The content of the 2019 national high school exam is mainly grade 12 knowledge.

On the morning of May 14, under the chairmanship of Comrade Phung Xuan Nha - Member of the Party Central Committee, Minister of Education and Training, the National Examination Steering Committee held an online conference with the Examination Steering Committees of 63 provinces and cities on the National High School Exam and university and college admissions in 2019.

On the Nghe An side, there was comrade Le Minh Thong - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, Head of the Steering Committee for the National High School Exam of Nghe An province, along with representatives of a number of relevant departments, agencies, and universities and colleges located in the province. Photo: My Ha

Tightening security for national high school exams

Speaking at the online conference, Director of the Department of Quality Management (Ministry of Education and Training) Mai Van Trinh said: The 2019 National High School Exam is still a "2 in 1" exam to obtain results for national high school graduation recognition and as a basis for university and vocational education admissions.

However, this year's exam has some new features such as clearly stating that the exam content is within the national high school program, mainly the 12th grade program.

The Ministry also stipulates to increase the ratio of exam results in considering high school graduation recognition (70% of the average score of the National High School Exams is used to consider high school graduation, 30% of the average score of the entire 12th grade year) instead of the previous ratio of 50:50 to increase the meaning and nature of the National High School Exam.

Foreign Language review hour of students at Cua Lo 2 High School. Photo: My Ha

To ensure the safety of the National High School Exam, the Ministry also has some adjustments in organization and technique in this year's exam such as promoting the role of universities and colleges in organizing the exam; strict regulations on exam room arrangement, independent candidates, candidates who are GDTX students must take the same exam with candidates who are 12th grade high school students; the exam storage area is secured 24/7.

Regarding marking, the Ministry of Education and Training directly directs the organization of marking multiple-choice tests, assigns the task to the universities to preside over and install cameras to monitor the examination rooms. For essay tests, strict regulations are put in place to isolate the marking sheets, keep the number of sheets confidential, and strictly implement the marking of two independent rounds.

Increase enrollment quota for pedagogy majors

Regarding the National High School Exam, Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Phung - Head of the Department of Education and Higher Education (Ministry of Education and Training) also said that this year, the whole country has more than 2.5 million wishes to register for universities. Although this rate decreased by 6.3% compared to the previous school year, it did not fluctuate much because the number of candidates decreased compared to previous years. On average, each candidate registered nearly 4 wishes.

The representative of the Ministry of Education and Training also said that this year the quota for teacher training schools is higher than last year with about 60,000 quotas. The quota consideration is based on the teacher training needs through the 2017 survey.

Consulting on preparing documents for the National High School Exam for students of Nam Dan 1 High School. Photo: My Ha

Accordingly, from 2016 to 2020, the country needs to train nearly 190,000 teachers (an average of 47,000 teachers per year). In 2019 alone, the enrollment target will increase to ensure that there is no shortage of teachers for provinces and cities. According to a survey, in 2018, the country lacked about 75,000 teachers (mainly preschool and primary schools).

In fact, in recent years, schools have only been able to recruit about 60% of their quotas because the Ministry of Education and Training has tightened admissions. Last year, the minimum score for the education sector was 17 points.

No pressure on the National High School Exam

Speaking at the online conference, Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha affirmed that the national high school exam is not new and should not create great pressure for students, parents and schools. This is basically a large-scale test of knowledge and skills for all 12th grade students nationwide and candidates only need to review and closely follow the reference exam questions.

Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha speaks at the conference. Photo: My Ha

For the exam to take place smoothly, it is necessary to promote the leading spirit in each locality, assign the right people, the right responsibilities, the right procedures, and absolutely no "flexibility".

In addition, it is necessary to fully prepare conditions to ensure the good organization of the exam such as facilities, select a team of invigilators to ensure seriousness and responsibility, develop and implement a plan to mobilize departments, branches, unions and social organizations to participate in organizing the exam. At the same time, there must be a backup plan to handle any unusual situations that may arise, ensuring the organization of the exam is safe, serious and effective.

It is expected that during this exam, in addition to local inspection teams, the Ministry will also establish mobile inspection teams to inspect exam preparation work in localities.

However, even if the exam is carefully prepared, the Minister also requested that localities not be subjective, strictly follow regulations, ensure the organization of the exam is safe and serious, and create trust in the whole society.