New perspective after the 2025 high school graduation exam

At the end of the 2025 high school graduation exam, education experts have given their perspectives on this content.

"Vietnam does not have the conditions to abolish the high school graduation exam"

Speaking to reporters of PNVN Newspaper, Dr. Le Viet Khuyen, Vice President of the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges, said that our country should not abolish the High School Graduation Exam. Because regardless of its success or concerns over the years, the exam is an important event, evaluating the results of 12 years of general education. "This evaluation is very necessary," Mr. Recommend emphasized.

One of the other arguments to maintain the view that "the High School Graduation Exam should not be abolished" according to Mr. Khuyen is the issue of controlling the qualityof education . In countries where the education system is not uniformly controlled in quality, where the assessment can be too strict or too loose, along with the situation of achievement disease, exam cheating... still exists, maintaining a national exam is mandatory. This education expert assesses that the High School Graduation Exam is demonstrating the spirit of Resolution 29-NQ/TW in 2013 on fundamental and comprehensive innovation in education and training. This resolution requires reducing inconvenience and costs for learners and their families. Organizing a good national exam, ensuring quality, both for high school graduation and as a basis for university and college admission is to implement the spirit of this "2-in-1 exam".

Candidates participating in the 2025 High School Graduation Exam

Sharing the same view, Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam, Chairman of the Education Council of Dinh Tien Hoang High School, said that the abolition of the High School Graduation Exam must have a roadmap and must "do a good job in the foundation, that is, the school facilities must do well". Mr. Nguyen Tung Lam emphasized that developed countries have abolished equivalent exams because they have controlled the foundation conditions such as: testing and evaluating students are carried out regularly and seriously throughout the learning process; if there are violations such as cheating, grade inflation, they must be detected and handled immediately. However, Mr. Lam admitted that in Vietnam, this "has not been done yet". Therefore, this is not the time for our country to abolish the High School Graduation Exam.

How does the university recruit students?

Dr. Le Viet Khuyen, Vice President of the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges. Photo: Hung Anh

Dr. Le Viet Khuyen, Vice President of the Association of Vietnamese Universities and Colleges: "In our country, education still has negative aspects, so if we remove a national exam, there will be no scale to evaluate the training and learning process of 12 years of study."

Dr. Le Viet Khuyen believes that each university organizing its own entrance exams will cause waste and inconvenience to students and their families. And with the current situation of hundreds of universities in Vietnam, it would be a waste for each school to organize its own exams. Referring to the fact that some universities organize their own exams to assess their abilities and thinking, Dr. Le Viet Khuyen believes that this is an "unsatisfactory" and "costly" trend. He cited the fact that these separate exams earn huge amounts of money from exam fees and questioned their real purpose. He believes that these schools are "centered on the school, not the student," and are going against the spirit of Resolution 29.

For "hot" majors or top schools with a number of applicants far exceeding their quota, Dr. Le Viet Khuyen proposed a two-phase admission model. The first phase will be based on the results of the High School Graduation Exam to pre-select a large number of candidates. After that, the schools will organize a specific aptitude test (for example, a test on human anatomy and physiology for the medical major, a written test for the journalism major) to select suitable candidates. "This method will be easier and not all majors will have to take the exam," Mr. Khuyen said. This expert also mentioned the "open university" model in some countries, where only a high school diploma is required to enroll, only very prestigious schools and majors need to organize entrance exams.

Sharing the same opinion that universities should not be given autonomy in enrollment, Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Xuan Nhi, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, said that this would make it difficult to assess the overall level of the country. Each school may have its own way of assessment, leading to the inability to determine the level of students meeting national standards. For these reasons, according to Mr. Nhi, the National High School Graduation Exam will help classify students into groups (top, average, bottom), thereby orienting high-quality human resources for the country and providing vocational training for the remaining groups.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Xuan Nhi, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training. Photo: Tran Ly

Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Xuan Nhi also suggested that schools should stream students earlier, right after junior high school, into academic streams, technical streams, and vocational secondary streams, to provide clearer career orientation.

Whether or not to abolish the High School Graduation Exam is a complex issue that requires careful consideration from many aspects. Experts agree that in ideal conditions, when the quality of education is uniformly controlled, the disease of achievement and cheating in exams is eliminated, and the regular assessment system is well implemented, abolishing the exam is feasible. However, in Vietnam today, with the existing remaining, maintaining a national exam is necessary to ensure quality and fairness.

Education experts assert that if exams are to be abolished, it is necessary to carefully consider and have a clear roadmap, invest in improving the quality of education management, strictly control the regular assessment process in schools, and resolutely eliminate negative aspects in exams. At the same time, it is necessary to consider more flexible admission models for universities, especially for specialized fields, to reduce the burden on candidates, while ensuring the selection of suitable talents. Listening to and synthesizing diverse opinions will help shape an appropriate education policy, aiming at the goal of comprehensive human development and building a high-quality education.

Responding to the petition of voters of An Giang province on the proposal to organize graduation exams for high school students nationally instead of the current form of organizing high school graduation exams at the 7th Session of the 15th National Assembly, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said: Organizing high school graduation exams to consider considering high school graduation has been stipulated in the Law on Education. The exam serves the purpose of obtaining exam results to consider recognizing high school graduation and is one of the bases for assessing the quality of teaching and learning of general education institutions and the direction of education management agencies. Providing reliable data for universities and vocational education institutions to use in enrollment in the spirit of autonomy.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/goc-nhin-moi-sau-ky-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-2025-2025070315025554.htm