VietNamNet Bridge - A secondary school in Soc Trang City has refused to enroll a student who planned to enter the sixth grade this academic year because he cannot read and write.

Lam Son Vu, the student, has been told to return to Ly Dao Thanh Primary School, where he studied in the last five years and repeat primary education.

Vu was unable to write his mother’s name even though people around helped him spell the name.

Vu’s mother said she discovered that Vu could not read and write when he was in the fourth and fifth grades. She then asked the school’s board of management to allow Vu to repeat class, but the proposal was rejected.

“I was told that my son could get scores high enough to move up to the next grades,” she said.“They said my son just needs some private tutoring lessons and there’s nothing the matter."

Ly Dao Thanh Primary School is recognized as meeting national standards.

Phan Tuyet, a renowned educator, commented on Giao Duc Viet Nam that there are many children like Vu at Vietnam’s schools, who move up to the next grade every year.

VnExpress, an online newspaper, discovered that many third graders could not read. Another local newspaper reported that some seventh graders could not do the four basic operations. 

Inspectors in 2015 discovered that a student in Quang Tri province was regularly absent at lessons, but still received the title of good student.

Vietbao.vn reported that Nguyen Thi Vinh from Bac Giang province complained that her son, a 5th grader of Nghia Phuong Primary School, could not read and write.

Many cases of students ‘sitting in wrong classes’ were discovered in 2015, after which Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Vinh Hien in April 2015 sent dispatches to local education departments, asking to take drastic measures to stop the problem.

Tuyet said this should not be blamed on teachers’ capability, but on the title ‘national standard school’. 

In order to be recognized as meeting national standards, schools have to satisfy a lot of criteria, including the number of excellent students and students who can move up to the next grades. 

Under current regulations, if the number of repeaters at a school is higher than 2 percent of total students, the ‘national standard school’ title will berevoked.

“Therefore, students only have the right to move up to the next grades once academic years finish, but don’t have the right to repeat classes,” Tuyet said.

Mai Thanh