High school entrance exams: No more stress?!
(Baonghean)The high school entrance exam is a crucial test, and the choice of school significantly impacts students' university entrance exam results. In Nghe An province in previous years, the competition was always intense at top-tier schools… but recently, with a decrease in population and effective student placement after lower secondary school, the high school entrance exam is no longer as stressful as before… Meanwhile, private schools are struggling to recruit enough students to meet their quotas.
Public sector reduces stress
The province currently has over 100 high schools (public, private, and continuing education centers). While admission to public high schools in mountainous districts is not too difficult due to the smaller student population, public schools in lowland districts and cities/towns always attract a large number of applicants, especially in areas like Vinh City, Dien Chau, Do Luong, Yen Thanh, and Nghi Loc. This year, although the exact number and quotas for each school are not yet available, it is expected that top-tier schools such as Do Luong 1 High School, Huynh Thuc Khang High School, and Dien Chau 3 High School will still have high admission scores. Furthermore, the enrollment landscape is unpredictable as it heavily depends on the enrollment quotas of the two specialized high schools: Phan Boi Chau Specialized High School and Vinh University Specialized High School.
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| Students at Dang Thai Mai school discuss homework after class. Photo: Dao Tuan |
In previous years, many schools in Vinh City had to adjust their minimum admission scores because a large number of students, after being admitted to Phan Boi Chau Specialized High School and Vinh University Specialized High School, withdrew their applications. For example, Huynh Thuc Khang High School, in the 2013-2014 school year, only admitted 523 out of 532 students. The admission score had to be adjusted twice to fill the quota, with the second adjustment being lower than that of Do Luong 1 High School. Mr. Cao Thanh Bao, the principal of Huynh Thuc Khang High School, stated: "With 1,032 students registering for the entrance exam and based on the admission quota, the competition ratio would be approximately 2:1. However, after the initial results and admission scores were announced, we discovered that nearly 400 students had registered and passed the entrance exams for specialized schools. This forced the school to lower the minimum admission score."
According to assessments, the reason why competition among public schools in Vinh City is no longer as intense as in previous years is due to two factors: firstly, the number of schools remains stable while the population has decreased. Secondly, the trend of specialized schools in the districts is not as prevalent as in previous years, so there are more opportunities for city students to enter specialized schools (especially since the Mathematics specialization program at Vinh University has become independent and opened additional specialized programs such as Physics, Chemistry, Informatics, and English). Consequently, the number of students enrolling in public schools will decrease. This further complicates matters for private schools and non-public schools in the area.
Currently, the school with the most competitive entrance requirements is Do Luong 1 High School. In the 2013-2014 school year, the difference in scores between Do Luong 1 High School and the school with the second highest entrance score in the same area was 11 points. In other districts, because high schools are distributed regionally and the differences between schools are not significant, the level of competition is not as high.
Thus, given the above situation, the biggest concern for schools during the 10th grade entrance exam remains the quality of the candidates. For a long time, 10th grade admissions have been based on two main subjects: Mathematics and Literature, plus one elective subject. In Nghe An, for the past few years, this has almost been the "default" choice for a foreign language. While this benefits students, it can also lead them to neglect other subjects like Physics, Chemistry, Geography, and History… These are key subjects in the university entrance exams for the A, B, and C blocks. A lack of foundational knowledge in secondary school will create difficulties for schools, teachers, and especially students when adapting to high school curriculum.
Regarding this year's 10th grade entrance exam, Mr. Thai Viet Thao, Head of the Examination and Quality Assurance Department of the Department of Education and Training, stated: To facilitate schools and students, this year's 10th grade entrance exam will have several new features. In addition to expanding the categories eligible for bonus points (such as students winning prizes in the Young Informatics Competition, winning prizes, including team prizes, in national defense education sports competitions), schools will also allow students to register in advance for their second choice of school. Based on this, students will be more proactive in choosing schools, especially in securing second-choice options at public schools. According to current registrations, over 90% of schools have registered to accept second-choice applicants, including top-tier schools such as Huynh Thuc Khang High School, Ha Huy Tap High School, Le Viet Thuat High School (Vinh City), Le Hong Phong High School (Hung Nguyen), Dien Chau 3 High School, Do Luong 1 High School, Thanh Chuong 1 High School, Anh Son 1, 2, and 3 High Schools…
The plan for admission to 10th grade has now been approved, and students will begin registering for the entrance exams in the next few days. This year's 10th grade entrance exam will be held on June 23rd and 24th.
Private schools are having difficulty attracting students.
Located in Xuan Hoa commune (Nam Dan district), Mai Hac De Private High School has relatively good facilities compared to other private high schools in the province. The school has two multi-story buildings with 20 classrooms, one single-story building with 4 classrooms, and other facilities such as a multi-functional classroom building with a capacity of 1,000 students, a computer lab, and a spacious library. However, in the 2013-2014 school year, the school only had 9 classes with 321 students – a very small number compared to the existing facilities. Mr. Phan Bui Loc, the school principal, said: “In carrying out the enrollment process, at the end of each school year, the school forms 3-4 teams to go to junior high schools in the district to promote and advise on enrollment for grade 10. However, in the last 3 school years, the school has never met its enrollment target. In the 2011-2012 school year, the school only enrolled 2 classes with 95 students out of a target of 135.”
In the 2012-2013 school year, the school admitted 101 students to 3 classes out of a target of 135. In the 2013-2014 school year, the number of students admitted increased (to 141), thanks to the adjustment of enrollment quotas by the Department of Education and Training, which allowed the school to "transfer" one class from Sao Nam Private Junior High School. Mr. Loc predicted that in the 2014-2015 school year, the school's enrollment would be even more difficult, because the emergence of factories and production facilities in Nam Dan district is attracting some junior high school graduates with limited academic abilities to work there. In addition, vocational schools are now going to junior high schools to promote and advise students on vocational training. Therefore, the school has had to reduce staff and tighten all expenses to try to maintain operations.
In Vinh City, there are currently four private high schools: VTC Private High School, Nguyen Trai Private High School, Nguyen Hue Private High School, and Nguyen Truong To Private High School. Among these, VTC Private High School (formerly Le Quy Don Private High School, acquired by VTC Multimedia Communications Company and converted to a private school model in 2011) was once expected to become the province's first high-quality private high school. According to the plan to build the province's first high-quality private high school, from the 2011-2012 school year, in addition to enrolling students from within the province, the school would also enroll students from neighboring provinces.
However, contrary to expectations, the number of high school students at the school has gradually decreased year by year. In the 2011-2012 school year, the school had 18 classes with over 700 students; in the 2012-2013 school year, it had 14 classes with 549 students, and by the 2013-2014 school year, it had only 8 classes with over 320 students. The reason is that the number of 10th-grade students admitted to the school has decreased each year. While in the 2011-2012 school year, the school admitted 4 10th-grade classes with 160 students, by the 2012-2013 school year, it had only 2 10th-grade classes with over 80 students, and by the 2013-2014 school year, it had only 1 10th-grade class with 41 students. Mr. Pham Dung Tien, the school principal, said: "The current number of students is simply too small for the school to maintain teaching and learning."
Currently, there are 22 non-public high schools in the province. According to Mr. Thai Viet Thao, Head of the Examination and Quality Assurance Department of the Department of Education and Training, in the 2013-2014 school year, enrollment at many private high schools faced significant difficulties. Some schools only managed to enroll about 30-50% of their target number of students, such as VTC Private High School and Nguyen Trai Private High School. Notably, Hoang Xuan Thi Private High School in Dien Chau district did not enroll any students at all.
According to Mr. Vo Van Mai, Head of the Secondary Education Department (Department of Education and Training), the reason why private high schools struggle to recruit enough students is that for many years, these schools have only been considered as receiving "rejects" from public high schools – meaning they only recruit students who do not meet the requirements to enter public schools. Meanwhile, private high schools only receive preferential treatment in terms of land, and receive almost no investment from the State. Many schools do not focus on improving facilities or enhancing the capacity of their teaching staff, leading to low quality. With a small pool of applicants and low entrance quality, the low effectiveness of training at private schools such as VTC Private High School and Mai Hac De High School is inevitable.
Another reason is that, after a period of implementing the policy of streaming junior high school students, the awareness of vocational training among parents and students has changed positively. In vocational schools and continuing education centers, in addition to general education, they also focus on vocational training partnerships, investing in workshops, equipment, and improving quality comprehensively so that students, upon graduation, have both a general education certificate and a vocational skill to start their own business. Therefore, for families who do not intend for their children to attend university or college, and do not place too much importance on academic degrees, this is a better option than attending private high schools.
Failing to enroll enough students leads to insufficient revenue for operations, a lack of funds for investment in facilities and improving the quality of the teaching staff, resulting in limited teaching quality and a failure to attract students – this is the vicious cycle that private high schools are currently facing. According to Mr. Thai Huy Vinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training, to break this cycle and survive and develop, private high schools have no other option but to prioritize improving the quality of education as the main solution to attract students. "The department's stance is that only private schools with sufficient facilities and teaching staff as required by regulations will be allocated enrollment quotas," Mr. Vinh affirmed. In addition, I believe the Department of Education and Training should also review the student placement process in some localities over the past period, avoiding extreme placement methods, in order to create opportunities for students who do not meet the requirements for public schools and are not suited to vocational training to continue their high school education at public schools.
Minh Quân - Mỹ Hà
