VietNamNet Bridge - Some educators believe it would be better to hold final examinations at cities and provinces and no longer organize a national high school final exam.

Nguyen Xuan Trach, deputy director of the Vietnam National University of Agriculture, said that there was no need to organize a national exam just to discover a small percentage of students who fail the high school finals.

The university was assigned to host the exam rooms in Hai Duong province at the 2016 high school finals. 

At least 45 percent of the students there only wanted to obtain the high school diploma, not entry to university. And in many other remote areas, students go to school in unfavorable conditions. 

Therefore, Trach raises the same exam questions for students from different areas with different learning conditions.

Some educators believe it would be better to hold final examinations at cities and provinces and no longer organize a national high school final exam.

“It is unfair to use the same ‘ruler’ to measure the capability of the students throughout the country because this will put students in areas with less favorable conditions at a disadvantage,” he commented.

As for the universities’ enrolment, Trach believes that it would be better to allow schools to determine their enrolment plans. 

Schools can organize entrance exams or join forces to do this. In case schools cannot organize exams themselves, they can use the exam questions to be provided by the Ministry of Education and Training.

“Self-control and self-responsibility must be the principle,” he said. “The self-control in enrolment is an important right of schools.”

When asked if MOET should again apply the previous enrolment scheme, organizing two separate exams – the high-school finals and university entrance exams, Trach said that both exams were national exams.

If MOET authorizes local education & training departments to organize high school finals and assigns universities to hold university entrance exams, there will no longer be national exams.

Agreeing with Trach, Bui Trong Dac, director of the Hoa Binh Education & Training Department, said it would be better to assign local authorities to organize high school finals based on the conditions of the districts.

“It is too costly to organize national exams,” he said, adding that 300 lecturers and officers from universities have been mobilized to serve the 2016 high school finals in early July.

Van Nhu Cuong, headmaster of Luong The Vinh High School in Hanoi, said MOET should not organize the ‘2-in-1 exam’ as currently applied (students attend only one national exam for two purposes: finishing high school and applying for university).

“High school finals should be organized by local education departments, while universities should determine the enrolment method themselves,” he said.

Le Van