In the 10th grade entrance exam for the 2024-2025 school year, more than 6,000 ninth graders in Vinh city are really sitting on hot coals. In the past 10 years, this is probably the time when the path to public schools is becoming more difficult than ever when the number of students in Vinh city has increased by more than 800 students. Meanwhile, the quota for public schools is only about 2,000 students. Due to the large number of students taking the exam and low opportunities, correctly assessing students' abilities and differentiating them correctly will help them have the right orientation when registering for schools and choosing careers.
At Ha Huy Tap Secondary School (Vinh City) - the school with the largest number of students in the province, the differentiation of students is also given special attention by the school. In recent years, although considered a top quality school in Vinh City, the rate of students passing the entrance exams to specialized schools and public schools of Ha Huy Tap School is only about 60%, of which the rate of students passing the entrance exams to Huynh Thuc Khang High School and specialized schools is about 30%.
To prepare students well, at this time, the school is implementing many solutions at the same time such as organizing review sessions, mock exams, assessment tests and tutoring for students. The results of the tests will be one of the important bases to help differentiate students.
Speaking more about this, teacher Ha Le Hoa Binh - the school principal said: "The entrance exam to grade 10 in Vinh city is too difficult and next year will be more difficult than last year. Therefore, from the students' exam scores, we can divide the students into 3 groups. In which, group 1, those are students who can take the exam to enter public schools and specialized schools. However, this group is also divided into several levels to guide them to take the exam to enter public schools equivalent to their abilities. Group 2, weaker students, who are unlikely to pass the exam to enter public schools (such as average academic performance), we will guide them to register for non-public schools. Group 3, for students with limited abilities, we will guide them to study a trade.
Of the 558 students this school year, Ha Huy Tap Secondary School has also initially screened about 100 students in the bottom two groups. From now until the end of the exam, the homeroom teacher will review each student's ability and have a plan to tutor and further train them so that they can participate in the 10th grade entrance exam. In addition, the school also held a separate meeting with these parents to announce their study results and predict difficulties in the upcoming 10th grade entrance exam. The school also offered other options for parents to choose from in case their students fail to pass the public 10th grade exam. The school principal also added: The school only guides based on ability, while the decision-making power lies with parents and students. This is the final stage, if they are well prepared, the family will be proactive in choosing the right school.
Not only in Vinh city, the differentiation to stream students to the right target is also of interest to many other schools in the province. At Phuc Loi Secondary School - Hung Nguyen, a career orientation counseling conference for 130 grade 9 students was recently organized by the school in coordination with vocational schools in early April. In this program, in addition to introducing students to careers and enrollment plans of vocational schools, the school also focuses on orientation, career orientation and counseling. Previously, not only grade 9 students, but this task was regularly concerned by the school, from the time they first entered the school. Sharing about this, teacher Nguyen Dinh Nguyen - Principal of the school said: One of the important bases in the orientation of streaming is the students' learning results and this must be assessed during the 4 years of secondary school. Our experience shows that students with average or weak academic performance are unlikely to be admitted to public schools. Like last year, Pham Hong Thai High School - our school's admission area, the benchmark score was also up to 16.75 and only 82% of the school's students were admitted. This year, admission will be more difficult because not only Hung Nguyen students but also Vinh city students have increased. Many Vinh city students will choose Hung Nguyen to take the entrance exam to public grade 10, so the competition will be higher. If students do not have the ability, it will be very difficult to be admitted.
During the implementation process, the principal of Phuc Loi Secondary School also said that the school implemented the streaming for students on a voluntary basis. During that process, if parents connect with the school, the streaming will be more effective: Last year, our school had 10 students who did not take the 10th grade exam but were oriented to vocational training from the beginning because their abilities had certain limitations. Personally, I am happy with this result because not all students can study and take the exam well. Early orientation will avoid the pressure of admission and create a comfortable mindset for students when entering vocational schools, helping them to develop their abilities early - teacher Nguyen Dinh Nguyen added.
Each 10th grade admission season, Nghe An has about 40,000 students participating in the exam. Due to limited quotas, the number of students entering public schools is only about 70-75%. The rest have two choices: either to study at non-public schools, Continuing Education centers or they will go to vocational training according to their career orientation.
In order to implement the Party and State's policies on vocational education and student streaming, on May 14, 2018, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 522/QD-TTg approving the Project "Vocational education and student streaming orientation in general education for the period 2018 - 2025". In Nghe An, career streaming and guidance has also been implemented for quite a long time. Most recently, in 2021, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 3129/QD-UBND on approving the vocational education plan and student streaming orientation in general education in Nghe An province for the period 2021 - 2025 and set a target that each year Nghe An will have 20 - 25% of students being streamed to go to vocational training.
Reality also shows that career guidance for students is necessary. Because the facilities of public schools do not meet the needs of students. Meanwhile, if career guidance and orientation are not done well, it will lead to students dropping out of school after graduating from grade 9. This problem is even more practical in mountainous areas, because for many years, the rate of grade 9 students continuing to grade 10 is still very low, such as Ky Son 48%; Tuong Duong 52%; Con Cuong 63%; Que Phong 55%; Quy Chau 60%.
To enhance the effectiveness of the work of career guidance and orientation, localities are currently developing plans and creating all conditions for Continuing Education - Vocational Education Centers and vocational schools to facilitate enrollment. According to statistics, the number of students participating in Continuing Education - Vocational Education Centers or studying at vocational schools increases every year. However, in addition to the achieved results, the implementation process also shows that each year Nghe An still has many students graduating from grade 9 but not going to school or not learning a trade.
Sharing more about this, Mr. Le Van Hoa - Director of the Center for Vocational Education - Continuing Education of Ky Son district, worried: Every year, Ky Son has about 1,400 9th graders graduating and the target for public education is nearly 800 students. The remaining number, in theory, will be favorable for vocational schools or Continuing Education centers. However, in reality, it is not like that, every year, we are approved for 4 classes with 180 students but in reality, we can only recruit about 3 classes. The number of students after 3 years of study also gradually drops and remains the same as at the beginning of the school year, only about 81.71%. Of the remaining 500 students, the number of students going to vocational school is probably very small and they will drop out.
Analyzing the reasons, Mr. Le Van Hoa said that the reason why some students are not enthusiastic about continuing to go to school is because they are afraid of difficulties, hardships, and lazy to study. Besides, some students want to go to work early with their parents, some students want to stay at home or get married early, especially in mountainous districts.
“I think that at the age of 9th graders, if they go to work early, it will not be effective and they will not have many opportunities to find jobs or develop their careers. Therefore, if we orient them properly, we will help them equip themselves with more knowledge, skills and careers so that they can easily find jobs in the future, increase their income, and avoid the situation of students dropping out of school early, hanging around or getting married early,” added Mr. Le Van Hoa.
