Streamlining secondary school students: "Open" but not "clear"?

(Baonghean) - On average, each year, our province has more than 50,000 students graduating from junior high school, including those who do not continue to study high school due to their abilities or circumstances. The education sector has also had a policy of streaming these students, but the problem of "post-streaming" still has many obstacles...

Since 2001, the Prime Minister has approved the Education Development Strategy from 2001 to 2010, which has specified specific requirements for the classification of students after junior high school. In our province, one of the pioneers in opening vocational secondary schools to accept secondary school graduates to study vocational secondary schools is teacher Le Van Phot - former Principal of Hong Lam Private Economic - Technical Secondary School. In 2006, he was very enthusiastic about this project, because after only 3 and a half years of study, including one year of cultural study at Continuing Education Centers and more than two years of vocational training, students do not need to study high school to still have a graduation certificate and an additional vocational secondary certificate. This model received support from the Ministry of Education and Training and in the first 2 years, nearly 1,500 students studied. However, up to now, the model has not achieved the desired results. He said: “Currently, vocational secondary schools are in a difficult situation because they cannot recruit students. When dividing streams, schools have not done a good job of career guidance and orienting students in choosing a career. Students still compete to enter high schools, colleges and universities even though job opportunities after graduation are very limited.”

Automotive Technology Vocational Class, Vocational College No. 4, Ministry of National Defense.

According to the education sector's goal, each year about 30% of students graduating from junior high school must be streamed to vocational schools, the remaining 70% will enter grade 10 of high school. However, according to data provided by the Secondary Education Department of the Department of Education and Training, the number of junior high school graduates participating in vocational training is less than 10%. For example, in the 2009-2010 school year, Nghe An had 58,937 students graduating from secondary school but only 42,971 students entered high school, 4,088 students entered supplementary education and only 782 students entered vocational secondary schools. In the 2010-2011 school year, there were more than 51,000 secondary school students, but only more than 42,000 students entered high school, 3,081 students attended supplementary education and 164 students entered vocational schools. In the 2011-2012 school year, there were 58,000/47,104 students... Mr. Nguyen Viet Xuan - Principal of Quynh Di Secondary School, Hoang Mai Town said: Every year, the school has about 100 students graduating, but most of them go to high schools, the remaining 10% do not have enough points, more than half of them go to supplementary education. The rest drop out of school to follow their parents to sea, very few go to vocational schools.

Explaining this issue, Mr. Xuan said: Secondary school students are still too young when they graduate at the age of 15 or 16. Parents are not comfortable sending their children to study far away, so even if their children do not pass the entrance exam to a public high school, they still try to send them to a private school, at least they will have teachers to supervise them. If they learn a trade or go to work, it will be difficult to find a job because they lack experience and few agencies will accept them. Agreeing with the above opinion, Mr. Vo Van Mai, Head of Secondary Education Department, Department of Education and Training added: “There are 5 reasons why the current streaming is not effective: Firstly, it is due to the mentality of people who are fond of degrees, still wanting their children to study in high school to at least have a high school diploma, especially when the “door” to non-public high schools is as easy as it is now. Secondly, the current career streaming in junior high schools is not effective, the streaming staff have not been trained, mainly working part-time, so they have not focused on career counseling for students. In addition, due to the scale and conditions of vocational training facilities not meeting teaching conditions, vocational training is not close to reality, many students still face difficulties when graduating, there is no policy for junior high school students after vocational training... Also because of this, the situation occurs, after graduating from junior high school, students determine that their academic ability is average or weak, so they do not apply for the entrance exam to the next level III. But these students do not attend vocational schools (or do not know where to study, what to study, or what to do), so they end up dropping out of school.

So, should we stream students for secondary school or not? Having worked as a teacher at the Center for Continuing Education for more than 20 years and now working as the principal at Quynh Di Secondary School, Mr. Nguyen Viet Xuan said: If streaming is implemented in the true sense, it should be encouraged. The lack here is the lack of mechanism, the lack of conditions for students to study and find jobs after graduation. He also cited many students in Quynh Di, who previously had to take supplementary courses due to limited capacity, but later, thanks to perseverance, they still succeeded and had good jobs. For example, in the case of Mr. Ho Phi Xuan, who previously studied construction and is now the director of a private construction company. Ho Phi Duoc, after studying at the Vietnam-Korea College, went to work in Korea, and is now financially well-off… On the contrary, also in Quynh Di, in the past, because there were people in the commune working in the mining industry, students in the village competed to study at the University of Mining and Geology, even those who were studying at the Military Academy agreed to pay tuition compensation to transfer to study Mining. But now, because of changing conditions, these people have unstable jobs, or cannot find jobs.

Vocational College No. 4, Ministry of National Defense, one of the few schools in the province that is still maintaining a class for students who have just graduated from secondary school. Major Nguyen Anh Tuan, Head of the Basic Department, affirmed: The policy of streaming in education is a correct policy because it shortens the training time, saving money for families and society. Moreover, this policy now has many "directions" to create all favorable conditions for students. They also do not need to study an additional year of culture in a supplementary class before learning a trade as before because according to regulation 02 of the Ministry of Education and Training, the Law on Education and the Law on Vocational Training: Students who graduate from secondary school, when studying at intermediate schools, if they still ensure enough time for cultural subjects, after only two years of study, they will have both a vocational intermediate certificate and a high school diploma; they can study at a college or university if they want. In addition, at this time, not only discharged soldiers but also civilians are exempted from vocational training and cultural tuition fees (according to the province's vocational training policy), so students are given priority when learning a trade.

According to a survey by the Department of Education and Training, our province currently still has about 12,000 masters, bachelors and graduates from universities and colleges who have not found jobs. Meanwhile, the rate of skilled workers in the province is only about 40%. How to solve the problem of "too many teachers, not enough workers", it is necessary to systematize the streaming policy that our province has implemented in recent years. Organize forums for teachers to discuss career choice, school choice, and the ability to pass university and college entrance exams for students. The Department of Labor and Social Affairs needs to orient and assign colleges, intermediate schools, and vocational training centers to innovate training work, focusing on occupations that are lacking human resources, occupations that society needs. Finally, parents and families must change their thinking, not focus too much on degrees, advise and help students choose a direction that is suitable for their abilities and their family's economic conditions.

Article and photos:My Ha