Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyễn Hữu Độ. — Photo laodong.vn

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyễn Hữu Độ talks to Lao động (Labour) online newspaper about the detailed plan for the 2020 high school graduation examination after the education programme was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

What is the purpose of this year's examination and is it called the national high school examination as previous years?

Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the plan for the 2019-2020 school year had to be adjusted. The ministry has to streamline the second semester’s training programme and has been teaching students online. The high school examination will be held (nearly two months) later than every year before which will be in August.

This year, we will only organise the high school examination not the national high school examination like previous years because at that time the Law on Education and the Law on Higher Education came into effect for a month. (The two laws allow universities to enrol the students by themselves instead of using high school examination's results for university admission like before.)

The purpose of the exam this year is to recognise students who finish the high school's education programme by passing the examination, assess the quality of education in the high school level and make adjustment in the coming years if necessary.

Does the ministry consider reducing the number of tests this year due to the pandemic?

The high school graduation exam is expected to consist of three independent tests (maths, literature, foreign languages) and one natural science test and one social science test. (The number of tests is still the same for the national high school exam’s tests in previous years.)

The level of difficulty of the examination this year will be easier than in previous years due to the streamlined programme in the second semester. The examination this year is only the recognition of the student finishing the high school’s education programme instead of “two in one” purpose which is recognition of student finishing the high school’s education programme and using high school exams for university admission like before.

The natural science test is the combination of three subjects, physics, chemistry and biology. The social science test is the combination of  history, geography and citizen education. High school candidates must take three compulsory tests in maths, literature, foreign language and one optional test of natural or social science.

Maths, foreign languages, natural science and social science will be multiple-choice. Each candidate in the same room will be provided with a separate exam code. Computer software, provided by the ministry, will mark the score of the candidates. Only the test of literature will be taken in the form of essay.

This year, the high school graduation exams will be chaired by localities. What are the ministry’s plans to ensure the exam takes place in correct conditions?

The high school examination will use the ministry’s general questions for all localities to ensure consistency across the country.

The ministry has directed the People's Committee of each province and city to take responsibility for organising the examination to ensure safety, seriousness, fairness and compliance with regulations.

Each province and city will set up its own examination council to organise the tests. The council will be responsible for organising all stages of the examination such as printing the questions, supervision, scoring, announcing the results and recognising the students who graduated.

The inspection and supervision will be strengthened so that the examination will be organised safely, seriously and honestly.

In addition to the inspection teams of the ministry sent to each locality, it will include inspectors from Education and Training Department of each locality to closely supervise the whole procedure, especially the stages of printing, transporting, test security, watching and scoring the tests.

The ministry will order all localities to report the school profile of each student via the ministry's electronic data system. The report will be used to compare to the exam’s result to avoid cheating.— VNS