La Thi Quynh Huong, a mother in Cau Giay district in Hanoi, takes her child who is in the fourth grade to a tutoring class twice a week, where the boy prepares for the secondary school entrance exam.

“Primary school students need to begin preparing for the exam when they are in fourth instead of fifth grade, or it will be too late,” she explained.

Nguyen Van Long, a father in Ha Dong district, has registered an extra mathematics class for his daughter. The class is located 12 kilometers from his home, so he and his wife have to take turns picking up their daughter with the hope of obtaining a seat at a prestigious secondary school. 

“I believe that school lessons won’t be enough for students to attend the entrance exams to high-quality secondary schools. They need private tutoring and more practice. I registered an extra class for my daughter,” Long said, adding that he has to pay VND300,000 for every tutoring lesson.

“The class is full. If someone is late in making registration, he will have to wait to register for the other class,” he said.

The race for popular primary schools is getting stiff as the first semester of the 2022-2023 academic year has finished and enrollment for the new academic year is about to kick off.

Nguyen Phuong Hanh, a mother in Nam Tu Liem district, said her daughter, 5, has been attending a preparatory class for half a year. 

“My daughter can write all letters and she can even write two short sentences,” she said.

The mother knows that her child needs time to play and entertain herself, but the little girl has no choice than studying right now, because the number of seats at ‘star’ schools is limited.

Meanwhile, some ‘hot’ schools have begun a new enrollment season.

The Hanoi-based Luong The Vinh Secondary and High School announced the opening of a course instructing skills to do the proficiency assessment test to enter the sixth grade.

Archimedes School (Hanoi) has sent to parents of fifth graders a program to prepare for the exam to move up to the sixth grade.

Ngoi Sao Ha Noi School has released an enrollment notice for the 2023-2024 academic year. It plans to organize 12 classes for sixth graders with 34 students each class.

Hoang Thanh