Many localities in Nghe An are still 'hot' for public 10th grade admission

"Tight" quotas for public schools

Upon receiving the 10th grade entrance exam plan just announced by the Department of Education and Training, Mr. Hai Anh (Truong Thi Ward - Vinh City) whose child is preparing for the 10th grade entrance exam cannot help but worry. Previously, when comparing his child's 4-year academic performance at Truong Thi Secondary School, he found that his child's academic performance was only average, so his family oriented him to apply to Le Viet Thuat High School with the hope of being admitted to a public school. However, currently, although this school only has 630 quotas, there are 1,176 applications for the exam, the competition rate is higher than previous years and the admission rate is only about 53%, making his family very worried.

With the number of applications higher than expected, his family also considered changing their child's preference to a lower-ranked school. However, this was almost impossible because the number of applications from schools in Vinh and neighboring schools was quite large and none of the schools were recruiting for the second choice.

Enrolling in public schools is always a difficult choice for students in Vinh city. Photo: My Ha

This parent also said that currently, the Department of Education and Training only has about 75% of the quota for public schools, but it "opens up" many other opportunities for candidates to enter advanced classes at 3 high schools: Le Viet Thuat High School, Ha Huy Tap High School and Huynh Thuc Khang High School.

However, the wish of those families is to send their children to public classes because tuition is low, student quality is better, and it reduces the economic burden for many families.

In fact, the concern of Mr. Hai Anh and many other parents in Vinh city is well-founded. Looking at the number of candidates registering for Thai Lao High School - a school in Hung Nguyen district but only a few kilometers from the city, we can clearly see that. According to the school's statistics, this year there are 621 applications for the exam. However, of these, only about 450 applications are from students in the district, the rest are from schools in Vinh city, of which Doi Cung Secondary School has 18 students, Cua Nam Secondary School has 38 students, and secondary schools in Vinh Tan, Le Loi, Hung Dung, Le Mao, Quang Trung wards have from 3 to 9 students each.

Students in Vinh city have registered for the exam at our school for many years. However, this year the number has increased dramatically, making the competition rate for grade 10 at the school very high, nearly 2 candidates for 1. Objectively, students registering is their right according to regulations. However, that will cause difficulties for students in the area and may cause the entrance exam scores to be higher than previous years.

Teacher Luu Thanh Tra - Vice Principal of Thai Lao High School said:

The "hot" enrollment in grade 10 in Vinh city was predicted. However, this year seems to be "hotter" as the admission rate of schools in the area is lower than previous years by 5 - 10%, although the Department of Education and Training has previously increased the quota for public schools in Vinh with more than 300 quotas and increased the number of students in each class to a maximum of 42 - 45 students/class.

Regarding the enrollment work of Le Viet Thuat High School this year, teacher Hoang Minh Luong - Principal of the school said: In the 2023 - 2024 school year, the number of students initially registered was 1,176, an increase of 150 students compared to the previous year. However, our school has increased its quota with 17 classes, in which in addition to 14 traditional enrollment classes, 1 IELTS enrollment class, the school has 2 advanced program classes. Thus, compared to last year, the school's quota has increased by 125 students, so the actual enrollment rate will reach about 70%, higher than last year.

Principal of Le Viet Thuat High School also added: Depending on the actual situation, there may be candidates who change their wishes after taking the exam, but this fluctuation is not much because before taking the exam, candidates have researched quite carefully based on their own abilities.

Candidates taking the 10th grade entrance exam. Photo: My Ha

At Huynh Thuc Khang High School, teacher Phan Xuan Phan - the school's principal said that the number of applications to the school has increased by 62 students. The school's quota has increased by 42 students compared to last year, so the competition is not much different.

It is worth noting that, based on the number of applications, in theory, the school's admission rate will be from 48 - 50%, but in reality it can change, depending on the number of students who register for the school but study at specialized schools. "This year, candidates can change their wishes after taking the exam and the number of students registering for specialized schools can be from 400 - 500. Therefore, I think the school's admission rate can be from 80 - 85%. However, because the quality of candidates registering for the school is quite high, the admission score will be higher than other schools in the province," said teacher Phan Xuan Phan.

Regional distance

According to the 10th grade admission plans of the Department of Education and Training, this year 70 public schools in the province all use the 10th grade entrance exam because the number of students registering for the exam is higher than the enrollment quota of the schools. However, the admission rate between top schools and schools in the city has a large difference compared to many schools in the districts.

For example, Tuong Duong 1 High School, this year according to the school's plan, will enroll 450 students. However, the number of applications is 473, the admission rate is over 95%. Muong Qua High School (Con Cuong) enrolls 168 students but only has 192 applications. Yen Thanh 2 High School has 504 targets but only has 514 applications. In fact, not only is the number of applications low, but after the results are out, the number of students registering to study is also not much, even though students have been admitted, especially in mountainous districts.

Students of Luu Kien Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities (Tuong Duong) register for 10th grade admission. Photo: NTCC

The principal of a junior high school in Con Cuong district also shared a story of inadequacies when there were years when more than 40% of the school's students did not register for the 10th grade entrance exam. Meanwhile, the district assigned the school a quota to mobilize students to attend school.

To achieve the set target, the school requires homeroom teachers to closely monitor students, take students to exams, and encourage them not to drop out of school... After completing the 9th grade program, the school must keep students at school until the day they take the exam.

The difference between the upstream and downstream regions also shows some shortcomings in the admission work.Grade 10This year. That also explains why, in the previous exam, many city students registered for NV2 and NV3 in mountainous schools to increase their chances of admission. This year, this situation did not happen much, but it is expected that after candidates complete the 10th grade entrance exam, some schools will have changes.

Exam cards for candidates taking the 10th grade entrance exam have been prepared by many examination councils. Photo: My Ha

Talking about this, teacher Duong Son - Principal of Kim Lien High School (Nam Dan) said: At this time, the competition ratio is 527 applications/462 assigned quotas. However, I think that when changing wishes, this ratio will be tight because a part of students registering for the exam at Thai Lao High School will switch to register at Kim Lien High School to easily pass the exam.

Adjustments

With the above facts, this year's 10th grade entrance exam has been adjusted. That is, instead of students being allowed to change their preferences after schools announce the admission rate, students now have 4 days to change their preferences after completing the exam. This will help students be more proactive in registering for admission and increase their chances of being admitted to public schools.

For Vinh city, the Department of Education and Training has opened 4 more advanced classes at Le Viet Thuat High School and Ha Huy Tap High School to solve the problem of few classes and few schools. In addition, this year, students registering for advanced classes will have an easier time with two admission options, which are Foreign Language certificates and 10th grade admission scores instead of the rather troublesome criteria of "must pass a public school" as in previous years.

Nguyen Xuan On High School prepares documents for candidates taking the 10th grade entrance exam. Photo: My Ha

To facilitate schools, especially in mountainous districts, the Department of Education and Training also allows schools that do not meet their enrollment quota to enroll additional students based on their academic records and results. In some non-public schools, to retain students, many schools also have scholarship policies and early enrollment priority for students who register for NV1 at the school based on their academic records. Thanks to these changes, the division of candidates has become clearer and the remaining race with public schools depends on the ability and scores of the candidates.