VietNamNet Bridge - Bad news has come in succession to intermediate schools. New regulations may lead to a lack of students.

Principals of intermediate schools (2-year training) can anticipate that they will have a difficult enrollment season this year with new rules from the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET).

Students just need to graduate high schools to be eligible to study at junior college (3-year training). 

In principle, students prefer junior college to intermediate school because the former is the higher education level. 

In principle, intermediate schools can look for students from secondary school graduates. However, due to the bad career guidance work at school, very few school graduates intend to go to vocational or intermediate school.

Therefore, intermediate schools fear that junior colleges would take away all students and leave no more one for them to enroll.

“As junior colleges have opened their doors too widely, I am afraid that students won’t want to go to intermediate school anymore,” a principal said.

Han Mac Khach, president of Mai Linh Intermediate School in HCM City, said the school enrolled over 100 students in 2015; most of them just finished secondary school.

Khach said he hopes to receive many secondary school graduates this year, while he does not think he can admit high school graduates, because the students would rather go to junior college.

Even the students of intermediate schools also want to continue with university education. Some students want to work after graduation but others want to transfer credits to university. 

According to Dang Van Sang, principal of Anh Sang Intermediate School in HCM City, in previous years, the school could find 1,000 students every year. 

About 90-95 percent of the students finished high school and took university entrance exams, but they could not have the required minimum exam scores to enter university or junior college. Therefore, going to intermediate school was their only choice.

But things will be different this year. “As the floor mark mechanism for junior college will be removed, students will apply for junior colleges instead of intermediate school,” he complained.

In principle, intermediate schools can look for students from secondary school graduates. However, due to the bad career guidance work at school, very few school graduates intend to go to vocational or intermediate school.

Intermediate schools have been informed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) that from 2012, hospitals and healthcare centers throughout the country will stop recruiting medical workers who have completed intermediate school. 

NLD