Nguyễn Đức Cường. — Photo thanhnien

Nguyễn Đức Cường, Chief Inspector of the Ministry of Education and Training, talks to Thanh Niên (Young People) newspaper about the changes in the inspection process of the national high school graduation exam this year.

What will be changes in the inspection of the national high school graduation exam this year?

The Government has requested chairmen of people's committees of provinces and cities to take comprehensive responsibility for the exams in their respective localities. The Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) has also been assigned to co-ordinate with relevant forces to intensify inspections and ensure safety and transparency of the exam. Accordingly, the national high school graduation exam this year will have the participation of provincial inspectors.

As a result, the exam this year will have the presence of inspection of three levels, from the ministry, from the province and from local department of education and training. They will perform at all stages of the exams in the locality.

This year, the MoET has directed and requested the inspection must be compliant with the provisions of law to ensure practicality, efficiency and feasibility.

This year, university lecturers will not be mobilised to take part in the exam organisation as usual but the MoET has planned to mobilise this force to participate in the inspection teams.

Under the current proposed plan, we will mobilise the university lecturers to join the inspection teams in two different groups. Some will join the ministry’s inspection teams and some will join local inspection teams.

In addition to the inspection teams from the MoET and the local departments of education and training, there will be an additional inspection team of the provincial People's Committee this year. So how do inspectors work to avoid overlappings?

The inspections will not overlap. The inspection teams of different level have different subjects.

The ministry's inspection teams will focus on the directions and organisations of exams by the provincial departments of education and training.

The provincial inspection teams will focus on the organisations of the provinces.

The inspection teams of departments, however, will work on the preparation works and the evaluation works of those departments.

Inspectors from the MoET in the 2018 exam deliberately abandoned the assigned task, leading to serious consequences in the scandalous exam cheating in Hà Giang that year. What will the MoET do to avoid the situation this year?

The MoET has requested careful selection of staff to participate in inspection work and support effectively.

The candidates will be trained comprehensively on inspection and will have to take tests. Only those who pass the test can participate in inspection teams.

The most important thing is the awareness and responsibility of the whole system, especially of the leaders of the local department of education and training and their inspection teams.

In the future, the MoET will work specifically with localities and universities to unify the way of co-ordination and clearly define the responsibilities and powers of each party involved in the inspection. — VNS