Thai Nguyen's percentage of students achieving high scores in Literature is nearly five times higher than the national average.

Statistics from the 2018 National High School Graduation Examination show that Thai Nguyen province had 168 candidates who scored 9 or higher in the essay-based Literature subject, accounting for 1.18% of the total number of candidates in the province who scored in this subject (14,216).

Thai Nguyen has a much higher percentage of candidates scoring 9 or higher in Literature than Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, etc., despite having 2-5 times fewer candidates. Specifically, Hanoi has 606 candidates scoring 9 or higher, accounting for 0.78% of the city's total candidates taking this subject. Ho Chi Minh City has 7 candidates, accounting for 0.009%. The numbers for Thanh Hoa and Nghe An are 23 (0.06%) and 123 (0.4%) respectively.

Across the country, 901,728 candidates took the Literature exam.The number of candidates scoring 9 or higher was 2,324, accounting for 0.25%, which is 4.7 times lower than the high-scoring rate in Thai Nguyen (1.18%).Compared to the total number of students nationwide who scored 9 or higher in Literature, Thai Nguyen province has 168 students, accounting for 7.2%.

Thai Nguyen ranks 6th among the top 10 localities with the highest average Literature scores nationwide, after Hau Giang, Ha Nam, Ha Tinh... However, the province has 3.4-28 times more candidates achieving a Literature score of 9 or higher than the top three localities in terms of average scores.

Compared to 2017, the number of candidates in Thai Nguyen province scoring 9 or higher in Literature this year has increased dramatically, sevenfold. Last year, the number of students in this category was 24, equivalent to 0.1% of the total number of candidates in the province.

"Local authorities have conducted a review and found no irregularities."

The Director of the Department of Education and Training of Thai Nguyen province, Mr. Pham Viet Duc, saidIndeed, the number of candidates achieving high scores in Literature this year increased significantly compared to last year and is higher than the national average...Grading essays in Literature sometimes involves subjective elements; many students may receive high scores because the teacher was too lenient.

"This needs to be investigated to know for sure," Director Duc said, adding that he would wait for instructions from the Ministry of Education and act in a constructive and fair manner.

Regarding the organization of the exams and grading, the Director of the Thai Nguyen Department of Education affirmed that everything was done correctly according to procedures and regulations. When reviewing the entire examination process as requested by the Ministry of Education on July 20th, the locality found no irregularities.

"We only review the process; we cannot touch or freely take out the exam papers to re-grade them because the regulations require the exam papers to be sealed and the process to be followed correctly," Mr. Duc said.

Assessing the quality of students' learning in Literature in the province in 2018, the leaders of the Department of Education said that there had been an improvement due to the province implementing many solutions such as organizing conferences and professional activities to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

In 2018, over 900,000 students nationwide took the national high school graduation exam. After the Ministry of Education announced the exam results, the public was surprised by the sudden surge in high-scoring students in Ha Giang, Son La, and Hoa Binh, all of which are considered educationally disadvantaged regions. In Lang Son, a group of independent candidates, including riot police officers, achieved many high scores.

The Ministry of Education then established four task forces to investigate signs of irregularities in four localities. The results showed signs of cheating in Ha Giang, Son La, and Hoa Binh; the police initiated criminal proceedings and arrested several officials. In Lang Son, the Ministry of Education's task force found no signs of irregularities, although some essay-based Literature exams had their scores lowered.