Parents are now sprinting down the home stretch to get seats for their children at the best schools.

Students of Giang Vo Secondary School in Hanoi (Photo: Bao Anh)

Quotas limited for both state-owned and private schools

Having the title of ‘excellent student’ at primary education proves to be the primary requirement all star secondary schools set for students to be short-listed. After students make it through the ‘border’, their other abilities are considered by schools to decide whether they can be enrolled into the schools.

“Children or relatives of school teachers are prioritised. Besides, we also prioritise children or relatives of people with power who have close relations with the school,” said Principal of Ngo Si Lien Secondary School Ly Thi Luong.

However, sometimes even excellent students cannot get into star schools. In the 2008-2009 school year, the Dong Da Secondary School refused 400 excellent students because it had to receive all students from Dong Da district before it could receive students from other districts as well, while the number of students from Dong Da district was very big last year.

Under the current regulations, general schools have to receive all students from the districts in which they are located. After that, they can receive students from other districts, if there are more seats for the students. In general, star schools always set high requirements for students who come from other districts.

Principal of Dong Da Secondary School Tran Kim Lien said that like many other star schools, Dong Da has to offer seats to ‘special cases’, such as students who are sent with ‘letters’ from high-ranking officials. Moreover, students who win prizes at district and city’s levels also receive preference.

The race to get into non-state schools proves to be no less tense than the race to enter state-owned schools.

Van Anh in Thanh Xuan district in Hanoi related that she is determined to send her child to Marie Curie people-founded school, as the school offers good learning conditions, including day-boarding and buses to take students to school.

However, it is not easy to get into the school: Students have to pass entrance exams to become official students of the school.

Though Van Anh’s daughter was an excellent student in her last five years at primary school and she was a member of the selected team of students to attend the district’s excellent students’ competition, she is still not sure if her daughter will be accepted by the school. Last year, 1,600 students sat for the entrance exams to enter the school, but only 250 students were enrolled.

Anh now brings her daughter to extra classes every day in order to prepare her for the entrance exams. Her daughter now has four hours a week at mathematics classes and two hours at literature classes, for which she has to pay 50,000 dong per hour.

Bich Thanh, who has a daughter that entered secondary school last year, related that at first, she targeted the Hanoi-Amsterdam state-owned gifted school. However, as her daughter could not meet the requirements for the school, she decided to send her to Lomonosov people-founded school which she thought was good enough for students while it was not too demanding. The school provides day boarding classes and receives some 400 students every year, therefore, the competition to get into the school was not too stiff.

How to harmonise teaching quality and numbers of students?

Luong from Dong Da School stressed that schools need to receive students from other districts as well in order to improve teaching and learning quality. Students in the same districts all have the right to go to the school, including ones with average learning capacity. Meanwhile, students from other districts mostly have high capability.

“Our teachers have to try to improve their ability to be able to teach classes with good students,” Luong said.

“Excellent students and excellent teachers will help polish the image and the brand name of the school,” she added.

Nguyen Xuan Khang, Headmaster of Marie Cuire People Founded School, said that the school has to organise a competition to select the best students. Every year, the school receives 1,500 applications but it enrolls 200 students only.

Headmaster of Lomonosov School Le Tien Dung said that his school plans to enroll 400 students who will study in 16 classes, including nine classes with 20 students each, six classes with 30 students and one class with 45 students.

Headmaster of Giang Vo Secondary People School Pham Van Khanh also said that organising an entrance competition is the best way to select students.

Bao Anh