VietNamNet Bridge – More and more students do not want to study in gifted classes, and more and more students to not want to join the national competitions of excellent students.

Vo Anh Dung, Rector of Le Hong Phong Gifted High School in HCM City, one of the most well-known education providers for talented students, said that many students give reasons relating to sickness to give up the competition when they are asked to join the school’s team.

Dung said that in the 2006-2007 school year, the school’s teachers had only the most outstanding students, out of a lot of students, who were selected for the gifted 10^th class of the school, after students had to take an exam to be enrolled to the classes. Every gifted class has only 25-30 students, while the figure is 40-50 in non-gifted classes.

However, it is worrying that the number of students in gifted classes has become smaller, as many students have asked to return to normal classes instead of staying in gifted classes. The 10^th class students in the 2006-2007 school year have become 12^th class students. The mathematics majoring class now has only 15 students, the physics class only 13 and chemistry has only 19.

Dung said that many students do not want to keep studying specialized classes because they have to study hard with challenging syllabuses specifically designed for them. The knowledge they receive in the classes proves to be sublime, but in no way links to the knowledge necessary for the university entrance exams. The top priority for every student is to pass the university entrance exams, which take place every summer, and therefore, it is understandable why students give up the national competition of excellent students to focus on preparing for the university entrance exams.

In 2008, Hanoi had 1,327 excellent students of 11^th and 12^th classes attending the city-level competitions, and 630 students won prizes from the competitions. Students of the Hanoi-Amsterdam Gifted School earned 1/3 of the prizes (201 students), while the other prizes fell into the hands of students of Chu Van An School (82), Phan Dinh Phung (20), Nguyen Gia Thieu (18) and Kim Lien (16).

Viet Duc and Thang Long High Schools, which always have many excellent students, only had 10 prizes. Explaining this, the leaders of the school said that good students refused to join the school’s team to attend the city-level competition, saying that they do not receive any benefits from this.

Previously, the excellent students, who won national prizes, could be enrolled in universities without having to take the university entrance exams. However, this privilege has been removed recently.

Duong The Phuong, Director of the Binh Duong Education and Training Department, also complained that the number students interested in joining national competitions has been decreasing dramatically since MOET removed the privilege.

The complaints from schools have prompted MOET to “brainstorm” how to make the national competitions more attractive. Only by well-organizing national competitions, can Vietnam select good candidates for regional and international competitions. The ministry is considering offering privileges to the students, who join the competitions and win prizes.

Meanwhile, local education and training departments have suggested giving ‘bonus’ marks to excellent students, who receive national prizes. The students will be exempted from sitting the exam of the subject for which he or she earns prizes. Meanwhile, the ‘bonus’ marks will be added into the marks that the students receive in the university entrance exams (in general, every student has to take three exams for three subjects).

(Source: Lao dong)