Ms. Nguyen Thi Hong Tham, homeroom teacher of class 12D1 at Gia Dinh High School, Ho Chi Minh City, guides students in completing the 2016 national high school exam registration form - Photo: Nhu Hung

The 2016 University and College Entrance Exam Regulations clearly state: “Candidates are responsible for the authenticity of the information in their application and registration documents. Schools have the right to refuse to accept or expel candidates if they do not meet the admission requirements when comparing the information in their application and registration documents with the original documents.”

Reality shows that no admission season has had as many cases of candidates passing and failing as in 2015, and most of these cases were due to wrongly establishing priority subjects and regions in admission.

Avoid confusion when establishing priorities

In last year's admissions, many errors and mistakes in determining candidates' priority were discovered by universities when candidates came to submit their admission applications.

All the candidates who passed and failed at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics declared that they belonged to priority group 06, which is "children of people who participated in the resistance war to liberate the nation, protect the Fatherland and perform international duties" (1 point added - PV).

When submitting their application for the national high school exam, candidates submitted documents to receive priority and were checked for authenticity by the school's document receiving department and the high school principal, but they were still incorrect.

In the dispatches sent by the Department of Education and Training of Phu Yen province to the Ministry of Education and Training, reporting on the incident of three candidates from this province who failed the exam, it was stated: “The above candidates all have fathers who participated in international service in the Cambodian battlefield (with a certificate from the provincial military command). When filling out the registration form, the students did not understand the regulations, and the teachers did not give thorough instructions, so they mistakenly thought they belonged to priority group 06.”

More unusually, candidate Nguyen Xuan Anh Tuan (Quang Ngai) after a month of enrolling in the general medicine program at the University of Medicine and Pharmacy - Hue University, received a notice that he did not have enough points to pass the exam for this major. Similar to the candidates mentioned above, Tuan had incorrectly listed the priority group (group 06).

Many candidates, parents and even officers in charge of receiving application documents of high schools are still confused in the case of subject 04 (belonging to priority group 1, with 2 points added - PV).

Hoang Thi Anh Thuong - a student at Ngo Gia Tu High School, Vinh Phuc province - went to Hanoi University of Pharmacy to complete admission procedures but was refused admission because the school said that this candidate was not in the priority group 04 and did not have enough points to pass the exam.

"When I applied for the national high school entrance exam at Ngo Gia Tu High School, I brought the record of my father's labor capacity assessment - 81% disability issued by the Vinh Phuc Provincial Medical Assessment Council to the school and the school entered it into the data sent to the Ministry of Education and Training that I was in priority group 04" - this candidate said.

According to the regulations on admission to full-time universities and colleges, subject 04 includes: children of martyrs; children of war invalids with a labor capacity reduction of 81% or more; children of sick soldiers with a labor capacity reduction of 81% or more; children of resistance fighters infected with toxic chemicals with a labor capacity reduction rate of 81% or more; children of people granted "a certificate of beneficiaries of policies for war invalids, who have a certificate of beneficiaries of policies for war invalids with a labor capacity reduction of 81% or more"; children of heroes of the armed forces, children of heroes of labor; people with deformities or disabilities due to the consequences of toxic chemicals, receiving monthly allowances, and biological children of resistance fighters; Children of people with revolutionary contributions specified in points a, b, d, clause 1, article 2 of the Ordinance on preferential treatment for people with revolutionary contributions No. 26/2005/PL-UBTVQH11 dated June 29, 2005, amended and supplemented by Ordinance No. 04/2012/UBTVQH13 dated July 16, 2012.

Meanwhile, the father of contestant Hoang Thi Anh Thuong is only a worker with 81% loss of working capacity, so he does not fall under the above regulations.

Modifications to priority areas

According to the revised and supplemented regulations, from the 2016 enrollment period, subject 01 in priority group 1 (specified in Article 7 of the regulations) must be "Vietnamese citizens who are ethnic minorities, with permanent residence (during high school) for over 18 months in Region 1".

Compared to previous regulations, this priority subject is narrower and more specific: it does not apply to communes in Zone 2 and Zone 3 and requires mandatory time of permanent residence registration.

Regarding the regional priority policy, this year the Ministry of Education and Training has revised and supplemented the content on the place of study and high school graduation as follows: “Candidates who continuously study and graduate from high school in a region will enjoy priority according to that region. If they transfer schools during the three years of high school, the longer study time in the region will enjoy priority according to that region. If each year they study at a school in regions with different priority levels, or half the study time is in this school, half the study time is in another school, then the region they graduate from will enjoy priority according to that region. This regulation applies to all candidates, including candidates who graduated before the year of the entrance exam.”

For cases entitled to preferential points based on permanent residence, the specific regulations are as follows: “Students with permanent residence (during high school) for over 18 months in communes of Region 3 and communes with extremely difficult villages in ethnic and mountainous areas according to the decision of the Minister, Chairman of the Ethnic Committee; extremely difficult communes in coastal and island areas; extremely difficult communes, border communes, and safe zone communes in the investment area of ​​Program 135 according to the decision of the Prime Minister, if studying high school (or intermediate) at a location in a district or town with at least one of the above communes”. Regarding the regulations on regions, to calculate preferential points, Region 2 adds: “Towns and cities under provinces; towns and suburban districts of centrally run cities (except for communes in Region 1)”.