Most of the negative education discovered by the press

"Most of the negative cases we have recently dealt with were reported by the press. The number of violations discovered by the education sector itself is still small...", Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan said.

Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan has just signed document No. 2998 to the Chairmen of the People's Committees of provinces and centrally-run cities on directing the high school graduation exam and university and college entrance exams in 2013.

Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan

In this document, Minister Pham Vu Luan requested the chairmen of local People's Committees to: "Instruct media agencies to discuss carefully with responsible agencies before publishing sensitive information related to exam questions such as leaked exam questions, exam questions with errors, negative events in the exam... (if any)".

This document has caused quite a strong reaction from public opinion. On the sidelines of the National Assembly on the morning of May 21, the press had a discussion with Minister Pham Vu Luan about this issue. Minister Luan explained:

- No one said that posting news is forbidden. If reporters receive that information, they can just post it, even report it to the school. If the Ministry or any other place receives it but does not handle it, the press agency can still continue to post it, and even post information that: We have reported it but this agency, this person or that person has not handled the negative information in education thoroughly.

I agree with creating pressure for the whole society to fight against negative things in education closely. However, we must be careful. We just hear information and then give it without verifying it. Especially when students are doing their homework, what if they get shocked and cannot do it?

The Ministry of Education and Training has issued a notice directing press agencies to discuss thoroughly with the responsible agencies before publishing news about violations and negative aspects in exams to consider carefully and guide public opinion properly. Because there has been a phenomenon of this newspaper or that newspaper, especially the "online" newspapers, hearing about it, publishing it, then verifying it the next day, the incident is not true. This leaves bad consequences.

Therefore, we suggest that the press report the news, consider carefully, do not just listen to it and report it. We should discuss carefully, make correct assessment before reporting. We should discuss with the police and the inspection agency on education and training and coordinate investigation, verification, and separation for handling. If you have provided the news and somewhere received the news but kept it hidden and did not handle it, you can post it, the Ministry will never cover it up. We should fight against negativity in education in a responsible and quality manner to ensure an exam environment for students.

The Ministry of Education and Training is determined to fight against corruption in exams, not excluding the management agencies and teachers who are also involved in such things. Although teachers objected, the Ministry met with the principals of the schools and decided to allow recording devices to be brought into the exam rooms, but not to broadcast live.

This is to collect negative evidence to resolutely handle this issue. At press conferences and Ministry meetings, I have said that up to now, all the negative things in the examinations that have been discovered have come from the press. And up to now, the Ministry's agencies have not given me any information. Therefore, there is no reason not to coordinate with the press. I suggest that localities discuss so that the press agencies can consider this to coordinate and there is no limit to putting information about exam violations in the press.

Do you think negative information needs a lot of time to process and carefully assess?

- That's right, there's no rush in handling violations and information about violations. If there's evidence, we can handle it in a day or two, so there's no loss. If we can't verify it after a day, then we have to learn from our professional experience. But if we bring it up right away to shock people, it's not beneficial.

This year is the first year that the education sector has implemented measures to prevent exam cheating by allowing recording devices to be brought into exam rooms. How do you assess the impact of implementing this issue?

- The first impact is psychological, that all the regulations in the examination regulations up to now are with the assumption that teachers and managers are good, when strictly supervising students. In reality, there are teachers who violate and managers and instructors also violate. However, the current regulations do not have this supervision, only isolation of the outer and inner circles, but these circles are not good. In my opinion, we only create a supervision.

Students are also a part of the school, there may be cheating and violations by students, but there are many good, honest and fighting students, so there is no reason why we should not use force. Therefore, teachers also feel that there is an invisible camera above their heads monitoring them, so they must be strict.

On the other hand, we must encourage honest students who dare to fight against corruption. We honor good students who pick up lost items and return them to their owners, and those who study well and are good-natured, and we must also commend and protect students who dare to fight against corruption. The fact that students discover corruption may not be reflected in the number of cases caught, but it has an invisible value for teachers with negative intentions.

He said that if the education sector has not yet discovered violations, what should the sector do to fight against negativity?

- We are vigorously implementing this and while it is not yet effective, we have had to use another issue: the press to discover and provide information to the education sector.

How has the Ministry handled the negative examination cases that the press has recently raised, Minister?

- Most of the negative cases we have recently dealt with were reported by the press. I have officially thanked the press agencies. The number of discoveries that the education sector has proactively made about violations is still small. Recently, the Ministry has begun to learn from experience and inspect and handle some schools that have violated. A few years ago, many negative cases in education were discovered by the press.

Many journalists provided us with audio tapes, articles and many documents and the press also acknowledged that the Ministry has handled the violations very seriously. The press is a powerful force serving the fight against negativity in the education sector.

What do you hope for in the upcoming university entrance exams when new documents regulating anti-cheating in exams have been issued?

- We have to fight step by step, of course, "the orange peel is thick, the fingernails are sharp", because when we introduce a policy to fight against negativity, the negative people have other tricks to deal with it. We have to be persistent, there can be no instant cure.

We have to come up with solutions, monitor the actual situation and if we see that it is appropriate, we continue to promote it and if we see that it is not appropriate, we continue to adjust it and it reveals new phenomena that we have to update and supplement, especially in the conditions of new technology that broadcasts images, sounds and does not need to be inserted into the ear and we have to do it step by step. Not only fighting on the moral side, but also on technology, technique and responsibility. We have to persistently update and analyze the negative situation to handle it.

What agency has the Ministry established for the press and all people to provide information about negative aspects and violations in education?

- The Ministry has a permanent Inspectorate for this issue. During the exam, there is a Standing Steering Committee for the exam and the phone numbers of the agencies and people responsible for receiving information for processing are publicly announced. Fighting against negativity through administrative means is not okay. It can be done by official dispatch, letter, email, or phone call to provide information about negativity in education.

We strictly follow the press regulations of never taking information about individual informants and only taking violations to handle, coordinating with reporters and newspapers to further investigate.

Thank you!

According to Dan Viet - TH