Admission to the first level is easier

This year’s primary school admissions in Ho Chi Minh City are considered “easier to breathe”. The main reason is thanks to the digitalization efforts of the education sector in the past few years, with systematic student streaming through GIS maps (actual residence) and VNeID data. This helps simplify the process and reduce pressure on parents.

First graders in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: D.Xa

Although the entrance exam for the 2025-2026 school year has not officially begun (usually in June every year, after the school year ends), the Ho Chi Minh City education sector has begun preparations for the exam.

The admission process for the 2025-2026 school year in Ho Chi Minh City will be organized with appropriate adjustments for each level. Admission for the first level in the city is expected to be completed earlier than in previous years, although the 10th grade entrance exam schedule will still take place in early June 2025. In addition, some secondary schools will apply the competency assessment test when enrolling 6th grade students, while most other schools will consider admission based on residential information (GIS and VneID). This method also applies to preschool and first grade, ensuring accuracy and convenience. Parents in Ho Chi Minh City will log in and update information for the 2025-2026 school year admission via smartphone on the official portal: https://tuyensinhdaucap.hcm.edu.vn

This is the third consecutive year that the Ho Chi Minh City education sector has applied online enrollment, replacing the previous method of submitting applications at schools according to communes and wards. With the advantage of being based on GIS maps and VNeID data, this method helps the enrollment process become reasonable and flexible, while ensuring fairness and transparency. The city also prioritizes allocating students according to their "current residence", creating favorable conditions for them to study at the school closest to their home.

Mr. Dinh Van Quyet (34 years old, living in Binh Thanh district) - whose child is about to enter grade 1, shared that his family received a notice from the ward officials about updating information for the 6-year-old child about to enter grade 1, including information such as birth certificate, place of residence, parents' phone number... along with a classification of children who have attended preschool in the current area (or not) to send to the ward officials... In addition, Mr. Quyet's family also received similar instructions from his child's preschool teacher. The teacher said that she would support updating information if parents were not familiar with the online enrollment system.

Due to the characteristics of different levels, admission to preschool and primary school (grade 1) in Ho Chi Minh City mostly depends on the parents' residence registration, so for families who have registered permanent residence and live long-term in a certain locality, school arrangement is quite convenient and easy. Based on residence information, education department staff will arrange children to the primary school closest to their actual residence. If the school has more than the quota, the next closest school will be selected... It is known that the biggest advantage of this admission plan is that children will study at the school closest to their residence, instead of studying at schools in the ward or commune where they have registered permanent residence. Because in reality, in neighboring wards and communes, there may be situations where children are in one ward (commune) but are near a school in another ward (commune). For children with parents who are temporarily residing, the admission plan is also arranged similarly, with the above priority order. In addition, this plan also makes primary school enrollment easier and less affected or disrupted when there are changes in administrative boundaries of communes, wards, or even cities because the selection is only based on actual residence location.

According to Mr. Nguyen Bao Quoc - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, with the above criteria, the primary school admission process will meet the diverse needs of the people. Admission also facilitates special cases such as workers' children, students living in border areas. From there, the distribution of students is flexible, not rigid according to administrative boundaries. At the same time, the number of students between schools is balanced, ensuring the quality of education.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/tp-ho-chi-minh-tuyen-sinh-dau-cap-de-tho-hon-10302504.html