Many high-quality schools in Hanoi are worried that if they cannot organize entrance exams for grade 6 based on academic records, this will be unfair and unethical.
The new regulations on secondary and high school admissions by the Ministry of Education and Training require schools to consider admission to grade 6 without organizing exams. In the old regulations, the Ministry allowed schools with more registrations than quotas to consider admissions combined with tests and capacity assessments. This content has made many high-quality, private schools in Hanoi complain that it is difficult to implement.
Ms. Van Thuy Duong, Vice Principal of Luong The Vinh Secondary and High School, Hanoi, said that the Ministry of Education and Training's ban on schools organizing entrance exams for grade 6 will cause difficulties in enrollment and ensure fairness in competition for admission, especially for high-quality schools and popular non-public schools.
The female vice principal gave an example, this year Luong The Vinh Secondary and High School, Campus A, plans to enroll 300 students in grade 6. Similar to previous years, the number of students applying for the exam is about 3,500, a ratio of about 1 to 11 - 15.
Without the exam, it would be very difficult for the school to recruit students, because most of the students have good or better academic performance, and even more than half of them have excellent academic records. To select 300 students from "a forest of dream-like beautiful applications" is almost impossible. Even if schools set many additional criteria, it would be difficult to ensure fairness and competition among students. This can easily lead to problems and consequences.
Candidates taking the entrance exam for grade 6 at Foreign Language Secondary School (University of Foreign Languages) in 2024. (Illustration photo)
"Many years ago, the policy of banning entrance exams to junior high school made many schools panic with thousands of shiny transcripts full of 10s. Even giving additional criteria was very difficult to choose because now every student has a foreign language certificate, awards, soft skills... almost impossible and can break down at any time," Ms. Duong worried.
Therefore, she hopes that the authorities and the Hanoi Department of Education and Training will soon have specific instructions. In the immediate future, the school will have to meet to come up with a plan, for example, in the near future, it will have to interview or implement the following method: let students participate in a day of experience and interview.
In the long term, the female vice principal proposed that if the entrance exam is not widely organized, schools should consider allowing them to conduct a survey of student quality through an assessment test, both for schools to consider scholarships and as a basis for adding points to the transcript review, accurately assessing the ability of each student level.
Representatives of Doan Thi Diem Secondary School (Hanoi) shared the concern that it would be difficult to enroll 6th graders if they were not given an entrance exam. Like previous years, the school has recruited about 900 students, and the number of candidates is large, so it will go through 2 rounds. In which, round 1 will review the student records, round 2 will conduct a quality assessment test to select candidates who meet the school's requirements.
This person is worried that without the assessment test, the school cannot accurately select students with good academic performance, meeting the learning requirements and goals of the school. Therefore, the school representative hopes that the Department of Education and Training will soon issue detailed instructions and have suggestions for private schools, ensuring quality in the entrance examination to ensure fairness for candidates and convenience for educational institutions.
Mr. Nguyen Quang Tung, Principal of MVLomonosov Secondary and High School, also said that he will wait for instructions and directions from the Hanoi Department of Education and Training. "We will strictly implement the regulations of the Department of Education and Training and the Ministry of Education and Training in enrollment. Basically, the school is always ready with enrollment plans, ensuring transparency and fairness," said Mr. Tung.
To prepare for the entrance exam for grade 6, most of the top private schools in Hanoi have notified parents and candidates to register for the exam and submit their applications from November and December 2024. Now the Ministry of Education and Training has issued regulations with many innovations, which has left schools unable to respond in time.
Newton Secondary and High School will organize a scholarship exam to recruit talented students in early December 2024. Hanoi Star School will organize a scholarship exam to recruit talented students at the end of February. Nguyen Sieu Secondary and High School also plans to organize a grade 6 entrance exam this January.
Not only the top private schools, representatives of Thanh Xuan Secondary School (Hanoi) are also worried about the enrollment of 6th graders this year. The school is one of the high-quality educational institutions in the city, every year it organizes entrance exams to select students, the competition ratio is always at the top of 1 to 5 - 7.
"As a high-quality school, if we only consider the student's academic records to select candidates, without organizing fair and competitive exams, it will be very difficult to filter out good candidates. Only by organizing exams can we fully evaluate the candidates' abilities and convince parents that the school will choose based on the exam results, without bias or worrying about asking for them," he said.
Ho Chi Minh City proposes to organize a survey for grade 6
Speaking to the press, a leader of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training said that he would propose that the City People's Committee allow the use of academic records combined with the survey as a basis for admission to grade 6. For example, the admission criteria could be the average grade point average in primary school, foreign language proficiency or survey scores.
This person also shared the reason for making this proposal because in the regulations, the Ministry of Education and Training still allows Departments to proactively set admission criteria for grade 6, as long as they ensure fairness and suitability to the local situation.
Khanh Huyen
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/nhieu-truong-tro-tay-khong-kip-lo-vo-tran-xet-tuyen-khi-bo-gd-dt-cam-thi-lop-6-ar919192.html
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