Dak Lak female student unexpectedly passed graduation exam after being refused permission to retake class

TPO - Having been advised to drop out of school because she “couldn’t pass the exam”, HG – a student at Cao Ba Quat High School still persevered in studying and passed the 2025 high school graduation exam. Her story and that of three other students revealed many irregularities in the way the school handled the application for retention in violation of regulations.

Báo Tiền Phong•19/07/2025

On July 19, HGB's mother (Tan An ward, Dak Lak province) said that her daughter had passed the high school graduation exam in 2025. HG is choosing a suitable major to continue studying.

Previously, HG and many other students studying at Cao Ba Quat High School (Tan An Ward) wrote a request to reserve their study results last April.

After submitting the application for leave, HG continued to be encouraged by her family and decided to go back to school. She and her family asked the school to let her go back to school but were not approved.

Four students of Cao Ba Quat High School who had reserved their academic results have passed the graduation exam.

After that, the authorities got involved. According to the verification results, on April 16, the homeroom teacher invited HG and her mother to discuss the study situation.

The principal and homeroom teachers met with students and parents in the school's traditional room. Here, the female principal said: "Through the mid-term test scores (Math 4.8) and many subject teachers reported that they were weak, so they could not pass the exam; I do not have much time to meet students and parents."

The homeroom teacher said, "Are you going to leave school or continue studying?" Then the student wrote a leave application, the mother signed the application, and the teacher signed to confirm.

A day later, HG's mother texted the homeroom teacher to ask for her child to return to school but was told: "No, the principal has approved it."

On April 29, 2025, HG and her mother went to see the principal to ask to go back to school, but were told, "The graduation exam was not approved, and I did not pass the exam. The school has already erased my records, so how can I go back to school?"

According to the Department of Education and Training, the homeroom teacher's instruction of students in writing an application to reserve their study results is not in accordance with regulations.

Specifically, according to Circular No. 32/2020 dated September 15, 2020 of the Ministry of Education and Training on promulgating the Charter of junior high schools, high schools and multi-level general schools, there is no provision for reserving students' learning results.

The student's application for retention of academic results with confirmation from the teacher and confirmation from the Principal is not in accordance with Circular No. 32/2020.

After that, many students who had applied to reserve their study results went back to school and took the high school graduation exam in 2025. Of these, 4 students passed the graduation exam.

In the 2025 high school graduation exam, the whole Dak Lak province had 32,418 candidates taking the exam. As a result, 31,881 candidates passed the high school graduation exam, reaching a rate of 98.34% (not yet reviewed).