VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam has to spend hundreds of billions of dong to organize high school finals every year. The same sum of money is spent on the university entrance exams.

An Ninh Thu Do newspaper, quoted its sources as reporting that a national high school exam costs hundreds of billions of dong. Meanwhile, Cong An Nhan Dan newspaper said Hanoi had to spend VND14.7 billion on the 2012 high school exam.

However, despite the big money spent, the high school finals do not have much significance. In 2012, the Ministry of Education and Training reported that 97.63 percent of students passed the high school finals. The same proportions were reported for the previous years.

Therefore, people believe that there’s no need to organize a national exam just to recognize the high school graduation for nearly 100 percent of students. Professor Dr. of Science -- Dao Trong Thi, Chair of the National Assembly’s Committee of Culture, Education, the Youth and Children, also thinks that no need to organize a national high school final exam.

In fact, the high school diploma does not have much value for the owners, because it’s nearly impossible to find jobs with just the high school diploma. Tens of thousands of university graduates have been staying redundant, let alone the candidates who just finish high school.

It’s obvious that students, their families and the society now have to spend big money in vain. After the high school finals, thousands of high school graduates have to gear up to prepare for the university entrance exams, which cost them more money and time.

Linh, who has just finished the 12th grade of the Kim Lien High School in Hanoi, said she did not have time to organize a party after she finished the high school finals, because she has to gear up for the preparation for the university entrance exams.

Linh, after leaving the exam room on June 4 afternoon, went directly to the math private tutoring class, where she has been going to for the last year to prepare for the math exam.

However, this is not the only math extra class Linh attends. She has also been learning math at home with a private tutor, who is a lecturer of the Hanoi University of Education.

“When you learn with different teachers, you can approach different ways of solving math questions and more adapted to the exam questions,” she explained.

Linh admitted that she is in a whirl with too many lessons these days. She has registered to attend the extra classes at different exam preparation centers. Besides, she learns with private tutors at home and she learns in groups with friends twice a week.

“I don’t only have to go to classes on Sunday evening. I still have to learn by myself, because I feel too worried about the exams, the most important ones in my life,” Linh said.

Linh’s mother complained that Linh’s lessons are very costly. She said that the family cannot buy any valuable thing over the last year, since the day Linh entered the 12th grade. A half of Linh’s parents’ income, about 15 million dong a month, has been spent on Linh’s study.

“Linh now has to learn harder than ever in the last month before the exam. The tuition for her lessons alone in the month is equal to my 3-month salary,” she complained.

Bui Nhung