VietNamNet Bridge - Secondary school graduates in Nghe An province who have learning capacity below average have been told to go to vocational schools instead of high schools. As a result, many newly built high schools are seriously thirsty for students.

Private high schools in Nghe An province were once the “lifebuoy” for hundreds of teachers who finished pedagogical schools because they provided jobs to them.

The schools were once very crowded. As they lacked teachers, they sometimes hired lecturers from junior colleges and universities as visiting teachers.

But things are quite different now. The classrooms there are deserted. H, a teacher of a private school, said he receives VND500,000 a month only from teaching, while T, another teacher, said she only goes to the school when she has to pay insurance premiums.

Duong Xuan Ngoc, headmaster of the Nguyen Trai High School in Vinh City, admitted that his school is thirsty for students.

It is now mid-May, which means the academic year is finishing. And Ngoc now has to “rack his brains” to think what he needs to do to persuade secondary school graduates to continue high education at his school.

“In the past, we only had to think how to teach students. But now we have another task – enroll more students or die,” he said.

The school cannot enroll students over the last several years. In its golden age, in 1995 to early 2000s, the school maintained 27 classes with 1,300 students every year. But now there are only three classes with 175 students.

“The situation is forecast be even worse in the future,” he said.

Nguyen Trai is not alone. A lot of other large schools like Nguyen Hue, Bac Quynh Luu and VTC are facing the same problem. The schools are described “on the verge of bankruptcy” because they cannot enroll enough students.

Tran Hoang Ha, headmaster of Nguyen Hue School, said in the past, he received nearly 1,000 students every year, but now he can find only 150.

“Since there are few students, the revenue from tuition is not high enough to pay to teachers,” he said.

“We lack students because secondary schools persuade graduates to go to vocational schools instead of high schools,” said Nguyen Thi Van, headmaster of Nguyen Thuc Tu High School in Nghi Loc district.

Secondary school graduates are told not to continue high school or university if their learning capacity is not good.

However, Van said, many parents have protested the policy, saying that their children’s right of learning has been deprived. 

Many students have given up studying at vocational schools, and they are still not old enough to get jobs.

Lao Dong