VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese students’ high achievements at the international competitions in 2013 have once again, affirmed the “Vietnamese brainpower” in the international tribune.

High achievements at the International Olympiads

All the six members of the Vietnamese team attending the 2013 Mathematics Olympiad got medals.

With three gold and three silver medals, Vietnam ranked the 7th among the 79 competition teams, an improvement of two grades if compared with 2012.

The three gold medalists include Vo Anh Duc, a 12th grader of the Ha Tinh provincial High School for the Gifted, Pham Tuan Huy, a 11th grader of the High School for Talents under the HCM City National University and Can Tran Thanh Trung, from the same school.

The silver medals were awarded to Dinh Le Cong, a 12th grader of the High School for the Gifted under the Vinh City University, Tran Dang Phuc, a 12th grader of the High School for Talented, an arm of the Hanoi National University, and Hoang Do Kien from the Vinh Phuc provincial High School for the Gifted.

The high achievements of the Vietnamese math competitors can show the Vietnamese intelligence as well as the development of the country’s mathematics studies.

High grade at PISA

Vietnam, the poorest country among the 65 countries which attended the OECD launched PISA tests, has caused a big surprise to the whole world with its high achievements which put it on the 17th position among the 65 ranked countries and territories.

It ranks 8th in science with 528 scores, 17th in math (511 scores) and 19th in reading comprehensive.

Daily Mail, while comparing Vietnam with the rising star, emphasized that Vietnam ranks the 17th, or above the UK, even though it spends much less money on education than the UK.

Andreas Schleicher, who was in charge of assessing the PISA test’s results, also admitted that the UK’s spending on education is 14 times higher than Vietnam’s.

In fact, this is not the first time Vietnamese students have obtained the high achievements in the international arena. Vietnamese students have been well known for their high achievements at international Olympiads, Robocon or other competitions.

Excellent student brought up by a father living near sewer

Nguyen Huu Tien from Ung Hoa district in Hanoi has been gloried as the student who came first at the 2013 entrance exam to the Hanoi Medical University with 29.5/30 marks.

The excellent student was born into a poor family, where his father, Nguyen Huu Dinh, has been spending a wandering life in the capital city to make money to feed his four children and the 93-year-old mother, and his mother has been working for others in the village.

The majority of their incomes of tends of thousands of dong everyday have been used to fund the studies of the four children. All of them are studying at universities in Hanoi.

Tien has been chosen as one of the 10 most outstanding young people in Hanoi in 2013.

A student rescued 5 children from drowning

He is Le Van Duoc, a ninth grader of the Thanh Ngoc Secondary School in Thanh Chuong district of Nghe An province.

On June 17 afternoon, while tending buffalo on the riverside, Duoc heard the shouts for help from the five small girls and he successfully rescued them from drowning.

Duoc, 15, has received the letter with compliment and gift from President Truong Tan Sang.

Tien Phong