Thanh Hoa Department of Education and Training speaks out

On October 23, Ms. Bui Thi Thanh, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Thanh Hoa province, spoke out about the issue of many high school students in Thanh Hoa who had just been admitted to schools requesting transfers, and some students who failed the entrance exam but passed after transferring schools, as reported by Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper.

Dao Duy Tu High School, where dozens of students have transferred to study. Photo: Tuan Minh

According to Ms. Thanh, to avoid a mass transfer of students, the Department of Education requires schools to report to the Department before transferring students, while the decision to transfer students rests with the principals of the two schools. "In previous years, the Department only allowed transfers at the end of the first semester, but according to the new curriculum, the Ministry of Education and Training requires transfers at the beginning or end of the school year to create better conditions for students, so the Department agrees to allow transfers at the beginning of the new school year. The Department's initialing is to prevent chaotic transfers, not to force or dictate which schools must accept which students. The decision remains between the two schools, and the initialing by the Department's leadership and myself is objective, impartial, and without any corruption," Ms. Thanh explained.

Regarding cases of students transferring to new schools with low entrance scores, or even students who failed the entrance exam but later returned to the school, Ms. Thanh admitted that she did not have complete information on this matter, as the schools' reports did not specify the scores. "We also see that this process is not rigorous enough, and the department will rectify the situation in the schools and learn from this experience for future years," Ms. Thanh said.

Regarding the three cases of students who initially failed but later passed after transferring to Ham Rong High School, Ms. Thanh explained that since the students have already transferred and are currently studying there, no disciplinary action will be taken. She also affirmed that the department will strictly review transfers from schools with low entrance scores to higher-scoring schools. "Actually, the department only requests that schools approve these transfer requests if they deem it reasonable; the department doesn't have complete information on all cases," the Deputy Director of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Department of Education and Training explained.

Ms. Bui Thi Thanh also acknowledged that the regulations on school transfers do not specify whether students must have low or high grades to be eligible for transfer; they only require students to be enrolled in the public school system. Therefore, loopholes can sometimes be exploited to "circumvent" the rules during the transfer process.

In this student's case, the student lives very close to both the school and the school, and there was no particular reason for the transfer, yet the transfer was approved. Photo: Tuan Minh

As reported by Nguoi Lao Dong newspaper, the 2024-2025 school year has only just begun, but in Thanh Hoa province, there is already a widespread problem of students requesting school transfers. Most of these transfers are unjustified according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, and in some cases, students even have lower entrance scores than the receiving school, causing public outrage.

In Thanh Hoa province, besides Lam Son Specialized High School, schools located in Thanh Hoa City such as Dao Duy Tu High School, Ham Rong High School, and Nguyen Trai High School are considered high-quality schools. These schools have excellent training quality, and entrance exam scores are always very high, so students must have good or excellent academic performance to compete for admission to these schools.

However, at the beginning of the new school year, these schools have already had dozens of students transfer in. Specifically, Ham Rong High School has 11 tenth-grade students transferred in, Nguyen Trai High School has 7 tenth-grade students, and Dao Duy Tu High School has 7 students. Not to mention, dozens more eleventh and twelfth-grade students have been accepted by these schools. These students usually come from schools on the outskirts of Thanh Hoa City, located in Quang Xuong, Dong Son, Hoang Hoa districts, Sam Son City, etc., or even transfer back and forth between these schools.

Most students who were recently admitted to schools they had applied to for the 2024-2025 school year, either through entrance exams or second-choice applications, have already submitted requests to transfer to higher-quality schools. This has angered many parents, who believe that the transfer process creates a "loophole" allowing some parents to have their children take entrance exams at schools with low admission scores, then apply to transfer their children to higher-scoring, better-quality schools without having to compete in the entrance exams.

This is the school where three students previously failed the entrance exam, but these three students have now returned to study after being allowed to transfer to another school. Photo: Tuan Minh

This is clearly demonstrated by cases such as: PTKM transferring from To Hien Thanh High School to Nguyen Trai High School with only an entrance score of 29.3, while the school's cutoff score was 31.7; NLNA was admitted to Dong Son 2 High School (Dong Son district) with 29.8 points; NTMA was admitted to Nguyen Mong Tuan High School (Dong Son district) with an entrance score of 31.6, both were transferred to Dao Duy Tu High School, while the cutoff score for that school was 32.9; NHH was admitted to Nguyen Mong Tuan High School with a score of 32, but was still transferred to Ham Rong High School, a school with a cutoff score of up to 35.8...

Notably, three students failed the entrance exam to Ham Rong High School for the 2024-2025 school year (the entrance score for this school is 35.8), but all three have now returned to the school they failed to attend, after receiving a "signature" from the leaders of the Thanh Hoa Provincial Department of Education and Training agreeing to their transfer.

When working with reporters, most principals "pass the buck" to the department, and some even explained that many cases of transfer requests involved "connections" with higher authorities, making it impossible to refuse.

Source: https://danviet.vn/vu-hoc-sinh-thpt-vua-trung-tuyen-da-chuyen-truong-so-gddt-thanh-hoa-len-tieng-20241023125636914.htm