IELTS Halo: An Unequal Race in Education?

Rural-urban gap

In just a few years, IELTS, originally designed as an assessment tool for academic English proficiency for studying abroad and migrating, has become the “golden ticket” in university admissions in Vietnam.

The dizzying growth numbers have surprised many people: National Economics University received up to 25,000 applications, Banking Academy received more than 13,000, many other schools increased 3-4 times in just one exam season.

Mr. Le Hoang Phong, founder and academic director of Your-E Education and Training Organization, said that on the surface, this is a happy story: a generation of students eager to integrate, responsive parents, universities seeking more transparent selection methods. But beneath the surface are hidden ripples, painful questions about inequality, the risk of large-scale “foreign currency bleeding”, and most of all, the autonomy of Vietnamese education.

In Hanoi , while students and their families in rural and remote areas save up a few million to tens of millions to invest in the "golden ticket" of an IELTS certificate in the next few years, there are many students in big cities who have "exceedingly good" conditions to access this certificate.

For example, Em NTĐ, an 11th grade student at a prestigious high school in Hanoi, was invested by his parents in studying with a British teacher who specializes in IELTS preparation. The family was willing to spend nearly 100 million VND/6-month course, an average of more than 1.3 million VND/session.

Or NVD, a student who has just been admitted to the 10th grade of a specialized Biology school in Hanoi. 4 years ago, her family asked a teacher who was an international student in Europe to tutor their child in English 1-1. And now, with the available conditions, having just been admitted to the 10th grade, she does not go to the center to study with other students who are cheaper, she still chooses to study with the amount of 2 million/session.

On the contrary, in a suburban district of Hanoi, H., an orphan living with her 82-year-old grandmother, studied diligently for a year thanks to a free IELTS scholarship. The results of the mock test showed that she could have achieved 6.0, a dream score. But when the official exam came, she did not enter the exam room because the 4.64 million VND fee was an amount that her family could only spend in three months.

Another case, in the western part of Cao Lanh district, Dong Thap, T., the child of a hired worker, learned about IELTS through videos on the internet. The nearest center is more than 50 km away. Each bus trip back and forth costs her mother half a day's work.

For students like H. and T., the “IELTS door” has never really opened. This is not just a personal story. This is structural inequality, where access to opportunity is tied to ability to pay. In an education system that values equity, this is a warning sign.

Absolute fairness, right?

Speaking with Tien Phong reporter, teacher Nguyen Tran Binh An, a master's candidate in Applied Linguistics at the University of York (UK), assessed that adding IELTS scores invisibly creates "double priority" for the group of well-off students.

Mr. An believes that using IELTS certificates for university admissions creates an invisible advantage for students from well-off families compared to those with limited economic conditions. Right from the foundation, they have enjoyed better learning conditions, from facilities, quality teachers to extra classes, and quality materials. Thanks to their superior access, well-off students often achieve high academic scores and university entrance exam scores for admission subjects, creating a favorable premise for university admissions.

According to Mr. An, the IELTS bonus policy further highlights this economic disparity. Many wealthy families have introduced their children to English from a young age through intensive English classes and rich, pedagogical English resources, and when they grow up, continue to invest in IELTS preparation for their children at quality centers.

The cost of obtaining an IELTS certificate is not small: an IELTS lesson currently costs an average of 150,000–200,000 VND, and to go from level 3.5–4.0 (the output level of secondary school students, equivalent to A2) to level 7.0–7.5 (a competitive IELTS score) requires about 700–800 hours of guided study (according to Cambridge English), equivalent to 250–300 lessons (after deducting the time for self-study and studying at school), about 40–45 million VND, not including exam and re-study fees. For many families, this is an excessive expense.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Do - Principal of Thanh Nhan High School, Ho Chi Minh City said that in recent years, IELTS learning has not only been supported by parents but also by the school.

At the school alone, on average, about 50% of high school graduates obtain an IELTS certificate with a score ranging from 6.5 to 8.0, which is a "lifesaver" for many students when applying to top schools, especially in the fields of health, engineering, etc.

According to Mr. Do, many universities currently have policies to add points and convert them for students with IELTS certificates and other foreign language certificates, so the school determines that this is an advantage for students applying for university admission with English subjects.

Regarding the issue of unequal learning and unfairness between urban students and rural and remote areas, Mr. Do said that this view is not really correct. Firstly, unequal learning, IELTS certificate training is arranged scientifically by the school, both teachers and students identify this as a secondary subject to gain extra points for university admission and to enrich knowledge. Moreover, studying and taking the IELTS test is a process, not a day or two, especially for Thanh Nhan School, this learning is only prioritized for students in grades 10 and 11, by grade 12 students have almost no time to study and practice IELTS.

Regarding the issue of inequality between urban and rural areas, remote areas, Mr. Do said that this problem is more or less real, but if you think about it more objectively, it is fair. It is agreed that students in rural areas lack economic conditions and the environment to study and practice IELTS, but if they try, they can still study in many ways through reference materials and the internet with many software and applications, both free and paid. In particular, for students in rural and remote areas, they have long been given regional points, so adding IELTS points for students will more or less help balance the admission process...

Sharing the same view, Mr. Nguyen Dang Khoa, Principal of Trung Vuong High School, Ho Chi Minh City, also said that the policy of converting and adding IELTS/foreign language certificates for candidates in the admission process before being applied must have been carefully analyzed and evaluated. Absolute fairness among candidates is difficult, but in general, this is necessary to select suitable candidates for each industry and each school.