Ensure the rights of students taking the 10th grade entrance exam, and strictly handle any violations found.

Illegal traffic flow

The principal of Nghi Quang Secondary School - Nghi Loc district said that the school has just issued a report explaining the students' complaints about not allowing their children to take the 10th grade entrance exam.

Previously, after the assessment exams of Nghi Loc Department of Education and Training and through actual learning results in class, studentsNMK - a 9C student at Nghi Quang Secondary School (Nghi Loc) was classified by the homeroom teacher as a streamed student.

On May 4, just 5 days before 10th graders in the province officially registered for the exam, K's homeroom teacher texted K's parents with the content: "K will not be able to participate in the entrance exam for grade 10. From this afternoon until the end of the class celebration, K will be home, and the family will take care of him. He will be considered for graduation without participating in the exam review. This is the school's announcement. We hope parents understand and sympathize."

After the homeroom teacher's message, the student's family thought that the school's prohibition of 9th graders from taking the entrance exam to high school was against the rules. Student NMK also said: I want to continue going to school. I don't want to fail high school and then stay home all day. I'm also too young to work.

The incident was then reported on social media and received many indignant comments from the public. As a homeroom teacher and a Math teacher in class 9C, teacher NTL admitted that she had sent such messages to parents and that the words in the messages were not accurate compared to the school's guidelines: Because I am a Math teacher, my language may not have reached the parents well and therefore the parents may have misunderstood the teacher's intentions. In fact, when I sent these messages, I wanted to inform the parents about the students' studies and wanted the parents to see their children's true abilities so that they could have a suitable alternative direction.

Immediately after this incident, Nghi Quang Secondary School also worked with the homeroom teacher to grasp the situation. Teacher Vo Trung Kien - Principal of Nghi Quang Secondary School said: We have investigated and requested the homeroom teacher of class 9C, assigned the Vice Principal to provide specific, clear and timely information for parents to know. Regarding the text message from the homeroom teacher of class 9C to the parents of student NMK, the school found that the homeroom teacher used words that were not true to the nature of the incident, causing parents to misunderstand that they would not let their children take the 10th grade entrance exam and take exam preparation classes at the school.

The school also accepted responsibility for the information sent by the homeroom teacher of class 9C that was not specific and did not reflect the true nature of the incident, leading to misunderstandings, and has taken corrective and remedial measures.

Currently, NMK students have registered for the 10th grade entrance exam and have participated in review sessions at school.

Ensure student rights

After the incident at Nghi Quang Secondary School, the Department of Education and Training of Nghi Loc District also issued a document to rectify the schools. At the same time, it requested to notify all parents and 9th grade students who are eligible for graduation recognition (including students who have been classified) that they have the right to take the entrance exam to grade 10. Schools also need to create favorable conditions in terms of means and organize for students to register for the entrance exam within the prescribed time.

In fact, the fact that some teachers do not allow students to take the 10th grade entrance exam has not only happened this school year but has been happening for many years. The main reasons are mainly for two reasons. Firstly, these are students with limited learning ability and according to teachers' assessment, it is difficult to pass the public entrance exam. For example, in class 9C - Nghi Quang Secondary School, the class has 29 students but in a recent survey by the Department of Education and Training of Nghi Loc district, only 2 students achieved an average score of 3 subjects above 15 points, the average score of 3 subjects Literature - Math - English of the class was only 10.76 points, there was a student with a score of only 5.9 points in 3 subjects. Meanwhile, the entrance standard scores of schools in the area are all approximately or above 15 points.

This year, when the number of students in the province increased dramatically, while the quota for public schools was only 70-75%, more than 25% of students in the province will not have the opportunity to pass the entrance exam to public schools (with more than 10,000 students). The pressure will be higher for districts, towns, and cities on the outskirts of Vinh city such as Nghi Loc, Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen, and Cua Lo town.

According to statistics in Nghi Loc district, this year the whole district increased by more than 500 students, but the 5 high schools in the area only increased by about 200 quotas. In addition to the pressure within the district, Nghi Loc students also face competition when each year about 700 students from Vinh city register to take the exam and take up about 500 admission quotas in neighboring schools such as Nguyen Duy Trinh High School, Nghi Loc 3 High School and Nghi Loc 4 High School.

In addition to the pressure of enrollment, many schools limit the number of students taking the 10th grade entrance exam because of achievements or pressure on quality. The problem is that currently, many localities base their rankings on the 10th grade entrance exam scores. To ensure outstanding scores, many schools have promoted students with weak or average academic performance not to take the 10th grade exam so as not to affect the overall exam scores and not to affect the commitment to ensure the quality of education in schools and teachers.

With the current rapid increase in the number of 9th grade students, much faster than the current school size, it is forecasted that in the coming years, the streaming work will continue to be implemented by secondary schools across the province, ensuring the target that each year 25-30% of 9th grade students who fail to enter 10th grade will go to vocational education institutions.

The problem now is that instead of dividing students mechanically or based only on their scores, schools need to step up propaganda and counseling so that parents and students can see the benefits of vocational training so that the division can be done entirely on a voluntary basis.

In addition, to make education more practical, instead of only evaluating the quality of schools based on the 10th grade exam scores, the Department should also evaluate the entire learning process, based on the survey scores of all students, including students with weak and average abilities. This will ensure accuracy, objectivity, and fairness, while avoiding pressure on schools in the race for "high scores" in the 10th grade entrance exam.

Previously, on the afternoon of May 11, Director of the Department of Education and Training Thai Van Thanh issued a document guiding a number of contents for implementing tasks at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. In particular, special attention was paid to strictly implementing the organization of review sessions for 9th grade students and guiding students to take the entrance exam to 10th grade.

Accordingly, the Department requested the Chairmen of the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to direct the Department of Education and Training to properly implement the streaming policy as well as create fair opportunities for all students. At the same time, it is clearly stated that all 9th ​​grade students who are eligible for graduation recognition have the right to take the entrance exam to grade 10.

The Department also requires schools to absolutely not prevent 9th graders who have been recognized as graduates from taking the 10th grade entrance exam. During the implementation process, the Department requires the Departments of Education and Training to inspect the implementation of their affiliated units. If violations are discovered, strict sanctions must be imposed.