According to information from Mr. Le Hoai Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, provided during a working session with the Committee of Culture and Social Affairs of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council on the enrollment work for the 2024-2025 school year on March 27, it is expected that 6 secondary schools (an increase of 4 schools compared to the previous school year) in District 1, District 7, Hoc Mon District and Thu Duc City will organize enrollment for grade 6 by taking a competency assessment test.

ADVANCED SCHOOLS OR SCHOOLS WITH HIGH ADMISSION DEMAND

According to Mr. Nam, these 6 secondary schools are advanced - internationally integrated schools or schools with high enrollment registration requirements many times higher than enrollment targets. They are Tran Quoc Toan 1 Secondary School, Hoa Lu Secondary School, Binh Tho Secondary School (Thu Duc City); Nguyen Huu Tho Secondary School (District 7); Nguyen An Khuong Secondary School (Hoc Mon District); Tran Dai Nghia Secondary - High School (District 1, currently developing a project to separate from Tran Dai Nghia Specialized High School).

Regarding the city's expansion of the number of junior high schools that organize entrance exams for grade 6 enrollment, Mr. Le Hoai Nam said that based on the consolidated document 03/VBHN-BGDĐT on the regulations for junior high school and high school enrollment issued by the Ministry of Education and Training on May 3, 2019. Accordingly, in cases where educational institutions have more students registering for grade 6 than the enrollment quota, the Department of Education and Training will guide the implementation of the enrollment plan by the method of admission or combining admission with testing and assessing students' abilities. From the 2023-2024 school year, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee will allow the implementation of surveys to enroll grade 6 students in schools classified as advanced - internationally integrated schools; schools with students registering for grade 6 enrollment exceeding the enrollment quota. Localities will develop appropriate enrollment plans based on the actual situation.

Accordingly, the Department of Education and Training of District 7, Hoc Mon District and Thu Duc City has proposed a plan to enroll students in the above schools due to the high demand for enrollment at the beginning of the school year, which is many times higher than the enrollment quota in the area.

An official from the Department of Education and Training added that the Departments of Education and Training will proactively develop implementation plans such as survey dates, survey content, etc. The Department will support a common online 6th grade enrollment registration portal for the 6 schools that organize the survey. Accordingly, students will select one of the 6 schools mentioned above and update their personal information on the system to limit the situation of fake registration files.

IMPLEMENTATION PLANS OF LOCALITIES

Mr. Dang Nguyen Thinh, Head of the Department of Education and Training of District 7, said that the department is developing a plan to survey grade 6 of Nguyen Huu Tho Secondary School to submit to the People's Committee of District 7. The district chose to organize a survey for Nguyen Huu Tho School because every year this school has a large pressure from the needs of parents. At the same time, the district is gradually building a school according to an advanced model - international integration with criteria on the output quality of students completing secondary school. Therefore, preparations must be made right from this school year.

According to Mr. Thinh, in the first year of implementation, the department is also calculating technical solutions in the plan, whether to conduct a joint survey with Tran Dai Nghia School or not. If organized according to a separate plan, how will the Department be proposed to support the professional work of compiling the survey content? The leader of the Department of Education and Training of District 7 said that next week, they will ask for specific opinions from the Department on the above contents.

In Thu Duc City, in the 2023-2024 school year, 6th grade enrollment was conducted using a similar test to Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted and Tran Quoc Toan 1 Secondary School. In the 2024-2025 school year, Mr. Nguyen Thai Vinh Nguyen, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Thu Duc City, said that he planned to develop and expand 6th grade enrollment using a capacity test to 2 more secondary schools, Hoa Lu and Binh Tho.

Mr. Vinh Nguyen said that the three secondary schools mentioned above are schools that always have a large number of students wishing to study but the quota is not much. If the admission is based on math scores, Vietnamese at primary level as well as English certificates, it will be very difficult to ensure. Therefore, organizing a survey will help the school select truly excellent and suitable students.

The leader of the Department of Education and Training of Thu Duc City informed that after one year of implementing the enrollment of grade 6 at Tran Quoc Toan 1 Secondary School according to the process and exam questions for grade 6 at Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted, by the 2024-2025 school year, the Department of Education and Training will take the initiative in compiling the content of the exam. The Department will propose that the exam time of 3 schools in Thu Duc City does not overlap with Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted to best meet the needs, wishes and opportunities to participate in enrollment at the school that students desire.

LIMIT EXAM PRACTICE

The survey will help students with capacity and ability to enter suitable schools, and schools will be able to recruit students according to public and transparent quotas. Mr. Vinh Nguyen also added that the survey aims to assess students' abilities, capacities, and skills, so exam preparation only makes students stressed. Last year's results showed that there were students who had long-term preparation but did not do well on the test and vice versa. The important thing is that students' abilities, knowledge, and skills have been formed and accumulated during their studies at primary school.

Regarding the organization of the compilation of the content of the 6th grade survey this year, Mr. Vinh Nguyen said that the structure of the survey will be similar to the survey for Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted last year, but the difficulty will be lighter. The process of compiling the survey questions will be strictly implemented, ensuring confidentiality and the compilation team will be selected from teachers with good expertise and experience.

Also according to the regulations of the Department of Education and Training, in case of not being admitted to grade 6 according to the form of capacity assessment survey, students will still be considered for admission to grade 6 according to the regulations of the enrollment steering committee of districts, which means they will still be assigned to junior high schools in the area.

Mr. Nguyen Thai Vinh Nguyen said that all students who have completed primary school are assigned to secondary schools before taking the 6th grade exam. Only when candidates are admitted and submit their application to the schools that organize the exam will the student's name be deleted from the system so that secondary schools do not have to wait for assigned students to submit their application, and at the same time create opportunities for other students. Therefore, parents do not have to worry that if their children take the 6th grade exam, they will lose the opportunity to be assigned to secondary schools.