Eliminating 6th grade entrance exams: The pressure of competing for high-quality schools has not decreased?

(Dan Tri) - Many parents believe that eliminating the entrance exam for grade 6 will not necessarily reduce the pressure of the race to get into high-quality schools, and then opportunities will almost only be available to children from well-off families.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc has a child born in 2014, planning to take the entrance exam to Thanh Xuan High Quality Secondary School for over a year. After Circular 30, more than a year of preparation by her family and daughter may be meaningless.

According to Ms. Ngoc, her child has the ability to compete in entrance exams but will fail if admitted.

"The entrance exam will truly assess the student's academic ability. Meanwhile, the admission process may create opportunities for cheating.

If the transcript is one of the admission criteria, many parents will "buy points" for their children. The Ministry of Education and Training wants to stop early university admission based on transcripts because it believes that transcripts are not substantial, so why does the Ministry think that elementary school transcripts are more secure?

If admission is based on cultural, artistic, sports , foreign language awards, etc., the advantage always belongs to students from public schools, private schools, and international schools.

That is where the movement and extracurricular activities are strong. At the same time, parents in these schools mostly have the conditions to let their children participate in many competitions, invest in learning talents, and invest in learning English.

Parents believe that the entrance exam will truly assess students' academic abilities, while the admission process will create opportunities for cheating (Photo: My Ha).

Students from "village schools" and students without conditions have almost no opportunities.

As my husband and I are both civil servants, our monthly salary is just enough to eat, we don't have money to send our children to study gifted subjects or participate in English or STEM playgrounds. Except for their academic records and Violympic and Vietnamese Champion awards, my children's records have no chance of competing for admission to high-quality 6th grade," Ngoc shared.

Mr. Nguyen Van The (35 years old, Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi ) expressed disappointment when reading the regulation to abolish the 6th grade exam from 2025.

With the goal of 2 high-quality schools including Ngoai Ngu Secondary School and Nam Tu Liem Secondary School, he has studied with his child since the summer of grade 3 to grade 4. He bought advanced math books and exam materials online to teach his child. For Vietnamese and English, Mr. The let his child review at reputable centers.

Because the admission method of these two schools in previous years was to consider academic records combined with competency assessment exams, he did not let his children take any online exams to reduce exam pressure and spend time focusing on practicing solid knowledge and skills.

Therefore, the Ministry's regulation that only considers admission to grade 6 makes it difficult for Mr. The's child to have a chance when there is only one condition: academic records.

Mr. The joined a group of nearly 1,000 members who are parents of children born in 2014 who plan to take the high-quality 6th grade entrance exam. According to him, 100% of the opinions in the group oppose the removal of the 6th grade entrance exam, including parents who have "collected awards" for their children.

Ms. NTNM, a primary school teacher in Hanoi, shares the same opinion. According to Ms. M., for a long time, public school students have mainly participated in cultural competitions such as Violympic and Trang Nguyen.

Only a very few students take international language certificates such as TOEFL, KET, PET according to their family's orientation.

As for Ms. M's class, although it is a foreign language enhancement class of the school, the number of students registered for the KET certificate exam is only 11/45.

Meanwhile, private school students taking these exams are very popular. Besides that, there are awards for music, painting, sports, English debate, etc.

"It is not entirely true to say that eliminating entrance exams will reduce pressure on students. Entrance exams and admission are equally stressful.

Because no matter what form is used, the number of students who want to enter high-quality schools is always huge and the number of students who are accepted is always small. Where there is competition, there is pressure.

"The pressure will depend on the level of competition, not necessarily on the admission method," Ms. M. stated her opinion.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/bo-thi-tuyen-lop-6-ap-luc-cuoc-dua-truong-chat-luong-cao-khong-he-giam-20250109150418326.htm