Irregularities in Ha Giang's national high school exam scores

Statistics on the 2018 national high school exam scores show that the average score of 9 national high school exam subjects in the mountainous border province of Ha Giang is among the lowest in the country. Specifically, Math, Biology, Geography, and Civic Education ranked 62nd; Physics and Chemistry ranked 59th;Literature, Foreign Languages, History ranked last.

However, the number of excellent scores from 9 and above in natural sciences is unusually high. Ha Giang has 57 candidates with excellent scores.Mathsfrom 9 and above, accounting for more than 1% of the total number of students taking the exam (5,430). Meanwhile, in localities with a tradition of good scores in natural sciences such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, and Nam Dinh, the percentage of excellent scores in Math is far lower.

Specifically, Ho Chi Minh City has 14 times more candidates taking the Math exam (78,030) but only has 32 passing scores.9 and above, accounting for 0.04%. This rate in Hanoi and Nam Dinh only reached 0.1% and 0.59% respectively.

The number of failing scores in Math (from 0 to under 1) in Ha Giang is very low, only 22 points, accounting for 0.4%. While Ho Chi Minh City has 538 (accounting for 0.68%), Hanoi has 41 failing scores.

Compared to 2017, Ha Giang's failing score remained unchanged, but the score of 9 or higher increased 2.59 times.

Meanwhile, this year's national high school math exam was assessed by students and teachers to be longer and more difficult than previous years. The whole country only had 2 students with 10 points in math, and 640 students with 9 points.

In subjectPhysics, Ha Giang has up to 65 points from 9 and above, accounting for 6.7% of the total number of candidates taking the exam. The number of failing points is only 1 (0.1%). This is completely opposite to the results of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

Specifically, Ho Chi Minh City has a failing score 283 times higher than Ha Giang (nearly 0.6%), but the rate of scores from 9 and above is 95.7 times lower. Similarly, Ha Giang's high score rate is 23 times higher than Hanoi.

Compare the Physics score ratio of Ha Giang, Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi and Nam Dinh.

SubjectChemistryHa Giang has a rate of candidates scoring 9 points or more of 6.3%, many times higher than Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The above irregularities make the public doubt the accuracy of the national high school exam results in Ha Giang, and the seriousness of the exam supervision and grading. Because Ha Giang is a northern mountainous province with more than 80% of the population belonging to the Mong, Tay, Dao, and Nung ethnic groups. The remote area makes it very difficult to mobilize children to go to school.

Representing the Banking Academy - the school that coordinated the 2018 national high school exam with Ha Giang, Mr. Pham Quoc Khanh affirmed that the 200 lecturers and staff of the school who participated in the exam invigilation, inspection, supervision, and as deputy heads of the exam sites all strictly followed the regulations. Most of these staff have many years of experience in exam invigilation and have a high sense of responsibility during their work at the school.

Before going to Ha Giang to supervise the exam, the Banking Academy also organized two thorough training sessions on all the contents of the national high school exam regulations, noting the changes. "We are confident that all the school's staff and lecturers will take the exam according to the procedures and regulations," said Mr. Khanh.

Compare scores of 9 or higher in 4 subjects of 5 localities.

Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Giang, Vu Van Su, when answering the press, also affirmed that the organization of the exam, invigilation and grading of papers were all serious, with supervision by inspectors and PA83.

On the evening of July 12, the Ministry of Education and Training issued an official dispatch requesting the Steering Committee for the 2018 National High School Exam in Ha Giang province to review all stages of the exam. The report must be sent to the Ministry before July 17.

Quynh Trang