Streamlining students after graduating from junior high school: Based on ability and conditions to choose a suitable learning environment

The 2024-2025 school year is the first year that Ho Chi Minh City has adjusted the enrollment quota for public grade 10 right in the first round of candidates registering their wishes. Statistics over the past 3 years show that the rate of student streaming after graduating from junior high school has not fluctuated, but it has still created a long-lasting debate in public opinion.

Grade 9 students of Le Quy Don Secondary School (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City) learn about the learning environment at high school level. Photo: THU TAM

Difficult to change parents' perception

Recently, the Department of Education and Training of Hoc Mon District (HCMC) has reviewed the responsibility of the Board of Directors of Nguyen Van Bua Secondary School (Hoc Mon District) and individuals involved in the incident where parents had to sign a form "requesting not to participate in the 10th grade entrance exam for the 2024-2025 school year". According to the unit's explanation, the above form originated from a case from the previous school year: the father agreed to let his child not take the 10th grade exam but the mother wanted her child to take the exam, resulting in the parent going to the school to question the homeroom teacher. Learning from experience, this year the school requires parents to sign a confirmation based on a unified opinion. In fact, the above case is not an isolated one. The principal of a junior high school in District 12 recalled that two years ago, the homeroom teacher of a ninth grade class had to deal with a student who was psychologically stressed because his parents forced him to take the 10th grade exam, even though he had wanted to study at a college after finishing the ninth grade. “Although the school organized 2-3 consultations for parents, every year there were complaints due to disagreement among family members; the child registered not to take the exam, but the parents wanted him to take it,” said a school representative.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, Principal of Le Van Tam Secondary School (Binh Thanh District), said that this year, the 10th grade enrollment registration is done online, so most students do it at home. Along with online registration, the school prints paper forms for parents to register and submit to the homeroom teacher. Before that, the school organized many consultation sessions and sent video clips instructing how to register for 10th grade to each parent, helping parents not to be confused when registering. Representatives of all schools said that the school only organizes consultations, the right to choose to register belongs to the student and family. The homeroom teacher of grade 9 has no right to intervene if the student's family has agreed to register.

According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, this year's 10th grade entrance exam had 16,252 9th grade students not participating in the public 10th grade entrance exam, accounting for 14.15% of the total number of junior high school graduates. Previously, in the 2023-2024 school year, this rate was 15.35% and in the 2022-2023 school year, the rate was 14.33%. Thus, the rate of students not participating in the 10th grade entrance exam is relatively stable over the school years. Some of the reasons why students do not register for the 10th grade entrance exam are that they are eligible for direct admission, have plans to study abroad, move to another province or city, choose other forms of study such as junior colleges, continuing education centers, private high schools, etc.

Improve consulting efficiency

Dr. Vu Phi Yen, lecturer at Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine (HCMC), said that parents and students should not be too pressured when choosing a career path after graduating from junior high school. In fact, many cases have chosen an unsuitable learning environment, then re-chosen and still succeeded. From another perspective, lecturer Le Hong Hai Nhan, member of the Council of the University of Information Technology (Ho Chi Minh City National University), expressed that career counseling should be implemented early, maintained regularly and continuously between levels of education to help students shape their learning path early, and should not wait until the final year of school to organize it. In addition, according to Dr. Giang Thien Vu, lecturer at the Faculty of Psychology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, the current 2018 General Education Program at the high school level has a new point compared to the previous program: in addition to compulsory subjects, there are also elective subjects. Therefore, each high school, based on the conditions of facilities and teaching staff, has a different way of organizing groups of elective subjects. When registering for 10th grade admission, students not only care about whether the school's admission score is suitable for their learning ability or not, but also find out which groups of elective subjects the school organizes and whether they are suitable for their future career plans.

Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City Le Hoai Nam advised that parents should not "at all costs have to get a place in public grade 10" leading to inappropriate registration, students after being admitted cannot go to school because the distance from home to school is too far. Meanwhile, vocational education centers - continuing education, the system of secondary schools and vocational colleges are currently developing quite strongly with modern facilities, combining teaching high school programs and vocational training to help students have the opportunity to transfer to universities and colleges. In particular, students after graduating from junior high school if choosing to study a trade will be exempted from 100% of tuition fees. "The Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City has added enrollment quotas for grade 10 for some public high schools based on the needs and wishes of students' parents. However, students need to base on their learning ability and actual conditions to choose a suitable learning environment", said Mr. Le Hoai Nam.

Implementing the Prime Minister's Project "Career education and student orientation in general education for the period 2018-2025", issued together with Decision No. 522/QD-TTg (dated May 14, 2018), in recent years, Ho Chi Minh City has maintained a rate of 70% of students after graduating from junior high school entering public grade 10, the remaining 30% participate in other types of learning such as vocational education centers - continuing education, secondary schools, vocational colleges...

PROOF

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/phan-luong-hoc-sinh-sau-tot-nghiep-thcs-can-cu-nang-luc-dieu-kien-de-chon-moi-truong-hoc-tap-phu-hop-post741326.html