A student from Viet Duc High School in Hanoi attends an online lesson.

The national high school exams are a major event in Vietnam. It is normally held in late June and the results are used to determine whether a student graduates from high school. They also act as placement tests for college and university admission. 

This year, the exams have been postponed due to the outbreak, and no new date has been announced.

As the acute respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread, forcing schools to extend their closures with no end in sight.

The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) had previously rescheduled the closing date of the 2019 - 20 academic year to July 15, while the national high school exams were postponed to August 8 - 11 this year.

Nguyen Quoc Trieu, head of the Training Department at the National Economics University (NEU), said the NEU would hold entrance exams if the national high school exams were cancelled.

He said the tests would be similar to the national high school exams with content relevant to what students had learned that year, adding that testing would be streamlined.

The reason was to ensure the quality of enrollment and avoid confusion among students.

Trieu said he was opposed to using the students' reports for enrollment because it was not fair for on candidates.

Nguyen Dinh Duc from the Vietnam National University, Hanoi said the disease was a global problem that affected students’ learning and enrollment. A number of countries had closed schools but none had announced a change in enrollment methods.

He emphasised the need to ensure the quality of enrollment.

In an ideal world, the pandemic would end soon and the national high school exams would go ahead as planned, Duc said.

However, if this was impossible, universities would have to accept a temporary solution in which enrollment would be made based on students’ records.

Outstanding pupils at schools for gifted students or those who had won prizes at national and international contests might be accepted automatically, but universities would have to prepare entrance exams for the other applicants, he said.

Rector of Thuong Mai University Dinh Van Son said if the national high school exams were cancelled, the university would select students based on their school records. However, he said, it might collaborate with other universities to hold entrance exams.

Two options

The MoET has submitted two options for the national high school exams to the Government for consideration following a request from Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

The first option is for the high school exams to be held as planned despite the pandemic, while the second is to cancel them.

According to Nguyen Huu Do, deputy minister of education and training, if students returned to school before June 15, the national high school exams could be held in mid-August.

He said if the academic year finished on July 15, students would still have one month to revise.

“If the pandemic is under control, it will be possible to organise the exams,” Do told Tiền Phong (Vanguard) newspaper, adding that it would help maintain students' motivation.

If the exams did go ahead, they would follow last year's schedule, but the number of subjects could be adjusted.

The second semester for 12th graders had been streamlined due to the pandemic so students could complete the curriculum before July 15, he said.

The MoET also asked provincial and municipal departments of education and training to improve online and television lessons.

Do said if the exams were cancelled, the MoET would ask for permission from the Government and submit its plans to the National Assembly Standing Committee for approval. VNS

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