It’s now the
most difficult period for many parents in big cities, since their children
enter the primary school entrance exam season, which is no less stressful than
the university entrance exam.

The race among parents

Parents and students wait for the exam

The primary
school entrance exam season began in late May with the exam to the Nguyen Sieu
School. 400 students
registered to attend the exam, while the school plans to enroll only 150
students.

“H”, who
lives on Nguyen Chi Thanh Street
in Hanoi,
related that her son attended the exam which took place on April 23 and 24. All
the examinees stayed at the school from the morning to late afternoon, while
they had lunches right at the school.

“My son
looked radiant and self-confident when he left the school in the afternoon. He
said he would pass the exam. However, he could not tell me what he did at the
exam. I was worried stiff,” she said.

As
predicted, the boy failed the exam. However, H does not give up the plan on
sending the boy to a prestigious private school. “I will ask my son to attend
another exam to another primary school. Doan Thi Diem School
is an ideal choice, but I am afraid he will fail again,” she said. “If he fails
again, he will have to go to a state owned school”.

H, like
many other parents, does not dare to let her child to attend the exam to the Doan Thi
Diem Primary
School, because the school has been well known as
setting very high requirements on students.

The exam
questions of Doan Thi Diem School are always so difficult that people believe
that the questions are as complicated as the questions raised at the “Road to Olympia”, a contest for
high school excellent students. Some people comment on education forums that
with such the exam questions, Vietnam
will become the country with the best education in the world.

A member
from the mathematics forum of the Hanoi
University for Natural
Sciences commented that if students can solve all the exam questions, the
knowledge for first grade will not be a problem to them.

1400
students attended the entrance exam to Doan Thi Diem school, held on May 28,
while the school plans to enroll 400 students only. “T”, a parent, whose
daughter luckily passed the exam to Doan
Thi Diem
School, said that the
girl had to spend much time to prepare for exam by attending the Tuoi Tho Club
of the school since March 2011. Besides, the girl also went to a private
tutoring class once a week. Especially, she is very good at English, because
she has been going to Apollo, an English center, for the last two years.

“My
relatives and colleagues all say congratulations to me, and I am proud of my
daughter because this was really a difficult exam. I think that the parents
whose children pass the university entrance exams would be not happier than
me,” she said.

Many students, few schools

The Experimental Primary School, a unit of the Vietnam
Education Science Institute, but operates under the mode of non-state owned
school, only issued a limited number of application forms. Therefore, parents
every summer have to queue up in front of the school to purchase the forms.

A lot of
parents were seen cooling their heels at the school at 3-4 am, waiting for
application forms; even though the school announced it began selling the forms
at 8 am. However, parents affirmed that the forms ran out right at 7.30 am.
Some parents said some “brokers” offered to sell the form at 500,000 dong.

About 600
forms have been sold, which means that 600 students will take the entrance
exam, while the school will accept 180 students only.

The exams
to non-state owned primary schools will last until the end of June. Lomonosov School
will organize the exam on June 11, while students will have to attend the exam
to Le Quy Don School on June 18. Many parents say they
have been worried stiff when hearing that the school will enroll only 360
students, while the number of registered students has reach 1000.

The
stressful exams to primary schools take place every summer. No one can say for
sure when the situation will be improved, because there are always many
students, while there are very few good schools with good material facilities.

Source: Tien phong