VietNamNet Bridge – New policies and reform programs developed by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) have caused controversy, including a recent decision to combine the annual national high school exam and university entrance exam.

The combined test will be applied in the 2014-2015 academic year.

The decision was made after many years of discussion and consultation between involved parties.

Tran Duc Canh, an educator, noted that the new exam scheme does not include major changes if compared with the existing one, except for the fact that there will be one national exam instead of two at present.

He thinks that the new test can be used because it is a “safe” solution that will not shock students familiar with traditional teaching and exam styles.

However, he thinks it will not be an optimal solution for the long term, saying that with the currently applied teaching and learning methods, it will be hard to assess students’ abilities through only one exam.

Students will have three exam subjects, including math, literature and a foreign language, and one optional subject - physics, chemistry, biology, history or geography.

The results of the exam will determine if students graduate from high school and can be admitted to universities, colleges or vocational training institutions.

“I hope the new exam is just a temporary one to be applied in the upcoming transitional period, because students’ abilities cannot be demonstrated on the exam,” he said.

“Vietnam needs to make a breakthrough which allows it to reform to satisfy the problems of global integration, while we don’t need a “safe solution”.

Meanwhile, Professor Tran Xuan Nhi, former Deputy Minister of Education and Training, said students will only spend their time to learn the subjects, while they will not pay attention to other subjects.

If so, the main purpose of general education – providing basic multidisciplinary knowledge -- will fail.

Nhi pointed out that producing high school graduates with poor knowledge will be the most serious problem of national education.

The students, who plan to study natural sciences, would neglect social science subjects. Analysts have rung the alarm bell over Vietnamese students’ lack of knowledge about Vietnamese history, life skills or social issues.

MOET has also put forward a series of solutions it believes can help reform the national education system. However, the solutions either faced heavy criticism or were seen as “utopian”.

Le Kien, who is the parent of a 11th grader, wrote in an email to VietNamNet, that he is getting tired of the “useless initiatives” taken by MOET.

Some days ago, MOET suggested a restructuring plan, under which students would spend five years at primary school, five years at secondary school and two years at high schools, instead of the current 5-4-3 structure. However, the plan was canceled after it faced the strong opposition from the public.

Compiled by C. V