Vietnam Customs school: Adapting to the Covid-19 pandemic

Online english course is held by Vietnam Customs school

In order to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic and ensure the 2021-2022 school year plan, Vietnam Customs School has actively applied online teaching methods for some classes and types of training.

From May 2021, with the permission of the Ministry of Finance, the General Department of Vietnam Customs, Vietnam Customs School has deployed online specialized training programs for customs officers through online training software sponsored by the Trade Facilitation Project (TFP Project) and Zoom.

To ensure the quality of online training courses, the school has built nine electronic lectures and consulted departments; coordinated with the TFP project, upgraded the interface of the online training system. At the same time, the school also embarked on the development of specific rules and regulations for lecturers and students in training and student management.

With the selection of suitable and flexible teaching content, the online teaching at Vietnam Customs School has achieved certain results, which is a premise to be able to continue to expand the implementation of this form of teaching in the near future.

Mr. Nguyen Dinh Phien, Principal of Vietnam Customs School, said, due to the pandemic, I could not see or hear the bustling atmosphere of students in the lecture hall. However, in return, to prevent the training of the Customs sector from being "frozen", online training was a useful solution in certain conditions and circumstances, which could be implemented anytime, anywhere; minimizing costs on facilities; students and lecturers did not have to move, ensuring anti-pandemic work and effective training while students could still participate in learning.

Besides difficulties and challenges, the Covid-19 pandemic is also an opportunity to promote digital transformation, an opportunity to improve capacity, skills in using information technology, skills to cope and handle situations for each staff member and teacher in the new situation.

Duong Nguyen To Nhu, a student of the training class for the rank of principal customs inspector, course 34A, said that online learning during this pandemic was very practical. Students could both prevent the pandemic and acquire knowledge, ensuring the completion of the study plan. In particular, online learning also caught up with the trend of the times, compared to sitting in the lecture hall for hours, online learning was much more comfortable. However, besides the advantages, the online learning method also faced many difficulties, such as equipment and network speed, difficulty in group discussions, and presentations, etc.

"Online learning was the best method and also an opportunity to have a unique experience for both lecturers and students during the current Covid-19 pandemic. Like students, teachers had also been to school, used to be students, experienced many difficulties in learning. Each difficulty was a valuable experience that had been transformed into effective pedagogy and appropriate applications for students," Lecturer Le Dinh Mui said.

Notably, Vietnam Customs School focused on perfecting and putting into use the online training and management system (LMS), thereby enhancing the application of this form of training to adapt to the actual needs. In particular, students will learn theory on the online system and when the pandemic is brought under control, students will come to school to complete practical content. The school will also strengthen self-study and self-training modes to improve knowledge, qualifications and working skills to meet the requirements of the job position. In addition, students can learn by themselves through the e-learning training system of the World Customs Organization (WCO) and the Vietnam Customs School.

In particular, in order to meet the requirements of science and technology, in the future, the school will comprehensively innovate teaching methods for customs officers and employees of the whole sector. Accordingly, training programs are geared towards using a learner-centered approach; applying new teaching methods such as group work, case studies to improve training quality.

This year with many great changes, that have had a profound impact on the world's economy - society, the professional operation of the Customs section in general and the training of the Vietnam Customs School, in particular, is also greatly affected. However, overcoming difficulties and challenges, the school stepped up visual teaching aids, detailed models, simulated customs branch, virtual reality training platform, upgraded online training system functionality to enhance training quality and serve as a prerequisite to meet the requirements of a WCO Regional Training Center.