Teachers and students in Nghe An wish to reduce the workload in the 10th grade entrance exam

Nghe An Newspaper recorded the opinions of many teachers surrounding this issue.

Teacher Nguyen Van Hao - Principal of Luc Da Secondary School (Con Cuong district)

Like many other localities in difficult areas, in the past few days, organizing teaching for students in our school has been very difficult, although the school has organized online teaching and implemented the official timetable. As for grade 9 students, currently the whole school has 104 students but the most complete online class of the whole grade has only 40 students. For the remaining students, we have asked homeroom teachers and subject teachers to contact and directly give homework to them, but not all students are aware and attend classes fully.

Despite great efforts, only about 40% of students fully participate in each online class of 9th graders at Luc Da Secondary School. Photo: PV

If the school break continues, I think the quality of teaching for this year’s final year students will be affected and that will also affect their revision. Students will not even have time to review for exams if the school program ends on July 8. Meanwhile, most students in Con Cuong do not attend extra classes and their revision depends mainly on teaching at schools.

I am worried that there will be students who neglect their studies, follow their parents to work far away and maybe they will not pass the 10th grade entrance exam. Like previous years, the school had to mobilize and encourage regularly to get about 75% of students to register for 10th grade.

In this context, I hope the Department will make adjustments to the 10th grade entrance exam to suit the current situation. This will also reduce pressure on students and teachers and make students more excited about going back to school.

Teacher Bành Thị Thúy Hà – Principal of Nghi An Secondary School – Vinh City

Before the 10th grade entrance exam this year, I was very worried because the exam was approaching and students' studying and reviewing were still difficult. At our school, since the end of March, we have switched to teaching the official timetable for students. The school has been very active, but the studying can only be said to be okay. Obviously, compared to teaching directly in class, teaching and reviewing through online teaching is much more difficult and the effectiveness cannot be compared.

9th graders' revision this school year has been difficult because their school schedules have been disrupted for many months. Photo: My Ha

From this reality, I hope that the Department will make appropriate adjustments to the upcoming 10th grade entrance exam. First of all, I hope that the Department will reduce the number of exam subjects and focus on the three main subjects: Literature - Math - Foreign Language to reduce pressure on students.

In addition, the exam content also needs to be reduced in accordance with the spirit of reducing the workload of the Ministry of Education and Training, focusing mainly on the knowledge of the first semester. After announcing the exam subjects, we also hope that the Department will soon announce the sample exam questions so that schools can base on them to build review plans for students.

Student Le Van Phu - class 9A - Doi Cung Secondary School - Vinh city.

Compared to their seniors in the previous class, this year's 9th graders are at a disadvantage because their school schedules are interrupted and they do not have many opportunities to study directly with teachers. In the past, I mainly studied online in forms such as reviewing on TV, studying online with teachers at school or doing my own exercises through sets of questions. However, because I did not interact much with teachers, if I encountered difficult exercises, it took me longer to solve them.

Online learning is the solution for student Le Van Phu and his friends during this time. Photo: My Ha

Currently, the school has organized teaching according to the official timetable, but it is not easy to fully grasp the knowledge of the subjects. Therefore, in the upcoming exam, if the Department continues to test 4 subjects (including a combined subject of English + a randomly drawn subject), it will be very difficult for students in the review process. I personally hope that the Department will soon adjust like some other provinces and cities to reduce pressure on students.

Teacher Phan Trong Dong - Principal of Dien Chau 3 High School

I think that at this time, if the Department of Education and Training conducts 3 exams, it is in accordance with the previous instructions of the Ministry and this is completely normal. This year in particular, in the context of students having to take a long break from school, it is extremely necessary. I also agree if the Department chooses the option of the 3rd exam subject being Foreign Language because this is a very necessary subject at present and meets the development trend.

Candidates taking the 2019 Grade 10 Entrance Exam at Le Hong Phong High School (Hung Nguyen). Photo: Duc Anh

Many students are also concerned that taking only 3 subjects will affect the results of the 10th grade entrance exam. But in reality, taking 3 subjects will not have a big impact because for a long time, the 10th grade entrance exam has been basically implemented according to the region. Moreover, I believe that, in the past, although students had to take a long break from school, the industry still closely directed the teaching and learning in schools. Therefore, if students study the textbooks carefully, stay calm and confident when doing the test, they will have good results in the 10th grade entrance exam.

Previously, talking about the 10th grade entrance exam this year, Mr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of the Department of Education and Training said: Due to the long school break, in the next exam, the Department will ask the province to adjust the exam subjects. Specifically, according to the plan, from 4 exam subjects (including Math - Literature - Foreign Language combined exam + 1 4th randomly drawn subject) will be reduced to 3 exam subjects: Math - Literature - Foreign Language.

Currently, the Department is also developing an adjustment plan and is expected to submit it to the Provincial People's Committee next week.