Many opinions say that this disruption will have a huge impact and is unnecessary.
EXPLANATION OF DEPARTMENTS OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Hanoi Department of Education and Training said that in the 2024-2025 school year, Hanoi is expected to have nearly 120,000 students graduating from junior high school and nearly 130,000 students taking the high school graduation exam. The number of students expected to take the 10th grade entrance exam and high school graduation exam accounts for about 10% of the total number of students nationwide.
12th grade students in Ho Chi Minh City are studying and preparing for the 2025 high school graduation exam.
PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH
With the largest number of students in the country and the large scale of organizing entrance exams, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training has proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training adjust this year's high school graduation exam schedule earlier than the announced draft.
In a submission to the Ministry of Education and Training, the Nghe An Department of Education and Training stated that the reason for proposing to move up the high school graduation exam schedule is due to the situation where the whole country is reorganizing and merging provinces and cities and completing the tasks of the district level. This is also to ensure the rights of students, stabilize the psychology of parents and students; and facilitate the implementation of the high school graduation exam in 2025.
Mr. Thai Van Thanh, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An province, analyzed: The high school graduation exam has been decentralized to the locality. The provinces and cities decide on the printing, preservation, transportation of exam papers as well as the invigilation and grading work in the area. If the exam takes place at the end of June, it is likely that the provinces and cities will not have time to form their apparatus after the merger, or if they do, they will be in a rushed and confused situation. Therefore, it is difficult for the locality to ensure the organization is safe and serious.
According to Mr. Thanh, if the high school graduation exam is organized earlier, localities can also organize the 10th grade entrance exam early, such as Nghe An can organize around May 25 - 26. The Department of Education and Training also requested the Ministry of Education and Training to soon issue directive documents, exam organization plans, and exam schedules so that departments can proactively advise the People's Committees of provinces and cities to promptly issue directive documents to organize exams in localities.
The leaders of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training also proposed to postpone the high school graduation exam from June 7 to 10. Mr. Ho Tan Minh, Chief of Office of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, said that the end of June is the time when the whole country is rushing to arrange and merge provinces and cities and complete district-level tasks. If the high school graduation exam is organized at this stage, it will be rushed, leading to lack of thoroughness and thoughtfulness. On the other hand, at the beginning of June, students have finished studying and reviewing to prepare for the exam, organizing the exam earlier will not affect the candidates.
PARENTS AND STUDENTS' THOUGHTS
A parent with a 12th grader in Hanoi said that the information that localities have proposed to the Ministry of Education and Training to advance the high school graduation exam schedule has caused confusion for students and their families, and will change their children's review and exam plans. Students' review is built according to a clear plan and time, if the exam schedule is pushed forward, the children will lose that very important time.
Some provinces and cities propose to advance the 2025 high school graduation exam schedule
PHOTO: NHAT THINH
D.KT, a 9th grade student at Thanh Xuan Secondary School (Hanoi), said that after reading this information, he was very worried. To prepare for the 10th grade entrance exam, one hour, one day of study is very precious, let alone 2-3 weeks. Especially since the third exam subject in Hanoi was just announced at the end of February, students also need more time to prepare and review, taking the exam earlier will affect this.
On some groups for students and parents in Hanoi, this information was also shared with anxiety. Most opinions said that the education sector should keep the announced exam schedule, and should not change it, disrupting the psychology and study plan of students.
NMH, a student at Bui Thi Xuan High School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), worried: "The exam was pushed up 3 weeks early, shortening our review time. With an exam where everything is completely new from orientation, structure, and there are not many sample test questions to practice and get used to, if the review time is not as good as previous years, it will affect knowledge preparation. At this time, the psychology of final year students is starting to become heavy and worried, we just hope that every decision must be made in the right mindset of the people involved."
As a parent with a child studying in grade 12 at a high school in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy confided: Grade 12 students in the 2024-2025 school year are the first generation to study grade 10 according to the 2018 Program with a lot of new content compared to the previous program. When admitted to grade 10, the students did not know what the high school graduation exam plan would be like, but had to decide and choose the subjects of their choice. This was a big challenge for many families at that time. The high school graduation exam plan was issued at the end of November 2023 (when the children were in the middle of grade 11) with a completely different number of subjects from the old plan. By the beginning of 2025, information about stopping early admission to universities and many universities announced that they would no longer consider admission based on academic records.
According to this parent, this year's 12th graders are the ones who will experience the most changes in their studies and exams. With the proposal to adjust the high school graduation exam date by about 3 weeks, this parent emphasized: "It will greatly affect the students' psychology and personal plans. I hope the Ministry of Education and Training will soon announce an official decision and have the most suitable and convenient solution for the students."
SCHOOL WORRY ABOUT DISRUPTION OF REVIEW PLAN
Mr. Nguyen Tung Lam, Chairman of the Board of Dinh Tien Hoang High School (Hanoi), said that even though the province is merged, the high school graduation exam or the 10th grade entrance exam has long been directed and taken responsibility by the province, so saying that the province merger will have an impact is not convincing enough. Changing the exam schedule earlier than expected will affect the exam preparation work of students and schools. Schools and each student themselves have allocated time for teaching, reviewing... especially for schools with low student quality, this is even more important. Therefore, pushing the exam schedule up to 3 weeks will affect the psychology of students, and schools are also very rushed...
According to Mr. Lam, before making a decision, it is necessary to pay attention to and prioritize the interests and psychology of students. Difficulties in directing and organizing the exam should be resolved.
Assuming that if the high school graduation exam is held earlier, the 10th grade entrance exam will also have to be pushed up earlier, the principal of a middle school in Hoan Kiem District (Hanoi) is very worried because he thinks that it will greatly affect the school's study plan. It is expected that 9th grade students will complete the program in mid-May, but after that, there will be a series of tasks such as reviewing the high school graduation exam, completing records, books, and reviewing documents for the 10th grade entrance exam.
Mr. Nguyen Xuan Khang, Chairman of the Board of Marie Curie Hanoi School, said that it would be very difficult to move the final exams of grades 9 and 12 up early (late May and early June) if there is no adjustment to end the school year in early May. According to the progress of merging provinces and abolishing the district level, the National Assembly will meet on May 2, 2025, amend the Constitution, amend related laws... then the localities will not be merged until August or September. At that time, the two final exams, if grade 10 is held in early June and grade 12 is held in late June, will be finished.
Ms. Pham Thi Le Hang, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Dong District (Hanoi), said that in case the exam must be held earlier, the Ministry of Education and Training and the Department of Education and Training need to make decisions and provide guidance for educational institutions to expedite a series of related tasks. Schools can still do it, although they will have to work harder, but the time will be very urgent and certainly the review plan for students will have to be shorter...
This year's 12th graders are the first generation to take the high school graduation exam under the new program.
Photo: Dao Ngoc Thach
SOLUTION TO ADJUST THE PROGRAM END EARLIER
However, some teachers also think that in case the exam schedule has to be pushed back, some adjustments are needed.
Mr. Ha Van Vu, a teacher at Le Thanh Ton High School (District 7, Ho Chi Minh City), said that because the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training requires the organization of high school graduation exam review for no more than 3 weeks and the regulation of Circular 29, organizing review for final year students for each subject for no more than 2 periods/week, the high school graduation exam can be held earlier than expected at the end of June.
Mr. Huynh Thanh Phu, Principal of Bui Thi Xuan High School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City), said that moving up the exam time will help solve the problem of the gap between the time of finishing school and the exam, thereby reducing the burden of review for teachers and students. However, Mr. Phu also emphasized that when the review time is shortened, it will make students shocked and worried. Therefore, the solution is that the Ministry of Education and Training can adjust the program to end earlier, for example at the end of April, to spend the whole month of May for review. Allow schools to be autonomous in organizing review, not limited by Circular 29.
Ministry of Education and Training: Must calculate very carefully
Up to this point, the leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training have not officially responded to the proposals of the Departments of Education and Training. In principle, Professor Nguyen Ngoc Ha, Deputy Director of the Department of Quality Management (Ministry of Education and Training), said: "The Ministry always prepares plans and can be completely flexible to suit objective conditions. However, this is a very big issue and must be studied and considered before a decision is made. The high school graduation exam is always prepared early and remotely. This is a national exam, so each locality cannot have a different exam schedule."
According to Mr. Ha, organizing the exam earlier than planned as proposed by some Departments of Education and Training is a very big issue, which must be carefully studied and considered before a decision is made. If there is a change, the Ministry will calculate so that it has the least impact on the system and on students.
The 2025 high school graduation exam is scheduled to take place on June 26-27.
The Departments of Education and Training of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nghe An, and Ninh Binh have sent documents to the Ministry of Education and Training requesting to postpone the high school graduation exam schedule. Some provinces and cities have proposed to clarify the exam time from June 7 to 10. According to the Ministry of Education and Training's 2024-2025 school year schedule, the 2025 high school graduation exam is scheduled to take place on June 26-27.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/co-nen-day-som-lich-thi-tot-nghiep-thpt-185250318225300336.htm
Comment (0)