Waiting for admission criteria instructions from the Department of Education

TPO - The Ministry of Education and Training has decided that the 6th grade admission plan for schools is based on selection, making parents who plan to enroll their children in high-quality schools or "famous" private schools restless. The Ministry of Education and Training has requested the Department of Education and Training to urgently develop and publish the principles and criteria for admission to 6th grade of junior high school in accordance with actual conditions so that parents can be proactive.

TPO - The Ministry of Education and Training has decided that the 6th grade admission plan for schools is based on selection, making parents who plan to enroll their children in high-quality schools or "famous" private schools restless. The Ministry of Education and Training has requested the Department of Education and Training to urgently develop and publish the principles and criteria for admission to 6th grade of junior high school in accordance with actual conditions so that parents can be proactive.

In recent years, in addition to secondary schools enrolling 6th grade students according to the admission criteria, Hanoi has a model of high-quality schools and a number of "famous" private schools that have attracted the attention of tens of thousands of parents and students. With the number of applications tens of thousands of times larger than the enrollment quota, these schools are allowed by the Ministry of Education and Training to enroll students by combining admission and testing to assess students' abilities.

In fact, schools have organized large-scale 6th grade entrance exams with 3 subjects: Math, Vietnamese, English, attracting a large number of students to participate. It is worth mentioning that each school has a different test format, parents whisper to each other, if they want to take the exam, they have to practice early.

Some parents even think that if they want their children to take the entrance exam to X or Y Middle School, they must be trained at school. The children are forced to go to extra classes at exam preparation centers until they are exhausted.

Students take the entrance exam to grade 6 at a private school in Hanoi for the 2024-2025 school year.

Remember, in the 2023-2024 school year, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training adjusted the criteria for admission to grade 6, Hanoi Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, causing many students to be eliminated. Many parents burst into tears when they set a goal for their children to enter their dream school, their children went to many extra classes, there were no Saturdays, Sundays or holidays, their friends went out, they had time off but their children still had to go to school.

From that reality, the Ministry of Education and Training recently adjusted the 6th grade admission plan to "examine admission". With that regulation, private schools, high-quality schools and parents are confused and concerned about the admission criteria. Because in reality, this admission method was applied a decade ago but many problems arose such as: beautifying academic records, rushing into competitions to use awards as secondary criteria...

High scores in academic records but when entering school... they go downhill

Associate Professor Dr. Dang Quoc Thong, Chairman of the Board of Doan Thi Diem School, said that there must be a plan to select students because the quota is only one but the number of advanced registrations is two or three times. Not to mention, the school has types of classes to enhance Math, English, IT... so there must be an assessment of students' abilities to see if they are suitable or not.

“Elementary school transcripts have long been only moderately reliable. Many students have high scores but cannot study in school, so if admission is only based on records and transcripts, it will be very difficult for private schools,” Associate Professor Thong said.

Therefore, according to Mr. Thong, at this time the school is waiting for instructions from the Hanoi Department of Education and Training to enroll students for the next school year.

Ms. Van Thuy Duong, Vice Principal of Luong The Vinh Secondary and High School, Cau Giay campus (Hanoi) said that universalizing lower secondary education is a political task of general schools, but the public and private sectors have different characteristics. The public sector is fully subsidized by the State to carry out the task of universal education, the private sector must be completely self-sufficient to provide universal education services and high-quality education services according to the needs of society.

According to Ms. Duong, enrollment must be a breakthrough, in which private schools are free to enroll students according to the professional criteria of competent authorities, as well as ensuring requirements on facilities and teaching staff....

Only considering admission will make it difficult to ensure that the admission principles are objective, fair and serious because public opinion has been overwhelmed many times by transcripts with perfect scores.

While there is no tool to ensure that the assessment of primary education quality (tests, transcripts) of schools is objective, serious, and fair, forcing both public and private schools to only admit students based on transcripts is an adventure, a risk, and can increase the situation of asking for points, giving points, beautifying transcripts as well as "secondary criteria" for admission, creating prize races to get extra points for admission to grade 6.

Urgently develop criteria for admission to grade 6

In response to various opinions, Nguyen Xuan Thanh, Head of the Department of Secondary Education (Ministry of Education and Training), said that along with the regulation that the method of secondary school admission is based on examination, the Ministry of Education and Training has assigned the Departments of Education and Training to provide specific guidance on the admission criteria, ensuring that the admission process is fair, objective, transparent, and appropriate to the local situation. In addition, any secondary school must carry out the task of universalization in the area.

On January 10, the Ministry of Education and Training continued to issue a document requesting the Departments of Education and Training to urgently develop and announce the principles and criteria for admission to grade 6 of junior high school in accordance with the actual conditions of the locality so that students, parents, teachers and schools can clearly understand and be proactive in the admission work.

"The Department of Education and Training sets up general admission criteria, but then the number of applications still exceeds the assigned quota, so it applies competency assessment methods such as: Q&A, presentation, writing... ", Head of the Department of Secondary Education (Ministry of Education and Training) Nguyen Xuan Thanh.

The Ministry of Education and Training requires: "For schools with a number of students registering for admission exceeding the school's assigned quota, the Department of Education and Training guides schools to conduct student capacity assessment in the following forms (as prescribed in the student assessment regulations): Q&A, writing, presentation, practice, experiment,... ensuring that enrollment is carried out fairly, publicly, transparently, and in accordance with practical conditions.

Ha Linh

Source: https://tienphong.vn/boi-roi-tuyen-sinh-lop-6-cho-huong-dan-tieu-chi-xet-tuyen-cua-so-giao-duc-post1708896.tpo