The new regulation stipulates: "Middle school admission is conducted by the selection method. The selection criteria are specifically guided by the Department of Education and Training, ensuring that the selection process is fair, objective, transparent, and appropriate to the actual situation in the locality.

For secondary schools and general schools with many levels of education, including secondary schools belonging to universities, colleges, and research institutes, the admission criteria are directly managed by the university, college, or research institute or are implemented according to the instructions of the Department of Education and Training where the school is located.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, there will be only one method of admission to grade 6 of junior high school, this applies to both public and private schools.

Previously, in 2015, the Ministry of Education and Training stipulated "prohibiting entrance exams to grade 6 in any form". After 3 years of implementation, many problems arose. Especially in big cities like Hanoi, there are high-quality schools, secondary schools in specialized schools... which do not recruit students based on their enrollment but select their input, so they have to use foreign language certificates, certificates of winning competitions at the primary level, and consider "all 10" academic records.

This leads to negative and unfair aspects in admissions, even having to "run" for good academic records, students spend a lot of money participating in domestic and international competitions to get certificates of winning prizes...

In 2018, after 3 years of implementing the above admission process, the Ministry of Education and Training revised the regulations, allowing testing and assessment of students' abilities entering grade 6 for some "special" schools.

In addition to the regulation "Enrollment in junior high school by examination", from 2018, the Ministry of Education and Training amended Circular No. 11/2014/TT-BGDDT to add the following: "In case the number of students registering for grade 6 is more than the enrollment quota, the Department of Education and Training shall guide the implementation of the enrollment plan by examination, or combine examination with testing and assessment of student capacity".

Many secondary schools are organizing entrance exams for grade 6.

Last year, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a document requesting localities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to stop enrolling students in secondary schools in specialized high schools because the Education Law does not allow the existence of specialized secondary schools. The circular regulating the operation of specialized schools also clearly states that non-specialized programs in specialized schools should be eliminated.

At the request of the Ministry of Education and Training, the junior high school of Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted (Hanoi) and the junior high school of Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted (HCMC) have had to stop enrolling students from 2024. These are also schools that organize very stressful entrance exams for grade 6 with fierce competition.

However, in Hanoi, there are still many secondary schools that enroll students in grade 6 through entrance exams and tests, such as: Nguyen Tat Thanh Secondary School, Ngoai Ngu Secondary School, Cau Giay Secondary School, Thanh Xuan Secondary School, Nam Tu Liem Secondary School, Le Loi Secondary School,...

In addition, a series of private secondary schools in Hanoi have long organized exams to enroll students in grade 6 because they do not enroll students according to their enrollment area, the number of applicants is much larger than the enrollment quota...

In Ho Chi Minh City, many schools are also applying the entrance exam for grade 6, including both public and private schools.

The Ministry of Education and Training believes that the regulations should be changed in a way that does not cause costly pressure on parents, students and society. It has the effect of promoting comprehensive educational activities, initially preparing students with the qualities and abilities to be qualified to study at higher levels or to be able to study a profession according to career orientation and streaming. In addition, the admission method must also link the process of regular testing and evaluation with periodic testing and evaluation; in line with the trend of innovation.

Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training hopes that the Departments of Education and Training will soon have guidelines for admission criteria in the direction of promoting comprehensive educational development, not just relying on primary school learning results to enroll in grade 6.