High school graduation exams should be handed over to localities.

Not illegal

The Ministry of Education and Training has just posted the draft Law on amending and supplementing a number of articles of the 2019 Law on Education on the Ministry's electronic information portal for agencies, organizations and individuals to contribute their opinions. The notable point of this draft is to remove the junior high school graduation certificate and assign the authority to the junior high school principal to confirm the completion of the program instead of the Head of the District Education and Training Department to issue the junior high school graduation certificate; assign the authority to the high school principal to issue the graduation certificate instead of the Director of the Department of Education and Training.

The abolition of the issuance of junior high school graduation certificates and the decentralization of authority to confirm the completion of generaleducation programs are inevitable requirements to fully institutionalize the policies of the Party and the State, meet the practical requirements of educational management and approach international practices. The delegation of authority to the heads of educational institutions in confirming and granting certificates is a concrete step in clearly defining the authority and responsibility between the central and local levels, between management agencies and implementing agencies...

From the decentralization of recognition of completion of the junior high school program and issuance of high school graduation certificates, public opinion believes that the Ministry of Education and Training should also completely decentralize the high school graduation exam to localities. At the end of November 2023, at the press conference on the plan to organize the high school graduation exam in 2025 (the first year of implementing the graduation exam according to the 2018 general education program) of the Ministry of Education and Training, Prof. Dr. Huynh Van Chuong, Director of the Department of Quality Management, affirmed that the Ministry will continue to research according to the roadmap to move towards transferring the exam to localities. According to Mr. Chuong, when the conditions are met to implement decentralization to localities, educational institutions will organize an exam to assess the output quality at the high school level instead of the method of a national exam, at the same time as at present. This is the first time that the Ministry of Education and Training has affirmed that it will implement this strong decentralization roadmap.

Dr. Dang Tu An, former Director of the Department of Primary Education, Ministry of Education and Training, Director of the Vietnam General Education Innovation Fund (VIGEF), said that the Ministry of Education and Training should completely hand over the high school graduation exam to the locality. To do this, the Ministry must separate the testing unit (under the Department of Quality Management, which creates the high school graduation exam). This testing unit is under the state, responsible for creating exam questions to assess the quality of general education, similar to the US testing organization (ETS). The Ministry of Education and Training is playing the role of both a football player and a whistleblower in assessing the quality of general education.

Dr. Dang Tu An proposed that the testing unit should be separated from the Ministry of Education and Training to objectively evaluate the quality of training, along with handing over the high school graduation exam entirely to the locality.

An expert suggested that the Ministry of Education and Training should only be responsible for issuing regulations on the time frame for organizing exams in accordance with the school year plan (common exam schedule) to ensure consistency nationwide; issuing a framework of exam regulations and instructions for organizing exams and considering graduation recognition; issuing exam structures, formats and reference exam questions; issuing inspection plans and analyzing results data to assess quality and request explanations when necessary.

The locality's task is to carry out all stages of the exam according to the exam regulations and exam organization instructions of the Ministry of Education and Training, including the task of creating its own exam questions according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training; it is possible to use exam questions from other localities in the same exam session. Organize the exam at times suitable for the locality within the time frame prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training. This is completely consistent with the 2019 Education Law and gives local authorities the initiative.

Ministry of Education and Training grasps key points

In fact, from 2023 to present, the role of the Ministry of Education and Training in the High School Graduation Exam Regulations has not changed. The Ministry is responsible for directing the organization of the exam; deciding on solutions to handle special cases and other unusual situations; providing software systems, guidance documents and organizing training to serve the organization of the exam to ensure consistency nationwide; establishing a National Steering Committee for the exam; directing, guiding, organizing inspections and examinations of the exam.

Candidates for the 2024 high school graduation exam Photo: NGOC TU

In 2020, when the national high school exam with 2 purposes of graduation and university admission was changed to the high school graduation exam due to the inadequacies in the exam questions that could hardly handle 2 different goals. At that time, the Ministry of Education and Training affirmed that the high school graduation exam had the purpose of high school graduation and assessing the quality of general education. Regarding admission, universities could use it for admission. However, after 4 exams, this year, it seems that the goal of the high school graduation exam has begun to return to the goal of the national high school exam.

At a meeting with units under the Ministry of Education and Training on preparations for the 2025 high school graduation exam on May 22, Permanent Deputy Minister Pham Ngoc Thuong noted that the work of creating exam questions must ensure a correct assessment of the capacity to implement the 2018 General Education Program, clearly demonstrating differentiation to serve both graduation and enrollment goals. Thus, it is unlikely that the Ministry will "give up" the high school graduation exam completely to localities. Because according to the Ministry's reasoning, localities are basically responsible for the stages of printing, invigilation, grading, checking, reviewing, high school graduation, and announcement. The Ministry only issues legal documents and conducts inspections. Organizing one exam like the current one reduces costs and ensures fairness.

In fact, although the locality is largely responsible for the exam, the Ministry is holding the key factor of creating the exam questions. This will determine whether the Ministry has the right to control the exam to achieve a single goal of high school graduation or multiple goals, including forcing universities to use the results for university admission.

NGHIEM HUE

Source: https://tienphong.vn/nen-giao-ki-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-cho-dia-phuong-post1744940.tpo