VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has decided
to apply a lot of measures to rescue non-state owned schools, which are on the
verge of dissolution because of the lack of students. However, it’s still
unclear if the measures can help.
A meeting was gathered by MOET to discuss the solutions to rescue non-state
owned schools after the association of the schools sent an urgent petition to
the Prime Minister, warning about the disappear of the schools.
MOET’s Deputy Minister Bui Van Ga said after the meeting that two big issues
were discussed at the meeting: First, what to do to help non-state owned schools
enroll students. Second, how the policies should be designed to help schools
develop.
Many people founded schools voiced the same complaint that the currently applied
enrolment mechanism is unreasonable, which makes it impossible for non-state
owned schools find students.
Under the mechanism, students can be enrolled in any university in Vietnam,
people founded or state owned, only if they get the university entrance exam
marks equal or higher than the floor marks stipulated by MOET every year.
In general, the students, who can satisfy the requirements, would prefer
enrolling in state owned schools rather than people founded schools. As a
result, people founded schools don’t have students to enroll.
Therefore, the floor mark scheme, for the last many years, has been considered
the barrier for non-state owned schools that prevents them from enrolling
students. The schools believe that it’d be better to remove the requirement in
order to keep the universities’ doors opened more widely for students.
Some educators have suggested organizing a single national exam instead of the
two separated ones; the high school finals and university entrance exams.
Meanwhile, universities and junior colleges would enroll students after
considering their results from the national exam.
Analysts commented that the thing that most people-founded schools strives for
is to increase the supply of students by lowering the requirements on
candidates. They said this could be a reason why MOET has rejected the proposals
on removing the floor mark scheme and organizing one instead of two national
exams.
Ga, at the meeting with the press on March 5 afternoon, said if lowering the
requirements on candidates, or setting up easier conditions. This would help
non-state owned schools enroll enough students in the immediate time. However,
this would do more harm than good in the long term. Once schools accept the
students with low learning capability, they would not be able to make the
products that can satisfy the demand in the society. If so, the products of the
schools – the graduates – would be refused, which would damage the prestige of
the schools.
Though MOET has been warned that if it does not accept lower requirements on
candidates, a lot of people founded schools would be dissolved, Ga still has
affirmed that the training quality must be the top priority. He said MOET would
set up reasonable policies to help people founded schools enroll students, but
these would not be the measures that may affect the quality of the graduates.
The policies, according to Ga, could be the ones relating to the methods of
calculating floor marks, or the new enrolment schemes for schools.
A report by MOET showed that 1.2 million students attend the annual university
entrance exams, including 900,000 high school graduates.
Ga has informed that no more university would be set up in big cities, while new
schools would be set up only in the Central Highlands and the northwest.
Compiled by C. V