Primary school admission in Ho Chi Minh City: Parents breathe a sigh of relief!

In the 2025-2026 school year, enrollment work from kindergarten to high school in Ho Chi Minh City will be completed in June, 2 months earlier than before.

Specific and clear regulations

Also in this school year, Ho Chi Minh City continues to deploy a city-wide GIS mapping system to help allocate students to schools near their homes. Allowing flexible registration based on three criteria: Place of residence, previous place of study, and place of work of parents. At the same time; ensuring fairness in admission with a transparent process.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen, a parent whose child is in grade 4 at Vuon Hong Kindergarten (Thu Duc City), said that this year she "breathed a sigh of relief" because according to the plan, her child will be admitted to Nguyen Hien Primary School (Thu Duc City). "The kindergarten has reviewed student information, so that parents can sign a confirmation including relevant information such as identification code, current residence. Parents are also given detailed instructions and important timelines for the upcoming first grade entrance exam. This process is clear and convenient for parents, they can submit their application just by staying at home" - Ms. Huyen expressed.

According to the Department of Education and Training (DET) of Ho Chi Minh City, the application of GIS in TSĐC brings positive effects, in which the criteria for students to study near home, creating convenience for parents is a prerequisite. According to the enrollment plan of Ho Chi Minh City, the City People's Committee requires the Department of Education and Training to advise the People's Committee of Thu Duc City and districts to build flexible enrollment areas based on 3 factors: Distribution of schools in the locality, the number of children of enrollment age and information on current residence of students from the database (DBDL) of the Department of Education and Training. At the same time, combine the use of the city's shared digital map system to calculate the travel distance of students. In particular, students are not allocated according to the administrative boundaries of wards. For schools located on the boundaries between localities, Ho Chi Minh City also requires the TSĐC Steering Committee to develop appropriate enrollment plans, creating favorable conditions for students to study near their current residence.

First grade students at Nguyen Thi Primary School, District 11. Photo: TAN THANH

The TSĐC process is also implemented clearly and transparently, in which the admission subjects are divided into 2 types. In which, subject 1 is priority admission for students whose current residence is in the area and within the prescribed age, for grade 1 and students whose current residence is in the area, have completed primary school and are within the prescribed age for grade 6. For subject 2, students who wish to study in an area that is not their actual residence. For this subject, Ho Chi Minh City also requires the TSĐC Steering Committee of Thu Duc City and districts to issue documents clearly defining the subjects that are given priority for admission, creating a legal basis for classification. In particular, priority admission can be considered in order of specific cases of each area such as: Students who have completed preschool or primary school in the area; Students whose father or mother works in the area (industrial parks, agencies, organizations located in the area); Students whose current residence according to VNeID is in the border areas between districts and Thu Duc City; students who have transferred from one province to another, students in special cases of the locality; students in group 2 must ensure the following conditions: register for admission on the city's admission system, meet the criteria in the local admission plan.

The local TSĐC Steering Committee can consider admission in order of priority subjects and regimes, ensuring compliance with the local enrollment plan and time frame issued by the Department of Education and Training.

Localities speed up progress

From the city's general plan, many localities in Ho Chi Minh City have accelerated the implementation of the TSĐC.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thai Vinh Nguyen, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Thu Duc City, in addition to implementing the enrollment process according to the time frames prescribed by the Department of Education and Training of the City, Thu Duc City will continue to conduct the entrance exam for grade 6 at 3 secondary schools as before and can be implemented in May. According to Mr. Nguyen, the Department of Education and Training of Thu Duc City plans to continue organizing the entrance exam for grade 6 for students who want to study at Tran Quoc Toan 1 Secondary School, Hoa Lu Secondary School, Binh Tho Secondary School in the 2025-2026 school year by reviewing the application documents and taking a test to assess each student's ability. In particular, the enrollment quota at the schools is expected to include: Tran Quoc Toan 1 Secondary School will enroll 9 grade 6 classes (of which at least 5 will be integrated English classes, the rest will be enhanced English classes) with 315 students. Hoa Lu Secondary School recruits 7 6th grade classes (of which at least 3 are integrated English classes, the rest are enhanced English) with 245 students. Binh Tho Secondary School recruits 8 6th grade classes (of which at least 3 are integrated English classes, the rest are enhanced English) with 280 students.

Ms. Le Thi Thanh Giang, Head of the Department of Education and Training of District 1, said that the locality is reviewing the number of children in the area, ensuring that all school-age children are updated on the education and training sector's data system. At Tran Dai Nghia Secondary and High School (District 1), this school year it is expected to recruit 350 sixth graders for the 2025-2026 school year; continuing to conduct the capacity assessment survey as in the previous school year. Specifically, candidates will take the survey for 90 minutes. The survey time is June 2025, instead of July as in previous years. The reason for the earlier survey time is because the city's TSĐC work is expected to be completed by the end of June (2 months earlier than last year), so the sixth grade enrollment for Tran Dai Nghia School will also be carried out earlier.

Important milestones

According to the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, from March 27 to April 3, preschool and primary education institutions will review and update final-year student data on the industry database at https://csdl.hcm.edu.vn, verify student identification data with the national population database. In addition, synchronize final-year student data from the industry database to the TSĐC database; notify parents of the login account of the Ho Chi Minh City primary school admissions page.

From April 4 to 13, parents of high school seniors, preschools and primary schools will check information on the Ho Chi Minh City enrollment website at: https://tuyensinhdaucap.hcm.edu.vn. Preschools and primary schools will check and update information on high school seniors on the enrollment database (if any). From April 4 to 13, the Department of Education and Training, the People's Committees of wards and communes will update the list of 6-year-old children preparing to enter grade 1 who have not yet attended preschool on the enrollment database. Parents of 6-year-old children who have not yet attended preschool will check information on the Ho Chi Minh City enrollment website. From April 14 to 16, the Department of Education and Training will compile and send to the Thu Duc City Education and Training Department and districts to finalize data on children preparing to enter grade 1 and primary school students preparing to enter grade 6 for the 2025-2026 school year. From April 17 to 19, the People's Committee of Thu Duc City and districts reported the number of children preparing to enter grade 1 and primary school students preparing to enter grade 6 in the area to the HCM City Steering Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs.

Improve transparency, support people

According to Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, during this year's TSĐC, the department has deployed to localities notes such as adding a team to support online registration and providing full enrollment information to people. Increase transparency in the enrollment process, provide full evidence and enrollment lists, build a strict inspection and monitoring system and an effective complaint handling mechanism. Strengthen review and coordination with localities, especially in the work of universalizing education... to support people.

Avoid "failing" school, parents need to know

According to the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, to ensure student data, in step 1, kindergartens and primary schools must ensure that all students eligible for admission have identification codes and authenticate identification data with the national population database. In step 2, the school synchronizes data from the industry database to the TSĐC database. At the same time, notify the login account to parents to check information on the TSĐC website of Ho Chi Minh City. In step 3, based on the student data platform that the school has updated, parents access the TSĐC website to check and confirm the correct information (account and password provided by the school). In step 4, the school verifies the content requested by parents to adjust the information. Then, parents access the TSĐC website to check and confirm the correct information. In the final step, the school confirms the completion of data review and transfers the final grade student data file to the higher level. PH checks information on VNeID, reports to local police to update current residence information accurately; checks and confirms information on https://tuyensinhdaucap.hcm.edu.vn on time.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/tuyen-sinh-dau-cap-tai-tp-hcm-phu-huynh-tho-phao-196250402203920185.htm