High School Graduation Exam 2025: Pressure from new information

Keep the exam stable

Recently, the Department of Education and Training of 5 localities including Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Nghe An, Ninh Binh, Quang Tri sent a document proposing the Ministry of Education and Training to adjust the time of organizing the high school graduation exam in 2025 to 3 weeks earlier. Meanwhile, from the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a framework program for the expected high school graduation exam schedule in 2025 (on June 26-27). If the proposal is implemented, localities must adjust the 10th grade entrance exam schedule.

This year's contestants are under more pressure than previous years. Photo: Nhu Y

However, in recent days, public opinion and teachers have reacted to this proposal. A leader of a Department of Education and Training said that if the high school graduation exam is pushed 3 weeks earlier than the scheduled schedule, the local organization will be very difficult. Firstly, the 10th grade exam must be pushed back about 3 weeks after the high school graduation exam, because the school year ends earlier (the end of the school year is May 31) and it is impossible to do both exams in one week with local resources. Secondly, the education plans of schools must change.

Sharing with reporters, National Assembly Delegate Nguyen Thi Viet Nga (Hai Duong Delegation) said that the reason given by the localities was that the exam schedule had to be moved up due to the merger. But Ms. Nga questioned whether it was really due to the merger or not? Meanwhile, the highest management agency of the sector (the Ministry of Education and Training has completed the merger), the Department of Education and Training has also taken over some of the operational functions of the Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs. Thus, the management level of the State agency has been stable. The end date of the district level's tasks is earlier than the exam and high schools are under the Department of Education and Training. If the province is merged, it is expected to be before August 30, far from the graduation exam time and even if there is a merger, the education sector, schools, students and teachers will not be affected. Therefore, Ms. Nga said that the high school graduation exam schedule will not be affected by the merger.

She affirmed that this year's high school graduation exam is especially important for candidates. This is the first batch of students to take the high school graduation exam under the 2018 education program with a program with many textbooks. The Literature exam materials are not in the textbooks, different from the 2006 education program (materials are in the textbooks). "Just taking the example of innovation in Literature, we can see that parents and students are very excited, even worried," said Ms. Nga. According to her, pushing the graduation exam time up 3 weeks without giving a valid reason makes parents and students uneasy - an unnecessary disruption. Not to mention, changing the exam schedule will put pressure on other activities in education.

In response to public concerns, yesterday, March 20, the Ministry of Education and Training officially sent a document to the above localities confirming that the 2025 high school graduation exam schedule will remain as announced (June 27-28). Accordingly, this will help stabilize the psychology of students and parents and will not affect other educational activities.

Worry about affecting priority points

A teacher at Vinh Phuc High School for the Gifted (Vinh Phuc province) expressed concern about the State's plan to merge provinces. In the event that 2 or 3 provinces merge and lose a specialized high school, students from specialized schools will have the opportunity to be given priority in admission as in previous years. The question was raised because the current admission mechanism of many universities has a policy of direct admission or priority for students from specialized high schools in the provinces.

Responding to this concern, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Anh Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Higher Education (Ministry of Education and Training) said that when developing a plan to advise the Ministry's leaders, the Department of Higher Education and the Department of Quality Management raised the issue of local mergers, especially the restructuring of the management model at the localities. Mr. Dung affirmed that, up to this point, regional priority points, subjects and priority plans are applied according to the regulations of previous years.

Mr. Dung informed that the Department of Higher Education will advise the leaders of the Ministry of Education and Training on how to handle the delay in applying the policy in case of mergers of localities taking place before the time of school admissions (end of July). According to Mr. Dung, the number of students of specialized schools is actually not as large as the group of candidates with priority by region and subject, so if there is a change, many candidates in the priority by region will be affected. Therefore, all changes (if any) related to the merger of localities will be applied from next year, not immediately in 2025.

According to Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son, this year, the Ministry continues to make adjustments to make the high school graduation exam and university entrance exam more convenient, transparent and fair for candidates. The 2025 high school graduation exam will follow the 2018 general education program, with changes in the way the exam questions are designed, aiming to assess comprehensive abilities instead of just testing memorization ability. This approach not only helps to classify candidates better but also reduces the pressure of heavy review, helping them study more proactively. Regarding the admission regulations, the Ministry of Education and Training plans to issue them in the near future with some important adjustments. In particular, the application of technology in admission will help reduce procedures, limit errors and optimize candidates' wishes. The admission system will support students to register and arrange their wishes in the most convenient way, helping to reduce stress during the admission process.

This year, it is noted that 12th graders are under a lot of pressure. These include taking exams according to the new general education program; changing regulations on tutoring in and out of school; merging and streamlining ministries, departments and provinces across the country. In addition, the "evolution" of AI is a huge threat to the jobs of candidates who are starting to enter university.

NGHIEM HUE