VietNamNet Bridge – Dang Minh Tuan, a teacher with a good reputation who works at the Hanoi-Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, has become unwillingly famous for failing a civil service exam.

His name has appeared in many local newspapers not only as an excellent teacher, but also as a PhD who failed the civil service exam to become an official teacher at the school.

Some of his students won top prizes South Korea at an international math competition there.

Vietnamese competitors won four gold, four silver and eight bronze medals at the competition for general school students.

At a similar competition in 2013, Tuan students won one gold and five silver medals.

But Tuan’s successes are not widely known. He has achieved more notoriety for failing the civil service exam.

The teacher has had an impressive learning record. In addition, he won second prize at a national physics competition for high school students.

He was a student at Hanoi University of Natural Sciences, was granted Odon Vallet scholarship, a student at Paris 11 University, a postgraduate at Lyon 1 University, and an intern at the European Atomic Energy Center.

Tuan turned down job opportunities overseas and returned to Vietnam to work as a general school teacher.

Though Tuan is a beloved teacher in the eyes of students, he has not been recognized as an official member of the school’s teaching staff. Failing the latest civil service exam, he now has to work under a fixed-term labor contract.

Why did Tuan, a qualified teacher with a doctorate and great achievements, fail the exam? Tuan competed with candidates who had less impressive records.

Explanations have not been forthcoming. Many VietNamNet readers, in emails to the editorial board, say they are not surprised about this.

They wrote about their own experiences taking an exam that was organized by the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Most of the candidates who passed the exam turned out to be relatives of high-ranking officials of the ministry.

Local newspapers have commented that they noticed something “fishy” in the exam, and began investigating.

A reader wrote that he knows many other people who are not admitted to state agencies despite their high qualifications. Talent should be respected and treated favourably, they said.

The reader came to a conclusion that the failure of Tuan at the exam is not bad news for Tuan, but for Hanoi’s education and the high school.

Da Dien