Causes of the 'fever' of high-quality schools

Hanoi The gap between supply and demand, reputation, facilities and teachers has created a "fever", causing parents to worry.

In mid-June, hundreds of parents in Ha Dong district, Hanoi, lined up overnight, waiting until 8:30 the next morning to submit their children's applications for first grade at Van Bao Primary School. Chaos broke out when the school gate opened, with parents rushing in, jostling each other as they all wanted to get inside.

Even though 200 parents have been allowed to submit their applications, equal to the quota, many parents still sit at the school gate, waiting for a chance if someone is not qualified to enroll.

Previously, many parents were upset because their children's applications with all 10s were eliminated from the entrance exam for grade 6, junior high school of Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted. The reason was that their children had a subject that was only "completed" but not "completed well". The conditions to pass the "parking lot round", as the public often calls it, are also strict.

Van Bao Primary School and the secondary school system, Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, are all high-quality public schools in Hanoi.

Parents jostle when Van Bao Primary School opens its gates to parents at 8:30 a.m. on June 13. Photo: Huy Manh

Hanoi is the only locality in the country with a high-quality public school model, according to the Capital Law of 2010. These schools always receive great attention from students and parents, the number of candidates registering to study is many times higher than the capacity.

Hanoi - Amsterdam School is recruiting 200 sixth graders this year. The total number of applications is around 3,000, some years 5,000, meaning the passing rate is only 4 to 7%. Cau Giay Secondary School has more than 2,700 students taking the exam to win 440 places. For the lower grades, Nam Tu Liem Primary School also received more than 500 applications this year, while the quota is 176.

At the city scale, Hanoi has more than 2,230 public kindergartens and primary schools, but only about 20 high-quality schools.

The difference between supply and demand, along with the reputation and quality of schools, are some of the reasons leading to the "fever" of high-quality schools. According to Dr. Pham Tat Dong, Permanent Vice President of Vietnam Association for Promoting Education .

Regarding facilities , some criteria to determine a high-quality school are having a multi-purpose hall, enough classrooms to teach two sessions a day, each class has no more than 30 students, has a swimming pool, has a supplementary education program, enhances English teaching with foreigners, bilingual classes, organizes health and psychological counseling activities at least three times a year.

These conditions are equivalent to those of private schools, but the tuition fees of high-quality public schools are much cheaper. Last year, the tuition ceiling of these schools ranged from 5.1 to 5.7 million VND per month. Based on this and local conditions, each school sets its own specific tuition fees, most of which are set at 3 to 4 million VND. For example, Van Bao Primary School and Cau Giay Secondary School both charge 3.3 million VND per month. This level is 2-28 times lower than the tuition fees of private schools.

"The tuition fee of Van Bao Primary School is suitable for my family's total monthly income," said Bach Quang Hieu, a parent who lined up overnight to submit his application.

This is also what many parents share when they want to send their children to high-quality public schools. Ms. Thu Nga, mother of a student whose application was rejected from grade 6 at Ams school, said "the school is good, the tuition is reasonable, why not pay".

Primary school results of a student who registered for the 6th grade exam at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, but was eliminated. Photo: Provided by parent

Quality of teachers and curriculum at the schools High quality schools also meet many strict requirements.

For example, 100% of teachers have an A certificate in English, at least 10% of teachers have a B certificate (primary level), 50% are able to communicate in a foreign language (middle school and high school), 40-60% are teachers who are good at teaching at the district and city level. In addition to the criteria for permanent teachers, high-quality schools must have domestic and foreign experts to provide professional support, and teachers must go on annual exchanges and share experiences.

The curriculum at high-quality schools not only meets the standards of the Ministry of Education and Training, but also includes supplementary activities, enhancing English listening and speaking with foreigners, and bilingual classes in Math and Science (for primary school level).

Teacher Nguyen Van Ngai, former Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the advantage of the school's facilities and high-quality teachers will help students develop their potential. He gave an example, if enrollment is divided into regions, meaning students from different places will study at schools near their homes, students with outstanding abilities will not have the best conditions to develop their abilities.

"A student is good at Math, but in a class where most of his students are average, it is difficult for the teacher to teach advanced and expanded lessons beyond the textbooks. That is not to mention that in high-quality schools, the capacity and qualification rate of teachers are also higher," said Mr. Ngai.

In fact, students from high-quality schools also often achieve outstanding results.

Last year, Thanh Xuan Secondary School had more than 100 students admitted to the 10th grade specialized class, accounting for about 30% of the total students. Many other students also passed the entrance exams to top high schools in Hanoi. This year, Cau Giay Secondary School had 94 students admitted to the 10th grade specialized in Pedagogy, and 46 students admitted to the Natural Sciences.

In competitions selected by the Department of Education and Training such as Mathematics and Science (IMSO), in addition to students from famous private schools, there are also many students from high-quality schools.

Dr. Chu Cam Tho, Head of the Department of Educational Evaluation Research at the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, commented that in recent times, high-quality schools have built up prestige and made certain contributions to the field of education, so it is understandable that parents want to send their children to study here.

Agreeing with this view, educational researcher and practitioner Nguyen Thuy Phuong Uyen said that today's parents have better conditions than the previous generation, so they also want their children to have access to better quality education.

Candidates taking the entrance exam for grade 6 at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted in 2020. Photo: Thanh Hang

Experts all agree that high-quality schools help diversify school models and meet the needs of many groups of students, so there should be no need to "eliminate" them.

"What needs to be done to make quality schools a leading model, ensuring fairness, creating positive motivation for students and parents, and at the same time avoiding negative impacts on children's development?" said Ms. Tho.

Specifically, according to Ms. Tho, high-quality schools need to determine their student standards. If they need healthy students, schools must set health admission criteria; similarly, when determining to recruit students who are good at Math, the admission criteria must include this subject, instead of using the concept of "good students". Once they know what they need, schools can find a suitable assessment scale, from which to build an admission plan.

After the incident of parents jostling to submit applications to Van Bao Primary School, Ms. Pham Thi Le Hang, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Dong District, said that she will learn from experience and change the admission method. In the coming years, Van Bao School may have students take an aptitude test or organize experiences, similar to non-public schools.

"The quality of schools is uneven, so parents obviously want to choose better schools. Managers must help students have more choices, reduce pressure on high-quality schools, and these schools must focus on innovation and developing real quality," said Ms. Tho, believing that this is the solution to cool down the "fever" of high quality.

These things take years to accomplish, but the parents' needs are right in front of them. Ms. Huyen is one of dozens of parents whose children were rejected from the 6th grade at Ams. Although she accepted to let her child take the Math elective class at a public school, she still nurtured the "Ams dream".

"If my child cannot get into middle school, he will strive to get into high school. No matter what, I still want him to study at a high-quality school," said Ms. Huyen.

Thanh Hang - Binh Minh

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