Carefully prepare conditions to organize high school graduation exams on computers

In the Action Program to implement Resolution No. 71 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training development, the Government assigned the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) to develop a Project on organizing exams and prepare necessary conditions to pilot high school graduation exams on computers in some localities from 2027.

Many opinions believe that switching to computer-based testing is a strategic move, reflecting the inevitable trend of education in the digital age. However, to ensure the implementation is safe, transparent and effective, it is necessary to carefully and comprehensively prepare the conditions and pilot according to the roadmap.

The Ministry of Education and Training is implementing many solutions to pilot high school graduation exams on computers from 2027. (Illustration photo)

Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam, Chairman of the Education Council of Dinh Tien Hoang High School ( Hanoi ), said that organizing the High School Graduation Exam on computers is an important step. This exam method minimizes human errors and limits negative factors such as cheating and leaking questions. Not having to print, transport, or preserve exam questions and paper exams will reduce the pressure on supervisors and exam supervisors in managing and collecting exam papers. The results are automatically graded, objectively, ensuring fairness for all candidates. Exam data is digitized, helping to manage, compile statistics, and analyze results more quickly and accurately.

However, organizing the high school graduation exam on computers will also pose some difficulties that need to be resolved, such as the information technology infrastructure is not yet synchronized. Currently, many localities, especially remote areas, still lack computer equipment; security issues, data security, ensuring absolute safety and security for exam questions, test papers and exam results require a large initial investment cost.

Therefore, it is necessary to carefully prepare the conditions for organizing the exam, such as building and perfecting new exam regulations and rules suitable for the computer-based exam format to ensure strictness and transparency; synchronous and modern information technology infrastructure and especially building a high-quality, standardized exam bank to ensure fairness; the team of examiners needs to be well-trained; teachers and candidates must be thoroughly trained. In particular, the implementation of the high school graduation exam needs to be implemented according to a roadmap, applied on a pilot basis in large cities where conditions are available, and then deployed on a large scale.

From an expert perspective, Dr. Dang Quang Vinh, lecturer at the Faculty of Computer Science & Technology, British University Vietnam, also commented that if the infrastructure, question bank, technical human resources and security procedures are well prepared, the computer-based high school graduation exam method is not only feasible but also contributes to improving fairness, transparency and approaching international standards.

In fact, in the world, many major exams have applied the computer-based exam model such as IELTS, SAT or online supervised exams. In Vietnam, the thinking and capacity assessment exams organized by major universities for many years have also been implemented on computers with a large number of participants, taking place simultaneously in many localities. With current conditions, organizing high school graduation exams on computers is completely possible.

According to Dr. Dang Quang Vinh, with an exam of special importance and scale of millions of candidates like the high school graduation exam, the implementation needs to be extremely cautious. First of all, it is necessary to properly resolve the challenges of the difference in computer access conditions between students in different regions.

Along with that is the challenge of organizing the exam room because if the exam is on paper, a room can hold up to 30 students, but when taking the exam on a computer, to ensure anti-cheating, each candidate must have a separate position, the number can be reduced to only about 10 students. This means the exam must be divided into many shifts, requiring a large enough test bank with high equivalence.

On the other hand, computers used for exams are usually specialized devices, only installed with software for exams, so they are hardly used for other purposes all year round. This is also a problem of cost and efficiency that needs to be carefully considered. Another problem is that in terms of technology, it will be difficult to avoid incidents such as power outages, hang-ups or connection interruptions. Therefore, each exam site must have a team of technicians on duty to provide timely support and ensure the rights of candidates.

In addition, there is also the risk of unauthorized intervention in the system because on computers, the risk of editing results at the system level is more likely to occur if there are no strict monitoring, security and tracking mechanisms. This is also a point that needs special attention when designing technological solutions to ensure safety and prevent fraud in organizing exams.

From the above analysis, Dr. Dang Quang Vinh said that the feasible solution is to pilot in big cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Da Nang, Hai Phong, where there is good infrastructure; organize both paper-based and computer-based exams in parallel to gain experience and evaluate; create conditions for candidates to get used to the computer-based exam experience because the reflexes and thinking when doing the test on the screen are very different from those on paper.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that in order to prepare for the pilot computer-based high school graduation exam from 2027 under the direction of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Education and Training is focusing on implementing a number of key tasks such as: Developing a project to organize the computer-based high school graduation exam and submitting it to the Prime Minister for approval in 2026; mobilizing experts to build a standardized question bank, expected to be applied from 2027; developing procedures and regulations for organizing computer-based exams, organizing training courses and seminars nationwide; continuing to coordinate with the Government Cipher Committee in transferring and receiving exam questions and other security steps related to the exam. Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training is preparing software systems to organize computer-based exams and testing computer-based exams in localities. It is expected that this school year, the test will be deployed for more than 100,000 students.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/giao-duc/chuan-bi-ky-luong-cac-dieu-kien-de-to-chuc-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-tren-may-tinh-i781667/