VietNamNet Bridge – Pham Thanh Ngoc, 11, does not go to school like other children. However, she has been found as very proficient in solving the mathematics questions designed for high school students and physics questions designed for 10th graders. She also has knowledge in history and chemistry.

Teacher Tran Xuan Viet, from the Nguyen Viet Xuan High School in Di Linh district, in Lam Dong province, related that three years ago, when he was giving tutoring lesson to a 10th grader, a woman aged 50 who led a small girl came to see him.

The woman said that her daughter was 8 years old, but she could solve mathematics questions designed for 9th graders, and that the woman wanted the teacher to give 10th grade lessons to the girl.

“It was quite a surprise to me when the girl could solve all the questions in the textbook for 9th graders I gave her, and solved 70 percent of the questions designed for excellent students,” he recalled.

“I decided to accept the small girl as my student and help her to develop her talent,” he said. “Now she is just 11 years old, but she is learning together with the good 12th graders who plan to take A-group entrance university exams.” (the mathematics questions designed for A-group examinees are considered the most difficult in comparison with the questions for other groups).

Ngoc, the small girl, has been in no way inferior to the 12th graders: she always understands the lessons and acquires necessary knowledge very quickly.

Ngoc’s parents have invited teacher Nguyen Hoai Nam from the Nguyen Viet Xuan High School to teach physics to Ngoc for one month. The teacher believes that Ngoc is good at physics and she is eager for learning. She continues posing questions until she understands the lessons well.

Pham Xuan Thanh, 52, the father of Ngoc, related that on Tien phong that when Ngoc was just two years old, she usually raised questions about the big titles on newspapers and asked the father to show how to spell. Just after a short time, the girl could write and try to get used to the four basic operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

At the age of five, Ngoc could solve the mathematics questions in the textbooks.

Ngoc’s parents once brought her to school. However, the small girl said she was tired of the simple lessons at school. At the age of 7, she finished the mathematics curriculum for secondary school graduates, and obtained knowledge in physics, chemistry and history.

Therefore, Ngoc’s parents have been determined to find the tutors who can teach Ngoc the physics and mathematics lessons designed for high school students.

When asked about the habits, Ngoc said she likes reading books and watching “The road to the Olympia” TV show (a competition for excellent students). In childhood, Ngoc did not like toys like other children, but she liked reading books, especially mathematics books.

Ngoc has revealed that she can give true answers to 40 percent of the questions posed at the program. In early August, her father asked the Lam Dong provincial education department to accept her as a student of the school, so that she could register to attend the program. However, the proposal has been refused by the education department.

Explaining the department’s decision, Huynh Van Bay, Deputy Director of the department, said that if the department allows Ngoc to enter high school, this will violate the current regulations, which say that students must go through the primary and secondary education before following high education. The students with prominent capability can skip grades, but they cannot move to the higher education level.

In the case of Ngoc, she would only be able to go to the sixth grade (the first grade of the secondary education level).

Huynh Thi Tuyet, Deputy Head of the Di Linh district education sub-department, said on Nguoi lao dong that Ngoc did not get five scores (the lowest passing grade) for mathematics and Vietnamese language tests to finish the primary education. Therefore, it is necessary to bring Ngoc to primary school now.

C. V