VietNamNet Bridge - Hanoi students are nervous about the stiff competition for seats not only at schools for the gifted but also at state-owned high schools this year.

In principle, all secondary school graduates have the right to continue at high schools without having to take high school entrance exam. However, as the number of seats at state-owned high schools is limited, students have to sit exams to scramble for seats there. 

Those who fail the exam will have to go to privately run schools. This is not the choice of the majority of students, because the tuition set by privately run schools is always higher than that of state-owned ones. 

The Hanoi Education Department on May 24 said the number of students registering to attend the exam is high, while the ‘quotas’ are limited.

Hanoi students are nervous about the stiff competition for seats not only at schools for the gifted but also at state-owned high schools this year.

State-owned schools in Hanoi offer 50,460 seats this year, the same as last year, while 145,653 students have registered to attend exam so far, which is much higher than last year.

Nguyen Trai – Ba Dinh, for example, will admit only 480 students out of 2,387 registered students, Cau Giay School 480 out of 2,100, Nguyen Van Cu 460 out of 2,700, and Tran Nhan Tong 520 out of 2,630. 

Meanwhile, 4,000 students have registered to study at Tran Hung Dao – Thanh Xuan School, but only 480 will be admitted.

An education expert, after analyzing the figures, commented that the competition at state-owned high schools this year would be stiff, and it maybe even worse than at university.

Parents have been warned that students will have to have relatively high exam scores to be able to enter state-owned schools.

Nguyen Quoc Binh, headmaster of the Vietnam-Germany Friendship High School, said as the number of students registering to study at the school is higher than the last year, the required exam scores will be higher.

Nguyen Thu Hang, a parent in Thanh Xuan district, said she was worried about the daughter who attends the exam at Quang Trung – Thanh Xuan High School.

“I cannot imagine that so many students have registered to attend the exam,” she complained.

Tran Van Hoan in Nam Tu Liem district said his son plans to study at Trung Van High School because he thought the competition would ease compared to previous years. However, to his surprise, nearly 1,200 students have also registered to attend the exam.

About 28,000 students will not be able to enter state-owned high schools this year.

Thuy Oanh