The 2025 high school graduation exam includes two compulsory subjects, Math and Literature, and no foreign language, according to the proposal of the Ministry of Education, causing many concerns, but the majority agrees.
On November 14, the Ministry of Education and Training proposed that the high school graduation exam from 2025 include two compulsory subjects: Math and Literature and two elective subjects in Foreign Languages, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Economic and Legal Education, Information Technology, and Technology (option 2+2). This means that students are not required to take the Foreign Language exam, most of which is English.
Mr. Tran Ngoc Huu Phuoc, an English teacher at Bui Thi Xuan High School in Ho Chi Minh City, said he was quite concerned. With 12 years of teaching experience, Mr. Phuoc clearly saw the progress of students since English became a compulsory graduation exam in 2015. It took a long time for students' foreign language skills to improve as they are now. If the exam were not compulsory, he was worried that students might take this subject lightly, neglect it, and learn it to cope.
"Many students will focus on university entrance exams and ignore English. English is needed in every field today, including medicine, pharmacy, science and technology," said Mr. Phuoc.
However, through some surveys, the majority agrees with the Ministry of Education and Training. In a survey conducted by VnExpress on November 14 with more than 9,200 readers participating, about 80% agreed to compulsory exams in Math, Literature and two elective subjects (2+2), of which Foreign Language is an elective subject.
A survey by the Ministry of Education and Training of about 18,000 officials and teachers in several provinces and cities in August showed that 60% chose the 2+2 option. At the meeting of the National Council for Education and Human Resources Development chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha on November 14, the majority of delegates also supported this option.
According to many teachers, the 2+2 graduation exam option with optional foreign language is reasonable, for many reasons, including the fact that taking the exam does not necessarily mean that students' foreign language skills will be better.
Candidates taking the 2023 high school graduation exam in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Thanh Tung
First, the plan to have two compulsory exams will be compact, cost-saving for the people and society while still being effective, according to Prof. Dr. Pham Hong Quang, Chairman of the Thai Nguyen University Council. Compared to the current plan, this plan reduces two exams and one exam session.
Mr. Quang said that Math and Literature are two fundamental subjects, representing natural sciences and social sciences, which students who intend to work immediately or continue to college or university need.
For the remaining subjects, there should be no notion of which is the main subject or the secondary subject, as all have the same value because they all build basic abilities for the learner. Having two elective subjects in the remaining subjects also helps students focus on the university entrance exam combination they desire.
Second, Master Ho Sy Anh, an expert at the Institute of Educational Research, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, said that the 2+2 option ensures a balance in the number of natural science and social science subjects. Meanwhile, the other two options (adding compulsory foreign language and history) both put natural science candidates at a disadvantage.
In addition, according to many teachers, the concern that students will neglect English if Foreign Language is an elective subject is unnecessary.
Professor Thai Van Thanh, Director of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training, at the meeting of the National Council for Education and Human Resources Development on November 14, said that not all exams will increase students' English proficiency.
In Nghe An, the quality of English teaching and learning is better than 5 years ago, but according to Professor Thanh, the main reason is that the province has policies affecting teachers and learners, and cares about the learning environment. This is one of the few localities that spends the budget to train English teachers according to international standards (TOEIC), and considers admission to grade 10 for students with IELTS certificates of 4.0 or equivalent.
Mr. Sy Anh also said that there is no need to worry because most universities have included English in their admission criteria, or combined foreign language certificates and graduation exam scores.
"Therefore, students who want to apply to university are still required to study and take the English exam," said Mr. Sy Anh.
Agreeing, Ms. Thanh, an English teacher at a high school in Hanoi, said that taking a compulsory or optional foreign language exam does not have much impact.
"If you only study for exams, study because you are forced to, your skills will not be high and you will forget them soon after graduation," she said. The current English graduation exam also does not have a Listening or Speaking section, so students with high scores may not be able to apply them.
In fact, many students understand the role of foreign languages more, proactively going to school to develop all four skills of Listening - Speaking - Reading - Writing, not just focusing on learning grammar for the high school graduation exam. For example, this year, nearly 47,000 candidates were exempted from the exam and scored 10 foreign language subjects because they had international certificates. This number increased by 12,000 compared to last year.
Finally, teachers say that in many countries, the high school graduation exam is also streamlined, although there is no common denominator in the number of subjects. For example, in Russia, candidates only take two compulsory subjects: Russian and Mathematics. If they want to continue their studies at university or college, they must take the subjects required by the school.
In China, students are required to take three compulsory subjects: Math, Chinese, English, and one elective subject. However, the compulsory English test is also controversial because the study time for this subject is only 6-8%, less than Math and Chinese, but the weighting of the test score is the same. Moreover, not everyone can be good at or need to use this language after graduating from high school.
If English is no longer a compulsory graduation exam, Ms. Thanh proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training choose the VSTEP certificate (Vietnam English proficiency test, including 6 levels) to recognize the level of students after completing high school. Universities and businesses can use this certificate for admission.
"When there is an accurate, useful measure, students will not neglect foreign languages," she shared.
According to Mr. Sy Anh, the Ministry of Education and Training as well as high schools need to actively innovate foreign language teaching and learning methods, to make students love and voluntarily study this subject, instead of just studying for university entrance exams.
"In recent years, the Ministry has repeatedly emphasized the innovation of teaching and learning History and Literature, and now is the time to apply those things to Foreign Languages," said Mr. Sy Anh.
2025 is the year when the first batch of students under the new general education program will take their graduation exams. Currently, the high school graduation exam is organized with 6 subjects, including Math, Literature, Foreign Language, Natural Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology) or Social Science (History, Geography, Civic Education).
The final exam plan will be approved by the Government and is expected to be announced this year.
Duong Tam - Thanh Hang - Nhat Le
Source link
Comment (0)