but their working hours shall not exceed 40 hours per week (officials, teachers, and workers still get two days off per week but do not necessarily rest on Saturdays).

2.5. Higher and College Education:

Due to the characteristics of higher and college education training processes, the teaching plans for each school, department, subject, and instructor were arranged before the start of the new academic year, and the educational facilities (number of classrooms, laboratories, workshops...) are currently overloaded; additionally, the labor characteristics of university instructors are quota-based labor according to standard hours, so transitioning to a 40-hour workweek can be implemented immediately, but transitioning to a five-day workweek with two consecutive days off on Saturdays and Sundays requires preparation and generally, a transitional phase must be carried out. Therefore, based on the actual situation of the school regarding scale of training, permanent faculty, educational facilities, and training procedures, the Rector will select the organization plan for teaching and learning for five days a week, 5.5 days a week, or continue the current six-day workweek system.

For schools implementing the organization plan for teaching and learning for 5.5 days a week or six days a week, a rotating work schedule will be implemented for officials, teachers, and workers involved in teaching at laboratories, workshops, stations, farms, and a portion of administrative managers and administrative staff directly related to training and scientific research (officials, teachers, and workers still get two days off per week but do not necessarily rest on Saturdays) to ensure continuous teaching and learning.

IV. IMPLEMENTATION

1.Along with this Circular, the Ministry of Education and Training will issue detailed guidance documents on the implementation of the 40-hour workweek for each level of education.

2.In accordance with the spirit of the Education Law, the Ministry of Education and Training will direct the development of framework curricula, review curriculum content, and textbooks; adjust teaching plans; improve teaching methods and management, especially student management during non-class days (for higher and college education and vocational secondary education); will review and adjust the content of curricula and textbooks, and teaching plans (for general education) to ensure that all schools can normally organize teaching and learning for five days a week with quality and effectiveness within three years (for higher education), two years (for vocational secondary education), and after this academic year (for general education).

3. Ministries, central agencies, People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities are responsible for directing educational management agencies at all levels and educational institutions under their management to effectively implement the 40-hour workweek as stipulated in this Circular.

4.Universities, colleges, and vocational secondary schools need to strengthen infrastructure, reasonably rearrange classrooms, practical and production rooms, and simultaneously propose increased investment to address current difficulties.

5.From this academic year onwards, the Departments of Education and Training shall plan to invest in building physical facilities, schools, classrooms, and study rooms to meet the requirements for organizing five-day-a-week teaching and learning activities for the upcoming academic year, report to the People's Committees at all levels for review and approval, and take appropriate measures to address them.

6. The heads of educational management agencies and educational institutions are responsible for widely disseminating and promoting the purpose and significance of the 40-hour workweek system; arranging and organizing staff training and capacity development, and innovating working methods to enhance work efficiency, ensuring that each civil servant, teacher, and worker strictly adheres to labor discipline, works productively within the prescribed hours, and fulfills their assigned functions and tasks effectively.

7. This Circular takes effect from October 2, 1999.

Any difficulties encountered during implementation should be reported to the Ministry of Education and Training for resolution.