What did the Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Giang say about the suspicion of unusually high exam scores?

On the morning of July 14, responding to the press regarding the controversy over the unusually high scores of the 2018 National High School Graduation Exam, Mr. Vu Van Su - Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Giang province said that there has been no conclusion on the suspicions in the exam supervision and grading process of the Department of Education and Training of this province.

“I have not yet concluded whether it is a breakthrough or an abnormality, it is still in the process of review. Now the press and public opinion say that, but I cannot speak according to public opinion, I have to speak according to reality. After having the results of a serious and objective review, then we will talk about how the story is. Innovation in education is something our whole country is doing and of course Ha Giang must also be in that machine,” said Mr. Vu Van Su.

Mr. Vu Van Su - Director of Ha Giang Department of Education and Training

Mr. Su also gave examples of the success of educational reform in Ha Giang province: “In the recent Young Math Talent Search, 9 students nationwide went to Singapore to compete in the final round, and 6 of them won medals, including 1 student from Ha Giang. The press also knew a lot about it. I think this is also a certain result.”

It is known that in the 2018 National High School Graduation Exam, the Department of Education and Training of Ha Giang coordinated with the Banking Academy and Ha Giang Pedagogical College to conduct the exam proctoring. The multiple-choice test marking process was supervised by the police, all activities must have minutes and signatures. In addition, the Ministry of Education and Training also sent 2 inspectors to the locality. The original exam score data has 2 disks, one is kept by the chairman of the council, Mr. Su, and the other is sent to the Ministry of Education and Training.

In response to public opinion about loopholes in the monitoring process, Mr. Su affirmed that the Ha Giang Department of Education and Training had done what needed to be done. The chosen test scoring location was very quiet and isolated from residential areas. The number of people participating in the scoring process included police, security guards, test scoring forces and good quality machines. In addition, there were many measures to enhance security and ensure objective safety.

“We installed a surveillance camera system to protect the place where the exam papers and exam records are kept in a confidential manner. The door is locked with two locks. The Head of the Examination Board holds one key and the Head of the Secretariat holds the other. And when that room is opened is as stated in the regulations. No matter how strict or how it is, everything must come from our own participation, awareness, responsibility and role towards ourselves, towards others and further, towards the people,” said Mr. Su.

Regarding the incident, on the evening of July 12, the Steering Committee for the 2018 National High School Exam sent an official dispatch to the Steering Committee for the Examination of Ha Giang Province. The dispatch stated that the Steering Committee for the 2018 National High School Exam had received feedback from the media about the results of the examinations showing signs of irregularities at the Examination Council of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Giang Province.

The Steering Committee for the 2018 National High School Exam requested the Steering Committee for the 2018 National High School Exam in Ha Giang province to inspect, review, and verify all stages of the exam and report in writing to the Steering Committee for the 2018 National High School Exam before July 17.

Previously, information spread on social networks that Ha Giang's 2018 national high school exam scores were unusually high. In particular, the percentage of candidates with high scores in block A1 in this province accounted for nearly 50% compared to the whole country. Specifically, the whole country had only 76 candidates with a score of 27 points or higher in block A1, while Ha Giang had 36 candidates with this score, accounting for 47.37% of the whole country.

It is worth mentioning that the number of candidates nationwide is 170 times that of Ha Giang province, with 925,000 candidates, while Ha Giang has only 5,500 candidates.

There is also an unusual suspicion in Math when 50 candidates have scores from 8 to 8.75, and 57 have scores from 9 and above.

Although many candidates achieved high scores, Ha Giang's high school graduation rate this year was only 89.35%, among the lowest in the country.

Another figure cited on forums is that in the Physics exam in Ha Giang, 65 candidates scored 9 or higher, while only 28 candidates scored 8 to below 9.

According to experts, this is unusual because the general rule is that candidates who score from 8 to below 9 should have a higher percentage of 9 or more to be reasonable.