Studying and reviewing their lessons at any time,
anywhere, and having no time for relax and entertainment, Vietnamese students
have entered the semester examination season.

Immediately after getting home late at 6 pm, Nguyen The Anh, a third grader of a
primary school in Tan Binh District in HCM City, sat at the table to review his
lessons. While his parents were busy preparing dinner Anh tried to do all of his
homework. After the dinner was ready, Anh hurried to take a bath and then joined
his parents for dinner. Right after dinner, Anh began his evening study hours.

“I have to study all the time, or I will not be able to do all my homework. I
have 5-10 exercises in total a night. If I cannot stay up late at night to
review my lessons, I will have to get up early the next morning to finish them,”
Anh said. He related that his friends sometimes cannot arrange enough time to
complete all the exercises at home and they have to do exercises when they get
to class. Anh felt sad because he could not watch cartoons on TV. Parents have
purchased a new book for him, the 69th episode of the Conan story, but Anh still
cannot read it until he finishes his examinations.

Ha, the mother of Anh, said that she every day urges his son to spend money on
studying, because the teacher has asked parents to pay more attention to
children’s examinations. “Even if I do not urge him to study, he will keep
studying, because he wants to follow his friends,” Ha said.

Lan, who lives on Tran Hung Dao street in District 1 in HCM City, also said that
her family’s schedule has changed so heavily because her daughter has to prepare
for the semester examinations. The girl always stays up late until 10-11 pm and
gets up early at 5 am in the morning. All entertainment activities, such as
reading strip cartoons or watching movies have been canceled.

“There are so many lessons and home exercises in Vietnamese language,
mathematics, history and sciences. I feel sorry for my daughter, but I know that
all students nowadays have such a heavy schedule,” Lan said.

Nowadays, students even as young as first graders, bear pressure from schools,
teachers, from their parents and from themselves. All of them want to get high
scores on their examinations, while all of their parents expect their children
to become excellent students. Schools and teachers also want to have excellent
students, and they try to force students to learn and learn all of the time.
Therefore, for students, the preparation time for semester examinations has
become a difficult period. It’s like they are running a marathon.

Nguoi lao dong’s reporters, who were present at Tri Duc Secondary School in
District 1 in HCM City, related that they saw a lot of students waiting in front
of the school, waiting their parents to pick up them from school. However, the
students did not talk with each other or relax while waiting. They simply took
time to read books and review their lessons.

“We have to take 13 exams, so we have to study until 11pm every day,” complained
the students whom Nguoi lao dong reporters met.

When guiding the planning for the first semester examination, the HCM City
Education and Training Department has asked general schools not to put too much
pressure on students. However, in fact, students still can feel the pressure,
because they have to learn to become excellent students, not to better their
knowledge, but also to satisfy their teachers and please their parents as well.

Source: Nguoi lao dong