VietNamNet Bridge – Studying at international schools used to be popular
among well-off families. However, nowadays, Vietnamese students no longer dream
of international schools, and many have
called for each other to leave the schools.

In
early December 2010, headmaster of a primary school in district 1 in HCM City
said “no” to student, who wanted to enroll in the school. Previously, the boy
studied at an international school. The headmaster said that she had to refuse
many students in similar cases.

More and more
students leave international schools

“Fleeing”
or “running away” are the words people use referring to students leaving
international schools. The number of students leaving international schools is
so high that recently, the Hanoi Education and Training Department had to
release a new legal document which says that students are not allowed to leave
people founded schools for state owned schools.

The
headmaster of a primary school in District 5 in HCM City
related that her school has a fourth grader who once studied at an
international school. The student is the worst one in school. Especially, she
doesn’t do well in literature and has bad handwriting.

The
headmaster of another school in HCM
City also said that the
English skills of a student, who once studied at an international school were
not really good, despite what student’s parents said.

Thu
Trang, whose daughter is studying at an international school, now feels worried
because she has found out that the girl’s knowledge has many gaps, even though
the girl still gets high marks. Besides, the girl’s English skills are not as
good as she hoped. Trang said that she is considering moving the girl to a
Vietnamese school.

Leaders
of the districts’ education sub-departments in HCM City
said that in the past two years, more and more students from international schools want to move to state
owned schools. In the 2010-2011 academic year, the schools in district 1 in HCM City
received 79 students from international schools. Meanwhile, district 5
reportedly received 85 students.

Tuoi
tre newspaper in early October 2010 quoted a parent as saying that she is
satisfied with the student care offered at international schools. However, she
doubts the education quality.

Many
parents say they cannot estimate ahead the tuitions they have to pay for an
academic year, because the tuitions have been increasing frequently. Besides,
they also complain that teachers change all the time. “The names of new
teachers are announced every two or three weeks,” a parent said.

International
school was once the top choice of well-off families, because of their modern
teaching methods. Students are not put under pressure, because their
curriculums are not as heavy as those of state owned schools. However, many
parents found that their children’s knowledge is lacking. The parents share
their views on webtretho, a well known education forum, saying that they found
international schools not as ideal as they had previously thought.

Pham
Duyen