Falling backwards because of believing in "service"

In the role of a student who had to return to his hometown for urgent work and needed someone to study for him long-term at a university in Ho Chi Minh City, in just 1 hour, we received 20 messages on Zalo offering invitations.

"Service" not as promised

Account M. Thanh "offers": "I am a female, a student at U., with many experiences in tutoring, if you are satisfied, please cooperate with me". Thanh does not care at all about what subjects the tenant needs to study, what days and times, but quickly negotiates the price: "900 - 1,000,000 VND/subject" - this is a preferential price for those who use the "service" for a long time.

When we showed that we did not trust him, Thanh sent us the account and information of another student, saying that this person was also a reputable person who studied and took exams for us, and that he was Thanh's friend. If we were not sure, we could hire Thanh's friend.

VIDEO: Bustling "market" of proxy students and test takers

(NLDO) - It seems that groups on social networks with positive, humane names such as "study support", "reputable study", "passing subjects together"... are supporting students in their studies in the true sense, but the truth is completely the opposite.

Sharing in the chat group, account Minh A. (Hanoi) said he was quite shocked when his microeconomics exam score was only 4.4 points, which was completely different from what the "service" provider initially confirmed. "The exam fee was 500,000 VND, after finishing the exam, I transferred 200,000 VND in advance, planning to transfer the rest after getting the exam score. However, everything was completely "disillusioned", I didn't even get an above average score" - A. confided.

As someone who has used this "service", Bao T., a university student, said he was "shocked" when he received the essay. Because of his busy schedule, he got home at midnight and had no energy left to write the essay. For 200,000 VND, T. hired a student who promised to have the essay ready in 2 days. After receiving the essay, T. used a scanning tool and was surprised to discover that 78% of it was written by Chat GPT. "If I can check it, the lecturer can check it too. If the lecturer finds out, I will definitely fail the course," T. said.

Variation, many consequences

At the end of April 2024, on the Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry Student Community group, a post appeared expressing outrage when a stranger entered the classroom for another student, causing another student to have his or her grades unfairly deducted.

Account A. said that while listening to the lecture, a strange female student did something that caught the lecturer's attention. When the lecturer asked to read a name to deduct points from the class list, the student who was studying for her name randomly read a name that coincidentally matched the name of another female student in the class. As a result, the female student was unfairly deducted points and of course the stranger did not speak up to correct the situation. At the end of the class, the "real" student had to meet the lecturer privately to ask him not to deduct her points.

"When a student studying for someone else makes a mistake but doesn't dare admit it, affecting others. Just because of a few hundred thousand VND in tuition, they act uncivilized, or worse, they lie on top of lie, make mistakes and then make mistakes again, deliberately deceiving the lecturer and all the students in the class" - A. was indignant.

Giám sát phòng thi Trường ĐH Công Thương TP HCM, đây là một trong những giải pháp nhằm phát hiện thi hộ — Exam room monitoring at Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, this is one of the solutions to detect proxy exam takers.

The post quickly received many responses from students of Ho Chi Minh City University of Agriculture and Forestry. Many students were upset that the situation of proxy students appearing in the classrooms was increasing, making the learning environment no longer fair and equal. The educational environment cannot allow such cases of cheating and blatant lying to appear.

Not only the University of Agriculture and Forestry, other universities in Ho Chi Minh City also have similar situations. Thanh Khoa, a student at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, said he had encountered a case of a strange student entering the classroom to take his class. Most of the cases of taking his class from someone else occurred during general education classes. Tung Thuan, a student at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technical Education, once discovered that a classmate had hired someone to do his final project.

Thuan said that the people who use this "service" are also classmates, if you "expose" it, you will definitely be disciplined by the school board. Therefore, most of the discovered cases are "turned a blind eye".

The "service" of studying and taking exams for others is booming

No need to go to class, take tests or exams, just pay a certain amount of money and students will be supported by the "service" provider to pass all subjects, "guaranteed good grades"

Dr. Le The Tai, Head of Student Affairs Department - Ho Chi Minh City University of Law, said that the situation of studying and taking exams for others is not unique to Vietnam, but has appeared in many countries around the world. "In 2023, Ho Chi Minh City University of Law discovered that students had hired outsiders to take exams for them. After just a few questions, the exam supervisor confirmed that this was a stranger mixed in. Students who hired someone to study for them were disciplined by the school and suspended for one year," said Dr. Tai.

MSc. Pham Thai Son, Director of the Admissions and Communications Center, Ho Chi Minh City University of Industry and Trade, said that students are falling into a vicious circle. Students work part-time to earn money to pay for their studies, but when their work schedule becomes too busy, they come up with the idea of hiring someone to study and take exams for them.

"If you don't go to class, you won't have knowledge, your learning results are like a blank sheet of paper. The school always has random tests, and the final exam is very strict, so students will definitely not be qualified to pass the course. As a result, students have to work extra to earn money to pay for re-studying, which is a very time-consuming and expensive way to deal with it" - Master Son emphasized.

Studying for someone: Easy work, high salary?

It is worth mentioning that behind the bustling "service" exchange websites are many university students who are taking classes for others to earn money. Minh H. - a university student in Ho Chi Minh City said that in addition to studying at school, H. also earns extra money by taking classes for others. For each "service" successfully completed, H. earns from 200,000 to 300,000 VND. Not having to work extra at hot shops and restaurants, H. feels that this job of taking classes for others is quite leisurely. With roll call at the beginning of each class, and no copying required, it only takes H. about 30 minutes to complete the task.

However, it's not always easy. H. said he was recently cheated on his salary, and when he finished the job, the Facebook account that hired him to study for him blocked his contact.

"It was wrong for me to go to school for someone else, and I'm also a student. So when I was cheated out of my salary, I just kept quiet. If I make it big, sue or report to the school, both universities will get involved" - H. sighed.