Going through 2 challenging years of the epidemic, but only in the first 3 months of 2023, the educational organization ILA has continuously expanded more branches, the latest of which is the Diamond Island ILA Center (Thu Duc City). Just opened in March 2023.
After Covid, the education industry in general and English training in particular had to face many difficulties to return to the “new normal”, but many educational institutions had many new and prosperous steps from the end of 2022 until now.
Many English centers have difficulties after Covid
According to the Department of Education’s information in February 2022, many foreign language centers in Ho Chi Minh City had to temporarily suspend operations or dissolve due to the impact of the Covid epidemic. Mostly because of the pressure of fixed costs, many businesses fall into the situation of having to pay for facilities, owe staff salaries for a long time, cannot refund school fees to parents, etc.
Although the general market is difficult, there are many other brands in the English training industry that still maintain their performance, including big names like ILA. During the closure period, the educational organization ILA still fully paid salaries and benefits for staff, and had many policies to support parents and students. This is also one of the rare units that break out strongly right after re-establishing the “new normal”.
Maintain credibility and develop sustainably
With more than 25 years of experience, ILA is one of the oldest English training brands in the high-end segment, known for its advantages of nationwide coverage, modern facilities, and a team of 100% foreign teachers with at least university degrees and TESOL/DELTA teaching certificates.
In particular, the Academic Research and Development (R&D) team at ILA has diligently approached and integrated the training of 21st century thinking skills into the curriculum, combined with a teaching method through projects project-based learning. This special method is intended to help students develop important skills in the era of the industrial revolution 4.0, so that they can adapt to many great changes in the future, and at the same time contribute to creating positive changes for the community and society.
Mr. Jonathan Bird, Training Director of ILA, said: “We equip students with knowledge and skills to prepare them for the future. Only English is not enough, they need to know more soft skills such as leadership and teamwork, logical thinking and critical thinking… That’s what makes ILA different”.
Up to this point, in addition to more than 50 ILA English centers and Study Abroad Counseling Offices in 15 major cities and provinces, this organization has launched the Finnish preschool system ILO Preschool including 5 branches and the English system. OLA Academy’s affordable international standard language includes 6 centers during the translation phase. This is part of a long-term development strategy to create a high-quality education ecosystem, with the ambition to bring learning opportunities in an international standard environment to millions of future global citizens of Vietnam.
From the end of 2022, after the epidemic was under control, ILA has launched a series of new centers in Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces. These include ILA Him Lam (District 7), ILA Nguyen Anh Thu (District 12); center OLA Academy Long Khanh (Dong Nai), Finnish kindergarten ILO Preschool in Binh Duong with a total area of more than 3,000m2. Next, only in the first 3 months of 2023, ILA continued to open 3 centers in Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City includes ILA Hong Ha (Phu Nhuan District), ILA Diamond Island (Thu Duc City) and OLA Vinhomes Grand Park (Thu Duc City).
It can be seen that ILA’s overcoming of the pandemic and its rapid rise even in difficult times is a testament to ILA’s sustainable development strategy for many years. Thanks to the strong companionship and support of parents, students, and teaching staff, this year ILA will continue to open new facilities.
In addition, this is one of the few units that continuously invest in building and renewing the facilities of the whole center system, in order to create an efficient and sophisticated learning space for students with modern equipment. In particular, from 2022, ILA has begun to develop a digital transformation project for the entire curriculum, to completely upgrade the experience for teachers and students with a multimedia approach in the classroom itself. Expected to launch in early 2024, this strategic project of ILA promises to be one of the new breakthroughs in educational technology in Vietnam.
Ms. Thu Hien (whose child is studying at ILA Hai Phong) said that her family had studied many foreign language centers and found that the cost of studying at ILA was relatively high, but her child received a very good educational background. “English centers only focus on listening, speaking, reading, and writing, but ILA educates children to become global citizens with many skills, presentation skills, critical thinking, logical thinking, giving children projects to promote synergistic capacity, which is self-efficacy, not conveyed in the style of one side teaching, the other learning”.
Community-driven development
Over the years, in addition to focusing on the quality of teaching and improving the program, what helps ILA win the trust of students and parents is its humane spirit towards community values. The children are inspired by kindness and sharing right from the lessons at ILA, through volunteer activities and projects integrated into the program to raise young people’s awareness of life and society.
Moreover, contributing to the community is always a responsibility that goes hand in hand with the mission and core values of ILA. Over the years, ILA has regularly awarded nearly 1,000 scholarships each year to students from loving shelters; implementing many fundraising projects to build schools in remote areas; awarded a scholarship fund of 50 billion dong to the children of frontline doctors in the fight against the epidemic; Free support for students who have had their studies interrupted due to the closure of English centers…
Having a child studying at an English center that has just stopped working and still owes a large amount of tuition, Ms. My Linh (Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City) used to worry because her child’s education was delayed. Therefore, as soon as she heard that ILA was accepting and supporting students for free, she went to the center to register and was surprised by the dedication and professionalism of the consultants at ILA: “I feel very well received about the scholarship program of ILA. Children can participate in the entrance test, placement counseling very quickly and enthusiastically. Not only is the child free for 1 year, but she is also given books by ILA for the duration of her studies”.
According to the ILA, this scholarship program is intended to support struggling parents and students. Through that, ILA also hopes that more units in the industry will join hands to help and share problems with students and parents, helping to reduce negative impacts on society.
For the educational institution ILA, any difficulty opens up many opportunities at the same time. In the face of obstacles, the organization has steadfastly chosen to uphold its core values in order to calmly navigate through one of the most challenging periods of its time and thrive like never before.
Source: Thanh Niên
