Reduce exam pressure.

The news that Ho Chi Minh City plans to expand the admissions area for 10th grade next year to reduce exam pressure for students is good news not only for parents in this city but also a source of hope for parents in other urban areas.

Students and parents whose children have experienced the stressful 10th-grade entrance exam for public schools in major cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City truly understand the pressure this exam entails. The reasons for maintaining the 10th-grade exam include insufficient public high school facilities, quotas for different types of schools, and quality disparities between different regions. In this context, a separate entrance exam to filter and select more qualified students is a suitable option to ensure fairness.

However, as realities change and new mechanisms and policies emerge, a more optimal solution is needed. And the current conditions in Ho Chi Minh City are suitable for this: instead of holding mass entrance exams for 10th grade in public schools across all districts and schools, the policy of selecting students based on their junior high school academic records will be expanded.

Ho Chi Minh City after the merger has many differences compared to before. Besides the central areas with many highly competitive high schools, there are still areas with fewer students entering high school, where schools and classrooms meet the necessary conditions for learning, thus eliminating the need for a rigorous entrance exam. That is why this year, Ho Chi Minh City is organizing 10th grade admissions using two methods: selection based on academic records for Thanh An island commune and Con Dao special zone; and entrance exams in other localities. This method will be expanded to other areas from 2027 as the city is focusing its efforts on accelerating the construction of more schools.

Resolution No. 71 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in education and training development sets the goal for Vietnam to achieve universal secondary education and equivalent levels nationwide by 2035. To achieve this goal, Ho Chi Minh City must gradually reduce the pressure of enrollment in grade 10 by expanding the selection process. In addition, it must diversify learning models; instead of focusing solely on public high schools, students can pursue equivalent options that match their abilities and career orientation, such as private schools, continuing education centers, or vocational schools. Furthermore, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of new classrooms and expand the school network to ensure sufficient places for students after completing lower secondary education.

However, for this solution to be truly effective, genuinely reduce pressure, and ensure fairness, it needs to be implemented synchronously. This means that junior high schools must focus on teaching and learning for the sake of genuine quality, not just for the sake of improving academic records. The quality of teaching and learning in public high schools should not be too disparate. Model schools equivalent to high schools should demonstrate their own advantages that suit the needs of students. In particular, the university system should clearly distinguish between research and applied fields so that students have clear career paths from the junior high school level, as is the case in advanced countries.

Under these circumstances, the public high school entrance exam will only be held for specialized schools and regular schools with a high level of competition. The pressure of exams will naturally disappear.

Ho Chi Minh City, known for its highly competitive 10th-grade entrance exams, could take the lead in finding solutions to reduce pressure, creating a significant impetus for other localities to follow suit.

Under the powerful influence of technology and artificial intelligence (AI), modern education has shifted from purely transmitting knowledge to developing competencies and qualities in learners. In this context, exams can no longer maintain the level of testing rote memorization or information recall, tasks that AI can perform in seconds. Therefore, the method of selecting suitable students for a school also needs to change. At that point, exams or selection processes will only be a form of appropriate selection, not a change in the quality of teaching and learning.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/giam-ap-luc-thi-cu-185260516211359381.htm