VietNamNet Bridge – Failing the civil service examination, an unidentified person who had received a PhD in physics from France, and another person who had a master’s degree from a British university failed their civil service exams in Hanoi, according to Le Thi Oanh, headmaster of the Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, the best known high school in Hanoi.

He was speaking at a working session with the city’s People’s Council on August 21.

According to Oanh, the school’s board of management wants to recruit the PhD as a physics teacher to give lecture in English. However, the brilliant candidate failed the civil service examination.

The person got a mark of 8 only on the exam, which is not high enough to be hired by the Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, which always sets high requirements for teaching staff. The school admits the most excellent students in Hanoi, who are admitted after passing school entrance exams.

Meanwhile, according to Oanh, many candidates, who graduate from domestic schools, get higher marks, 9 or 9.5 marks, on the exam. Under current laws, the candidates with higher exam marks will be chosen.

The information has surprised many people, who could not believe that a PhD from France, a country with advanced education system, is less qualified than the colleagues graduating from domestic schools.

An educator noted that the unsatisfactory examination result of the PhD can be explained by the difference in the French and Vietnamese training curricula.

The same situation is faced by a candidate, who has a master‘s degree granted by a British school.

As a result, both of them, though having high education degrees granted by foreign universities, now have to work for the Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted under labor contracts, while they are not listed as official civil servants of the school.

The fact that qualified candidates who finish foreign schools fail the civil service exam has raised a big controversy.

Some people said there must be “problems” on the entrance exam questions.

“I think the doctor was unfamiliar with the Vietnamese teaching curriculum, which has been criticized as too academic and unnecessarily complicated,” a reader said in an email to VietNamNet.

Meanwhile, some educators argued that the exam marks truly reflected the qualification of the candidates, and this showed that they are not capable to become the teachers at the school.  

The Chair of the Hanoi People’s Council Ngo Thi Doan Thanh also said there was no need to differentiate the candidates who finish foreign schools from the ones who graduate from domestic schools.

According to the director of the Hanoi Education and Training Department Nguyen Huu Do, candidates who were the best graduates of domestic schools and those who got foreign schools’ excellent degrees in the past were admitted to state agencies without having to attend any exams.

However, under the current regulations, they do not have to take the recruitment examination, but have to take the tests.

A report showed a surprising result of the 41 excellent candidates, who were the best graduates of domestic schools and those who got foreign schools’ excellent degrees, 10 candidates were found as “unable to meet the requirements”.

Tien Phong