Some parents complain that some teachers force their children who do not have high academic marks not to register for the entrance exam to public school. 

In Vietnam, secondary school graduates have two choices, either high school or vocational school. As the number of seats at public high schools is limited, students have to compete for seats by attending entrance exams. Those who fail the exams will either go to a private high school or to a vocational school. 

People say that the teachers force students not to attend the entrance exams for public high school because of the ‘achievement disease’. They fear that if the students fail the exams, this will affect their schools’ fame or reputation. 

The information has caused anger among the public as such requirements violate the students' right to study. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has asked schools and authorities to verify the information and strictly punish violators. 

The deputy head of the Cau Giay District Education and Training Sub-department on April 20 affirmed that the phenomenon of forcing students not to attend entrance exams for public high schools does not occur in the district. 

“It may happen that parents and students misunderstand teachers. When teachers talk about the academic results of students, they may think that the teachers are ‘coercing’ students to apply to certain schools,” he said. 

In other words, schools are just offering consultations so that students and parents can make appropriate choices. 

However, parents are still angry. They said the phenomenon occurs every year. When students prepare to finish secondary schools, they are ‘advised’ by teachers not to apply for public high schools because even if they attend the entrance exams, they will surely fail. 

A report shows that as many as 500 students finishing secondary school in one district did not attend the exams in some years. 

The Hanoi Education and Training Department therefore had to set a regulation that parents hand in a petition stating that their children voluntarily did not attend entrance exams for high school. 

A representative of the respective agencies explained that the requirement is aimed at preventing schools from hindering weak students from attending exams to enter public schools. 

However, despite the regulation, parents still complain that their children are forced to not apply for public schools. Teachers have even asked parents to send a petition stating that their children voluntarily did not attend exams to enter public high school and instead chose to study at vocational schools. 

In June 2020, some parents at Thanh Tri Secondary School in Hoang Mai district denounced the school for putting pressure on weak students and asking the students not to apply for public high schools, saying that with their poor learning capacity, it would be impossible to pass the exams. 

But attending the exams is a decision of students and parents, and they must take responsibility for the decision. The schools must not deprive students of the opportunities to sit the exams and apply for public schools. 

In the same year, parents at Phu La Secondary School in Ha Dong denounced the school for asking some parents to write petitions and promise not to let their children to attend exams to public high school. 

Both schools later denied this. They said that at the parents’ meetings, they only reported the academic results of students and gave advice, and the students and parents made the final decisions. 

In 2021, parents again complained about the same thing. Some parents in Hoang Mai district said they were invited to ‘private meetings’ where the teachers ‘advised’ them to apply for private schools instead of public schools, and the teachers would help ‘embellish’ school reports so that students could easily apply for the schools.

Thanh Hung