VietNamNet Bridge – The educational sector has been shaken by a statement from a high school headmaster that “giving and receiving gifts” is “the same old story” that has occurred regularly at schools.

Though most Vietnamese believe that wrongdoing occurs daily at schools, they were still surprised that a headmaster of a prestigious school in Hanoi would admit that receiving gifts from students is a “law of life”.

The matter originated from a letter written by parents at a high school.

In the letter sent to the editorial board of Giao duc Vietnam newspaper, the parents of a student at Nguyen Du High School complained that they had to “ask for help” from the school’s headmaster if they wanted their children to study in classes for selected students. And in exchange for the “help”, the parents had to “give big gifts” to express their gratitude to him.

They said the students of the school had to take a test before the new academic year begins. The aim of the test, as explained by the school’s management board, was to assess the students’ ability so as to put them into suitable classes.

“We don’t know if the re-arrangement of students every year is a requirement by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) or an ‘initiative’ of the school’s leaders,” the parents wrote in their letter.

Nguyen Dinh Lap, headmaster of Nguyen Du High School, at a meeting with Giao duc Vietnam reporters, confirmed that testing was organized once every year. It aims to find students equally capable who are then put into suitable classes.

“The students who plan to sit the university entrance exams are placed in some classes, where they receive reasonable training to prepare for the exams,” he explained.

Also according to Lap, the students in the special classes have better opportunities to attend private tutoring classes and study with good teachers.

About 50 percent of the school’s students plan to take university entrance exams after they finish high school (there are 1,500 students in the school, including 500 12th graders).

Meanwhile, 4.8 out of every 10 students pass the exams every year.

When asked if there exists an “ask-and-grant” principle in selecting students for the special classes, Lap said that this “principle” has been applied everywhere and at all schools, including primary schools.

Students are the ones who “ask” for the favor of studying at selected classes, while the headmaster is the one who “grants” the favor to students and “receives gifts”.

Lap said his wife is a teacher at a primary school in Ha Dong District, which also applies the “ask and grant” principle.

“I don’t think receiving gifts is something problematic as people say,” he said, adding that the “gifts” are sometimes just boxes of cookies or candies which don’t have high value.

Lap has faced stiff criticism from his colleagues after making such frank statements.

“The headmaster of the Nguyen Du High School has slandered the educational sector,” said Le Ngoc Quang, deputy director of the Hanoi Education and Training Department.

Quang has denied that receiving gifts from students is the “same old story” in the national educational sector, saying that this was just a random remark from Lap.