Grade 10 entrance exam in Vinh City: A narrow path to public schools.
(Baonghean.vn) - Increasing the enrollment quota for 10th grade in public schools is a desire of many parents and students in Vinh City. This is even more urgent this year, as the number of students taking the 10th grade entrance exam in the area has increased dramatically to over 800.
"Narrow gateway" to public school
A year ago, with over 21 points, just 0.5 points short, Ms. Thu Huyen's daughter (from Hung Loc commune, Vinh city) was forced to transfer to Nguyen Truong To High School - a private school in Vinh city. With higher tuition fees than public schools, this was a real challenge for the family.
Sharing her thoughts on this, Ms. Huyen said: “I truly regret it because my child did very well in Math and Literature, and only made a very small mistake in the English exam, causing her to lose the opportunity to get into a public school. With these scores, it would probably be much easier to get into a public school in other localities…”
Ms. Huyen's family is facing a very difficult situation. Last year, her husband suffered a severe stroke and was thought to be beyond recovery. For nearly a year, in addition to caring for her husband in the hospital with its exorbitant costs, her family has also had to shoulder the burden of paying for their child's education. This is why, even though her child's exam scores were high enough to enroll in an advanced program at a public school, she and her family were forced to give up the opportunity because they couldn't afford it.
Hasty meals eaten in the car have become commonplace for Ms. Hue Anh and her daughter (Vinh Tan ward, Vinh city) since her daughter began her race to enter 10th grade. Every day, the packed school schedule combined with extra classes leaves her daughter with no time for rest.
In fact, during many classes, her child had to rush to 3-4 sessions, exhausting both the child and the parent. To ensure her child's health, she usually cooked meals at home and packed them in a lunchbox. During the transition between classes, her child would often eat on the bus to avoid being late.
As a math tutor at a tutoring center in Vinh City, Mr. Chu Quoc Hung said he feels sorry for his 9th-grade students, because almost every class has students who arrive late due to conflicting class schedules or constantly rushing from one class to another. "This year, the number of students taking the 10th-grade entrance exam has increased, but the number of places is small, so the competition will be even tougher. I feel so sorry for them; many days I buy them extra bread and candy to give them more energy to study, and some even ask me for instant noodles. Many students study so much that their eyes droop during class, and we have to encourage each other to keep going," Mr. Hung recounted.
The target needs to be increased.
Vinh City has always been a hot spot for 10th grade entrance exams, and this exam is considered even more intense than the university entrance exam. The unfairness for students in Vinh City is that while many other localities in the province can still get into public schools with very low entrance exam scores (less than 5 points per subject), the entrance scores in Vinh City show a significant disparity.
Similar to the 2023-2024 school year, the highest admission scores in district schools were at Thai Lao High School (Hung Nguyen) at 19.35 points (round 1), while in Vinh City schools the scores were 22.6 points (Ha Huy Tap High School), 22.7 points (Le Viet Thuat High School), and the highest was Huynh Thuc Khang High School (25.35 points). The remaining schools, even the top-ranked ones in the districts, only ranged from 17 to 18 points.
The huge disparity puts students in Vinh City at a significant disadvantage in the race to get into public schools. This also leads to the paradox that students in district schools, many of whom have low scores, still get admitted to public schools. Meanwhile, high-scoring students in the city, sometimes even exceeding 8 points per subject, still have to attend private schools.
According to many teachers and parents, the pressure of school admissions...10th gradeIn Vinh City, this situation is not unique to this year, with a sudden surge in the number of students across the city, reaching nearly 800; it has been happening for many years now.
Notably, despite the increase in the number of students, the enrollment quotas for public schools remain stable compared to previous years. Therefore, the pressure of the exam season next year is even greater than last year.
I've noticed that in Vinh City, the enrollment quotas for public schools are too low, so the pressure to get into 10th grade is immense for students. This is very disadvantageous and forces students to study excessively; in addition to regular classes at school, they also have to take extra classes outside, sometimes with 2-3 different teachers for specialized subjects.
Currently, Vinh City has the highest number of students taking the 10th grade entrance exam in the entire province. According to the compiled data, Vinh City has over 6,000 students taking the exam this year, which is 100-1,500 more than other districts such as Quynh Luu, Yen Thanh, and Dien Chau.
The number of students is also nearly double that of Thanh Chuong, Do Luong, and Nghi Loc districts, and much higher than other districts such as Tan Ky, Thai Hoa town, and Nam Dan…
However, while districts like Quỳnh Lưu, Yên Thành, Diễn Châu, Hưng Nguyên, Đô Lương, and Thanh Chương each have 4-5 public schools, Vinh City only has 3. This creates a disparity because in district schools, the pass rate for public school admissions is usually 80-90%, while in Vinh City, this rate is only 55-60%.
Over the past two years, due to increasing pressure on 10th-grade enrollment in Vinh City, the Department of Education and Training and the People's Committee of Vinh City have considered opening a second campus for Huynh Thuc Khang High School. However, for various reasons, the expansion plan has not yet been implemented.
Given the above situation, many parents believe that, during this year's enrollment season, the Department of Education and Training should consider increasing the enrollment quota and class size for public schools in Vinh City to reduce the pressure of enrollment at the beginning of the school year and create fairness for students in Vinh City. In addition, long-term solutions are needed to expand school facilities to anticipate the continued rapid increase in student numbers in the coming years, especially in years considered "auspicious years".