"If you don't study extra, how can you pass?"
Ms. MT, whose child has just taken at least 5 entrance exams to grade 6 at 5 junior high schools in Hanoi , shared that although she knows the regulation "prohibiting extra tutoring" for primary school students, she cannot just follow the curriculum in the main class to be able to take the entrance exams to these schools. On the contrary, her child has to take a "combo" of 3 subjects: Vietnamese, math, English in classes and exam preparation centers outside.
She said that since grade 2, her child has been attending extra classes like this and not just practicing in one place but in each subject at "reputable addresses" recommended by previous parents. Grade 2 only has 2 sessions/week for each subject but in grade 5, it increases. Therefore, for a long time, for MT's child and the children of parents who are "determined" to get into "special" schools in Hanoi, the concept of a full weekend is almost non-existent.
The moment the "special" secondary schools announced their results was also the time when many tears were shed, many parents cried with joy but many also cried with disappointment and bitterness. On forums and groups for parents on social networks, there were many confidences about this issue.
Students taking the entrance exam to grade 6 at a "hot" school in Hanoi this year
PHOTO: NTT
The entrance exams to "special" schools are difficult not only because of the tricky and tricky way of setting the questions but also because they require "terrifying" speed in solving and completing the tests. Without extra study and practice, it is impossible to pass such exams. In Hanoi alone, there are dozens of junior high schools that recruit students for grade 6 by "testing and evaluating their abilities" with high to very high competition rates.
The entrance exam for grade 6 at Nguyen Tat Thanh Secondary and High School (Hanoi National University of Education) is one of the exams with the highest competition rate in the secondary school system in Hanoi as well as in the whole country. This year, the competition rate for the school's grade 6 exam is 1/18. Although parents are willing to send their children to extra classes and practice exams everywhere, the passing and failing results still make many people wonder about the school's standard score calculation method.
The current "hundred flowers bloom" method of enrolling students into grade 6, along with the permission to open "special" secondary schools, gifted secondary schools affiliated with universities, and the increasing number of high-quality schools, is a contradiction and a challenge to the implementation of Circular 29 on the management of extra teaching and learning of the Ministry of Education and Training.
The school both issued exam questions and organized practice exams.
The Ministry of Education and Training prohibits teachers from tutoring their own students by not allowing this activity to be paid for. This is highly supported by public opinion. However, a "dark corner" that the Ministry's regulations have not yet "examined" is that specialized high schools of universities have long recruited students, set their own questions, and publicly organized tutoring and exam preparation centers, but have not been subject to any management similar to the regulation that requires teachers not to tutor their own students.
The Foreign Language Specialized High School (Foreign Language University, Vietnam National University, Hanoi) has long had a Center for knowledge training and enrollment in long-term and intensive exam preparation courses for grade 10 and grade 6 of Foreign Language Secondary School (also affiliated with this University). Most recently, in May, this center announced the opening of the "Exam preparation class for specialized schools and high-quality schools for the 2025-2026 school year" for students from grades 3 to 12. The center's teaching staff are all from Foreign Language University, Foreign Language Specialized High School, Foreign Language Secondary School... with all the subjects that these schools organize entrance exams for.
Therefore, in order to have their children admitted to the school, many parents not only in Hanoi but also in the northern provinces, even remote provinces such as Son La and Dien Bien, also send their children to Hanoi on Friday evening to take extra classes at this center on the weekend. The tuition fee is about 200,000 - 300,000 VND/session/subject.
To get their children into "specialized" or "special" schools, most parents have to send their children to extra classes, and in many places even
Photo: NTT
The same situation also occurs in some specialized high schools affiliated with other universities in Hanoi. Teachers, even school leaders, are directly responsible for recruiting students and creating entrance exams for grade 10, but they also participate in opening classes and teaching extra classes to review for the entrance exam. It is not difficult for parents to find these "famous" exam preparation centers and whisper to each other that even though their children study very well according to the Ministry's program or get high scores on the entrance exam for grade 10 of specialized high schools of the Department of Education and Training, if they do not prepare for the exam at the center of "teachers", they will not be able to pass the entrance exam to specialized high schools of universities. Due to the nature of the schools that create the exam questions, the preparation for the exam is more "close".
This year's admission season, the first year following the new generaleducation program with many expectations about assessing students' abilities to select students, but many experts expressed disappointment in the way the entrance exams for 10th grade specialized high schools were designed.
Commenting on the way the math exam questions were set by a specialized high school under a university in Hanoi this year, Professor Le Anh Vinh, Director of the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, shared that he was "really concerned" because: "If we do not adjust the direction of the questions, we will continue to maintain a learning environment where exam preparation becomes a burden, and technical preparation is equated with thinking ability. These types of questions are increasingly for students who have practiced hundreds of sample questions, rather than those who have a natural mindset, love math but have not had access to an advanced exam preparation program."
Therefore, Professor Vinh believes that a specialized 10th grade entrance exam should aim to find students with potential and independent thinking, not just to select the best problem solver.
Entrance exams to "special" schools in grade 6, the rate is sometimes even higher than university entrance.
Photo: NTT
Many mathematics professors also have similar opinions when they say that the entrance exams to "top" specialized high schools of large universities are still the same as 30 years ago, although the times are very different now. Worse, instead of properly assessing students' aptitude, the exams encourage them to practice the same types of exercises and questions, forcing them to take extra classes at centers, training centers and groups of teachers who teach at those schools.
Dr. Tran Thi Bich Ngan, Head of the research project on the gifted education model, Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, suggested that it is necessary to change the way of identifying and enrolling students in specialized schools. It is necessary to apply multidimensional assessment methods to select students with outstanding abilities, including: students with excellent academic achievements; students who win prizes in exams; students with special talents. In particular, it is necessary to emphasize the assessment of actual abilities, development potential and creative thinking. (continued)
Why do parents send their primary school children to extra classes?
On June 16, more than 4,800 students in Ho Chi Minh City participated in the aptitude test to be admitted to grade 6 at Tran Dai Nghia Secondary and High School, the "hottest" school in Ho Chi Minh City, with a competition ratio of 1/14. Picking up and dropping off her child with thousands of parents, Ms. Hoang Yen, a resident of Binh Thanh District, said that to prepare for this exam, she registered her child to study at a center from the end of 2024, spending millions of VND per month, even though she knew that the Ministry of Education and Training banned extra tutoring for elementary school students.
My child participated in the survey for grade 6 at Tran Dai Nghia Secondary and High School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), so the parents were more worried and pressured than their children.
Photo: Dao Ngoc Thach
According to Ms. Yen, when reading books or documents, she sometimes does not understand and has to ask experts for answers. Therefore, for children, having someone to guide them outside of school hours is necessary. "Extra study at a moderate level, such as one subject per week, each subject only about 1 - 1.5 hours is reasonable," she said.
Meanwhile, parent Anh Thu, residing in Binh Thanh District, said that despite the ban on extra cultural classes for primary school students, the center where she sent her child to study still opened classes as usual, so she registered her child. On the contrary, parent Truc Phuong, also residing in Binh Thanh District, shared that she did not register her child for extra classes, but instead, her child actively reviewed at home, and she only went online to find materials for her child to practice with.
Uyen Phuong Le - Ngoc Long
Ministry of Education and Training: "Parents put too much pressure on their children to study and take exams"
In the report of the Ministry of Education and Training on the issue of extra teaching and learning sent to the ongoing National Assembly session, it did not mention in depth the pressure of exams but stated one of the reasons leading to the widespread extra teaching and learning: "Parents still have high expectations and put a lot of pressure on their children to study and take exams, considering that studying in class is not enough to meet the requirements of exams, and need to seek extra learning as an inevitable solution to improve learning results. In addition, the mentality of winning and losing also makes parents willing to invest a lot of time and money in extra learning without really considering whether it is necessary or not"...
Tue Nguyen
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/goc-khuat-khi-thuc-hien-quy-dinh-siet-day-them-hoc-them-nhung-ky-thi-nghiet-nga-185250616181815109.htm
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