Some shortcomings and limitations in organizing and ensuring security and safety of the 2023 high school graduation exam

Major General Tran Dinh Chung, Deputy Director of the Department of Internal Political Security (A03), Ministry of Public Security, shared the results of security and safety work during the 2023 high school graduation exam.

Major General Tran Dinh Chung.

Warning and deterrence to those with negative intentions

Major General Tran Dinh Chung, Deputy Director of the Department of Internal Political Security (A03), Ministry of Public Security, talked about the results of the work of ensuring security and safety in the 2023 high school graduation exam of the police force and made some recommendations to improve the effectiveness of this work in the upcoming exam.

Regarding the 2023 graduation exam, Mr. Chung emphasized that the buying and selling of high-tech equipment for cheating on exams is taking place openly on the internet and social networks.

“A number of candidates and parents still have negative thoughts, looking for all kinds of cheating tricks to achieve high results and to be admitted to university. Based on the above situation, the Ministry of Public Security, with the core of the A03, A05, A06 and PA03 forces of the provinces and cities, has increased its forces and means to the maximum to support and coordinate with the education sector to ensure absolute security and safety of the exam. The police force has participated in 150 security and safety checks at more than 4,000 locations,” said Mr. Chung.

Mr. Chung said that the Internal Political Security Department has consulted and coordinated with the Ministry of Education and Training to organize 4 secret, surprise inspections at potential negative risks in exam supervision and grading in 4 localities. Thereby, contributing to improving the initiative and effectiveness in inspection, warning and deterrence of those with negative intentions.

Before the exam, the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention (A05), Ministry of Public Security also coordinated with Lam Dong Provincial Police to destroy a ring with 2 subjects buying and selling high-tech equipment, confiscating 10,000 super-small headphones and hundreds of related components.

Notably, expanding the fight, the authorities discovered that many candidates had purchased devices from this network. Thereby, they handled one case of a candidate in Bac Ninh using 2 phones in the exam room, and one case of a candidate in Lang Son.

Ho Chi Minh City police met, warned, and handled 1 subject who spread false information about the leak of the Literature exam. Hai Phong police discovered and handled 2 subjects who posted distorted information, defaming the exam on 3 Facebook groups and fined them 22.5 million VND.

According to statistics, the entire national police force has arranged more than 15,000 officers and soldiers to participate in all stages of the 2023 high school graduation exam.

A03 directly verified, guided and coordinated with PA03 forces in provinces and cities to quickly clarify the suspicions of leaked exam papers related to 2 candidates in Cao Bang and Yen Bai.

Currently, PA03 of Cao Bang and Yen Bai has transferred the case to the investigation agency and the Cao Bang Provincial Police Investigation Agency has initiated a case and prosecuted the accused.

In addition, local PA03 has closely coordinated with examination councils to verify and handle 37 cases of candidates using mobile phones in the examination room, which poses a risk of leaking exam questions.

Public opinion is skeptical about the nearly 99% graduation rate.

However, in addition to the achieved results, Major General Tran Dinh Chung frankly pointed out a number of shortcomings and limitations in the organization of the exam in general and the work of ensuring security and safety in particular.

“The key part of the exam is the invigilation and grading of the exam, which is assigned to the local authorities while the problem of achievement in education has not been completely resolved. A number of candidates and parents have the mindset of taking lightly the provisions of the law and exam regulations, finding every way to cheat to get into university.

Therefore, the inspection and supervision work, especially of the National Steering Committee and localities, encountered many difficulties. Public opinion is still skeptical about the quality of the exam, saying that the graduation pass rate is very high (reaching 98.88%) due to the relaxation of the exam invigilation and grading work in some localities; from there, it is assessed that the organization of the high school graduation exam is wasteful and unnecessary," said Mr. Chung.

Besides, the situation of buying and selling high-tech equipment for fraud is happening openly on the internet and social networks and there is no complete solution to overcome it.

In addition, through the coordination with the National Examination Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education and Training to inspect the exam preparation work in some localities, it shows that the coordination between the two sectors of police and education is not really smooth in some places and at some times. The organization of propaganda about security and safety during the exam and regulations on keeping exam papers confidential is still a formality. The establishment of locations for printing and copying exam papers is not really isolated.

“Some localities choose to have their copies printed within the Department of Education and Training, making it difficult to develop a plan to protect three independent layers or isolate information,” said Mr. Chung.

Localities have not yet reached a consensus on the process and form of handling candidates using mobile phones and high-tech devices, leading to leaked exam questions.

In addition, Mr. Chung said that there are still some points in the exam regulations that need to be revised and supplemented, such as the form of handling candidates who intentionally leak exam questions that does not ensure deterrence. "According to the current regulations, the only provision is to suspend the exam," Mr. Chung said.

Therefore, the representative of the Internal Political Security Department, Ministry of Public Security also proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training have solutions to improve the effectiveness of ensuring security and safety for the exam.

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