One of the nine orientations for implementing education and training innovation in the new period, General Secretary To Lam requested to innovate general education in a comprehensive direction. Not only imparting knowledge, but also nurturing personality - training the body - nurturing the soul, arousing civic spirit, sense of discipline and social responsibility; forming a generation of people who are "both talented, kind and resilient"; striving to universalize general education as soon as possible.
The General Secretary added that this is an urgent requirement. How to reduce the pressure of high school transfer exams for students and if high school is universalized, this problem will be solved.
According to the General Secretary, the Education Sector has reported on the lack of schools and teachers, but we can completely do that.
In fact, in the 2024-2025 school year, there are 63 provinces and cities nationwide, most of which apply the entrance exam method to enroll students into grade 10. Only 4 provinces including Ca Mau , Gia Lai, Vinh Long, Lam Dong consider high school transcripts for admission at the beginning of the school year. Among the localities with entrance exams, the pressure is concentrated on a number of localities, mainly large cities, where the number of students is large, increasing rapidly every year but schools have not met the requirements.
In Hanoi, for many years now, the exam has had more than 100,000 candidates taking part in it, but last year, the entire city had only 119 public schools, enrolling only 63%. In previous years, the number of students admitted to public 10th grade was even lower. In particular, in the inner city area, the number of public high schools is very small, for many years now no new schools have been built, the rate of students competing fiercely to win a "ticket" to pass 10th grade.
The intense competition among students, dragging the whole family into the cycle of taking them to and from extra classes and exam preparation, is tiring and costly. Many teachers said that students are increasingly depressed, burst into tears when failing high school, and even heartbreaking incidents have occurred.
Ms. Tran Thu Anh, whose child is in grade 9 at Dong Da Secondary School (Hanoi), said that the whole family is under a lot of pressure and tiredness as their child prepares for the final exam. The couple has to arrange their work to prioritize taking their child to extra classes during the week and on weekends.
“I work all day and come home at night, all I want to do is rest. But after a whole day at school, my child has to go to extra classes until 9-10pm. Studying to the point of exhaustion just to pass an exam is not worth it,” said Thu Anh.
Determined to end the exam
Teacher Tran Manh Tung, Newton Inter-level School (Hanoi), who spent a lot of time accompanying students in the advanced exams, said that he understands and sympathizes with the pressure of 9th grade students.
This is a very difficult exam, 'stealing' the childhood of students when they only know how to bury their heads in studying. At 14-15 years old, they have to enter a race that lasts the whole school year, causing unnecessary pressure. When asked, many people will not dare to answer or will not answer definitively because there are many complicated issues involved.
" If we take students as the center and consider their interests as the value, then it is time to end this exam," said Mr. Tran Manh Tung, Newton Inter-level School (Hanoi).
However, if we take students as the center and consider their interests as the value, then it is time to end this exam. Looking at the reality of the lack of schools and teachers, we will see that this is a difficult problem, but if we have strong determination, we will definitely be able to do it.
According to the teacher, graduating from high school is a very important milestone in everyone's life, and at the same time will create a quality labor market that any country will be interested in. Although Resolution 71 of the Politburo has set a goal of universalizing high school education by 2035, the sooner it can be achieved, the better.
In fact, some localities do not require entrance exams, students who finish middle school will have their transcripts considered to enter grade 10 of high school. Other localities also need to learn to implement this, to reduce pressure on students.
The Ministry of Education and Training has also regulated the methods of admission to grade 10 high school including: entrance exam, selection, and combined entrance exam and selection. Thus, if there is no entrance exam, high schools can apply the selection of academic records for admission, even with additional criteria such as awards, extracurricular activities, etc.
The problem that has been raised in our education system for a long time is that the report card scores are not reliable. In some places, there is still the disease of achievements, asking for and giving scores, and beautifying the report card. However, with the current policy of aiming for real learning, real exams, real achievements and applying digital transformation in education, we can still do it completely.
“For example, midterm, final, and year-end scores are currently implemented using common tests, cross-scoring is relatively objective, and scores are managed on the system. In schools, only regular test scores are calculated with a coefficient of 1, requiring increased spirit and responsibility of teachers and managers. At that time, the report card score will be a fairly reliable basis for admission. Considering the report card score is also the basis for evaluating the entire learning and training process of students, which is currently applied in many countries,” said Mr. Tung.
Along with that is the policy of urgent investment in building schools, ensuring public education for about 90% of students. After the merger, some surplus ward and commune headquarters can be re-planned to build schools. Or if the inner city is so difficult that there is no more land to build schools, it can be built in the border area, and buses can be organized to pick up and drop off students.
It is also important to promote and advise parents to understand and choose a path that suits their children's abilities and strengths so that they can later establish a career and avoid costly investments, pressure, and ineffective results.
No worries about quality going down
The principal of a junior high school in Hanoi also supports the idea of abolishing the 10th grade entrance exam. According to her, although the management agency does not rank the passing rate of public high schools and specialized schools, there is an “underground race” ranking between schools. This puts a lot of pressure on teachers and students. Schools have to assign good teachers to teach 9th grade, students also have to attend extra classes all the time… and this leads to many other consequences for students because they do not have time to play, relax, or participate in sports activities.
This principal believes that the abolition of the 10th grade entrance exam will not affect the quality of students. Because, currently, parents and students are very concerned and invest in education. They understand that they must equip themselves with knowledge and skills, especially foreign languages, information technology, and basic subjects to choose a career for the future.
According to the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, by 2025, the city will have 2,310 public schools from kindergarten, primary school, junior high school, and high school. Of which, there will be about 813 preschool schools, 728 primary schools, and about 650 secondary schools, while there will be only 122 high schools (after 3 more schools were put into operation from the 2025-2026 school year). The number of public schools at the high school level has decreased sharply, while the number of junior high school graduates taking the entrance exam to grade 10 every year remains high, which puts a lot of pressure on students.
Source: https://tienphong.vn/da-den-luc-tinh-chuyen-xoa-bo-ky-thi-tuyen-lop-10-qua-ap-luc-post1799936.tpo
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