On the morning of September 20, the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Society organized a session of explanation by Minister of Education and Training (MOET) Hoang Minh Son on a number of issues in the field of education and training that voters and people are concerned about.
At the meeting, the new plans of the Ministry of Education and Training on enrollment such as tightening the admission plan, not adding foreign language certificate points, excellent students and additional criteria from 2027 are issues of concern to delegates.
Expressing her opinion, National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Thi Viet Nga requested the Ministry to state whether it has assessed the impact on students who have prepared according to current regulations or not. Does the application of changes ensure the requirement to announce at least 12 months in advance and have an appropriate transition roadmap to protect the legitimate rights of candidates or not?
Before the explanation session, many voters, including teachers, paid special attention to this issue. According to feedback, the Ministry's plan to remove bonus points for excellent students may reduce motivation for students to study in depth" - the delegate said.
Regarding adding points to certificates, mainly international English certificates such as IELTS, and adding points for excellent students at the provincial and national levels, Minister Hoang Minh Son said that the Ministry makes these adjustments based on very clear data analysis.
The Minister gave an example, when a major or a school requires entry-level English proficiency, English must be included in the admission combination as a criterion for admission, and cannot use other subjects such as Math, Physics, Biology for admission, then only students with English certificates can be added.
The Minister affirmed that if any industry has a requirement, there should be conversion. Currently, the Ministry still allows converting this certificate to English scores. As for combinations without English, adding points will be disadvantageous for other students.
The Minister raised the issue that this is not a story about English proficiency but a story about certificates. Students who have invested in learning English for many years will completely continue to use this proficiency in admission consideration.
Most schools still implement the method of converting English proficiency to scores to organize admissions. But if adding it, it creates disadvantages, one knowledge is calculated twice. And if a major does not need English but adds English, it creates injustice. This is based on practice and data analysis" - Minister Hoang Minh Son stated.
The head of the education sector clearly stated the reality that there are majors with even very high admission scores, up to 28 points, but allow a score difference of up to 1.5 points. In this score range from 26.5 to 28 points, thousands of candidates are not admitted, while they also have English proficiency but do not have the conditions to take very expensive certificates.
This is a very necessary solution and we believe that this is urgent. When violating the principles of fairness, it is necessary to correct it immediately" - the Minister emphasized.
However, Minister Hoang Minh Son said that the Ministry did not include in the regulations the permission or regulation that schools must consider IELTS certificates. This is the autonomy of schools, but when schools use that, leading to unreasonableness, the Ministry controls it. Since last year, the Ministry has limited bonus points, not exceeding 10%. This is also a limitation and this year it will no longer give bonus points.
Of course, we will listen to the opinions of everyone. But the highest goal is to properly assess the capacity and ensure fairness between candidates. When we see injustice but still leave the roadmap, it is unreasonable" - the Minister said.
The head of the education sector stated his point of view that it is impossible to raise the issue of wasting or wastefulness after obtaining a certificate because for students who are studying as they are now, they can still completely use certificates for admission, even with point conversion, it is quite high. In addition, learning English is not for taking a certificate exam to apply for university admission, but that ability is necessary for the university learning process and future job capacity.
However, the Minister said that this is only the initial viewpoint, the drafting agency will listen to opinions and work with experts to continue to make improvements in this matter.
