Outdated specialized high school model: Concerns about its transformation at the secondary school level

Students take the entrance exam for specialized grade 10 in 2024. Photo: Duc Nguyen

Schools often encroach on

If the index for evaluating specialized high schools is based on the number of national and international awards, it is time foreducation policy makers to review. The results of the national excellent student exam for the 2024-2025 school year show that many students from non-specialized high schools won awards. Among them are many schools in remote areas of the provinces.

Dong Du Secondary and High School ( Dak Lak ) accounted for 9/72 students winning national excellent student awards in the province. Chi Lang High School (Gia Lai) achieved 5/50 national excellent student awards in the province. Two 11th grade students of this school achieved one second prize and one third prize in Physics. The remaining students won encouragement prizes.

The most special is Soc Trang province. Although there are only 28 national excellent student awards, students from 9 non-specialized high schools in the province won 12 awards, the rest came from specialized schools. The highest achievement of the excellent student delegation in Soc Trang province this year is the second prize and this student studies at Thuan Hoa High School, Chau Thanh district, not a specialized school. Another student from this school won the Encouragement prize in Literature. Students from non-specialized schools in Vinh Long province contributed 6/17 national excellent student awards of this province. Ca Mau and some other southern provinces also have a large number of national awards from regular high schools.

Ho Chi Minh City has 16/18 regular high schools with students participating in the national excellent student selection exam (the remaining 2 schools are Le Hong Phong Specialized High School and Tran Dai Nghia Specialized High School). Thus, the number of regular high schools in Ho Chi Minh City with students winning national prizes is high with 12/16 schools having students participating in the exam.

In the 2024-2025 school year, Hanoi also had many students from non-specialized high schools competing in the national excellent student competition. In particular, Newton Secondary and High School (non-public) had students participating in the competition for the first time but achieved impressive results with 4 prizes in 2 subjects of Mathematics and Physics including: 2 Second prizes, 1 Third prize and 1 Encouragement prize.

Thus, participating and winning prizes in the national excellent student competition is no longer the “privilege” of specialized high schools, non-specialized high schools are encroaching and achieving quite good results. Some students even participate in the 32nd qualifying round, the round to select the international competition team, such as the student who won the second prize in the national excellent student math competition of Newton Secondary and High School (Hanoi).

Gifted school appeared

The People's Committee of Cau Giay District (Hanoi) has just decided to allow the establishment of the Gifted Secondary School of the University of Education under the Hanoi University of Education. In the announcement of the enrollment plan for grade 6 in the 2025-2026 school year just issued by the Hanoi University of Education, the Gifted Secondary School organizes admission through 2 rounds: Preliminary selection and assessment of students' overall capacity. Upon entering the school, students will study according to the 2018 general education program for secondary school level according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. Students can also participate in experiential, career guidance and talent development programs in the form of clubs in the fields of: Mathematics and Information Technology; Natural Sciences and Technology; Social Sciences and Arts.

Responding to Tien Phong reporter, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Duc Son, Principal of Hanoi National University of Education, affirmed that there is no specialized secondary school. Gifted schools are to discover and nurture outstanding potentials of students in different fields. All countries have this type. In Vietnam, due to the way of thinking, giftedness is often considered specialized. If giftedness is not discovered early, there will be no talent in the future. This gifted secondary school follows the model of the practice school of the National University of Education.

In fact, public opinion is right to question the fact that there are regulations prohibiting specialized schools and selective classes at the secondary level but allowing the opening of "gifted" schools. The first document regulating not organizing specialized schools at the secondary level was Resolution No. 02 dated December 24, 1996 of the 8th Party Central Committee. After that, the policy of not organizing specialized schools at the secondary level was specified in the 2005 Education Law and the 2019 amended Education Law. In 2024, implementing the Regulations on specialized schools, the Ministry of Education and Training required Hanoi Amsterdam High School for the Gifted (Hanoi) and Tran Dai Nghia High School (HCMC) to stop enrolling students in grade 6.

The general education program issued in 2018 divides the general education program into two stages: the basic education stage (primary and secondary school) and the vocational stage (high school). So, if it is general education and basic education, why is the specialized school model at secondary school level maintained?

Parents have reason to think that gifted secondary schools or secondary schools affiliated with specialized schools are specialized training. Because before 2000, Vietnam already had a model of gifted secondary schools with the task of training resources for specialized high schools. These are essentially specialized secondary schools with specialized classes in cultural subjects.

This year, the enrollment of grade 6 students at Ams School may return under the name of a high-quality secondary school. At the ceremony announcing the decision of Chu Van An High School for the Gifted, the Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training suggested that the school should study to establish an affiliated secondary school and said that for more than 20 years, Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted has had a secondary school system. Through the summary, the department assessed that this model has operated well, creating a source of excellent students from lower levels for specialized schools. Students who have grown up in this environment have many achievements at home and abroad. Therefore, the establishment of a secondary school within a specialized school is the desire of the Hanoi education sector. However, the leader of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training affirmed that this must follow the regulations and guidelines of the amended Capital Law and the regulations on the organization of specialized schools of the Ministry of Education and Training.

Thus, if the Ministry of Education and Training does not have specific and timely regulations, the specialized secondary school model will not disappear but will only change from one name to another.

NGHIEM HUE

Source: https://tienphong.vn/mo-hinh-truong-thpt-chuyen-lac-hau-lo-ngai-bien-tuong-o-cap-thcs-post1736792.tpo