The race of primary school graduates for reputable secondary schools has got fiercer year after year. Parents believe that once their children obtain the seats at the schools, they would have more opportunities to find scholarships for overseas university study.

A parent has said that nowadays, parents need to prepare their children for overseas university study right when the children go to secondary school. He affirmed that the shortest way for students to go is to study at domestic secondary and high schools for the gifted and then find scholarship for overseas schooling.

The viewpoint has been shared by many other parents. They believe that once their children can obtain the seats at reputable secondary schools for the gifted, they would be sure of obtaining the seats at high schools for the gifted. And once they are the students of the high schools, they would be able to pass the exams to honorable universities, and have more opportunities to go to study abroad.

However, while the demand for the seats at schools for the gifted is overly high, the number of such schools remains modest. Therefore, students all have to undergo tough entrance exams to the schools.

A teacher said that students need to prepare themselves for the entrance exams to Tran Dai Nghia or the Practice School under the HCM City University of Education right when they enter the first grade.

Tran Dai Nghia School, which plans to enroll 360 sixth graders for English intensive classes, has announced that it would only accept the candidates with excellent learning records in Vietnamese and Mathematics in the fifth grade.

The Practice School under the HCM City University of Education has even set higher requirements on the candidates: students need to obtain “excellent student” title for the last five consecutive years.

A lot of students reportedly failed the exams to the school last year, even though they got 10 marks in mathematics and 10 marks in Vietnamese language exams. It was because other students were even better than the excellent students and they got high prizes at the competitions for excellent students.

It seems that the race for high schools for the gifted is less tense than the race for secondary school, because there are more opportunities with more high schools for the gifted.

The Practice School plans to enroll students for 3 mathematics majoring classes this year, with 30 students in each class. The candidates just need to obtain the “good student” title to be eligible for attending the entrance exams to the school.

However, analysts have commented that the limited number of students to be enrolled to the school would make the competition very stiff.

The High School for the Gifted--belonging to the HCM City National University, plans to enroll 450 students this year for mathematics, informatics, physics, chemistry, biology, English and literature majoring classes.

The latest decision by the university to accept excellent students to the university education at the school without having to attend university entrance exams has made high school students more determined to obtain the seats at the high school.

The Le Hong Phong School for the gifted, where 300 students reportedly go to study abroad every year, is one of the targets of HCM City students. The school has announced that it would enroll 485 students to 10th graders.

Not only secondary and high schools, but primary schools also have heated up with the enrolment plans.

Bach Ha, a parent, has revealed that she has spent tens of millions of dong to get a seat for her child at a prestigious primary school in HCM City, saying that tens of millions of dong is a “reasonable price” for a seat at a “star” school.

Source: VNN