Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Văn Thắng speaks at the National Assembly Standing Committee's fourth session on Tuesday morning. VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Irregularities in the mathematics results of the 2026 national high school graduation examination in the northern province of Tuyên Quang dominated discussions at the National Assembly Standing Committee's fourth session on Tuesday morning.

Speaking during the committee's review of the NA's June report on voters' petitions, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyễn Văn Thắng said the Government had instructed the Ministry of Education and Training and relevant authorities to conduct an urgent, objective and comprehensive investigation into the unusual exam results.

He stressed that any violations uncovered must be dealt with strictly in accordance with the law to ensure fairness for candidates and maintain public confidence in the education system.

Presenting the June report, Chairwoman of the NA's Committee for People's Aspirations and Supervision Lê Thị Nga said voters and the public had expressed particular concern over the unusually high Mathematics scores at the Tuyên Quang High School for the Gifted examination centre, where 147 candidates received perfect scores in Mathematics across 13 of the centre's 15 examination rooms.

The committee recommended that the NA Standing Committee ask the Government and the Prime Minister to direct relevant ministries, agencies and local authorities to thoroughly investigate and clarify the irregularities, Nga said.

Chairman of the NA's Committee for Culture and Education Nguyễn Đắc Vinh speaks at the National Assembly Standing Committee's fourth session on Tuesday morning. VNA/VNS Photo

Chairman of the NA's Committee for Culture and Education Nguyễn Đắc Vinh described the incident as ‘very serious’.

Beyond strictly handling any violations and strengthening state management, Vinh said the Government should review the policy governing the national high school graduation examination.

He noted that the current ‘two-in-one’ examination, which serves both as a graduation test and a university entrance qualification, has the advantage of reducing costs and easing the burden on students and society. However, combining the two functions has also created shortcomings, as many candidates focus primarily on achieving high scores for university admission, increasing the risk of misconduct.

"We should consider separating these two examinations," Vinh said.

He argued that the high school graduation examination should focus solely on assessing students' learning outcomes, measuring academic competence and evaluating the quality of general education, while university admissions should be handled independently by higher education institutions.

In practice, several universities had already adopted competency-based assessments and independent admission procedures, he noted.

"If the two examinations are separated, the risk of incidents like the current one would be significantly reduced," he said.

Deputy PM Thắng said the Government fully recognised that these issues directly affect people's lives and therefore require decisive, timely action and concrete results.

He added that Prime Minister Lê Minh Hưng had attached great importance to the matter, convening meetings with Government leaders and personally working with the Tuyên Quang provincial administration to ensure the case is handled strictly and in full compliance with the law.

Regarding and violations related to the publication of the book Chuyện với Thanh – Lời kể mới về ánh sáng (Conversations with Thanh – A New Story of Light), the Committee for People's Aspirations and Supervision recommended that the NA Standing Committee ask the Government and the Prime Minister to direct ministries, sectors and local authorities to review publishing regulations and strictly deal with violations in publishing activities.

On other public concerns, Thắng called for concentrated efforts to investigate fraudulent ‘holiday ownership’ or ‘holiday contract’ schemes, recover assets illegally obtained from victims and strictly punish offenders.

He also urged stronger state management of fire prevention and firefighting, stricter enforcement of inland waterway traffic safety regulations, and more effective handling of complicated, long-running complaints, particularly cases in Hà Nội that have already been reviewed and officially concluded but continue to generate repeated petitions.

Addressing other pressing public concerns, including counterfeit goods, fake medicines and food, substandard products, child drownings during the summer, natural disasters, forest fires, landslides, fires, explosions and serious inland waterway accidents, Thắng said the Government had instructed ministries, sectors and local authorities to carry out extensive inspections and strictly punish violations while strengthening preventive measures at an early stage, with protecting people's lives, health and property as the highest priority. — VNS