Details of the inspection conclusion of the 10th grade high school exam in Thai Binh

Many violations were identified.

According to the Inspectorate of Thai Binh province, continuing to implement the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, on September 12, the Provincial Chief Inspector issued inspection conclusion No. 695/KL-TTr on "Implementation of policies, laws, tasks and powers assigned to the Department of Education and Training, Director of the Department of Education and Training and related organizations and individuals in organizing the entrance exam for grade 10 high school in the 2024-2025 school year in Thai Binh province".

According to the above inspection conclusion and the inspection conclusion 597/KL-TTr dated August 16, 2024 on the content of "Recalling essay test papers" before, through the inspection, it was determined that the Department of Education and Training of Thai Binh still had many shortcomings, limitations, shortcomings, and violations such as: Issuing a number of directive documents, organizing the implementation of the exam not in a timely manner, not following the correct order, procedures, and content. Some officers and teachers performing tasks at the exam did not ensure procedures.

Using the "Exam scoring support tool" software that has not been approved by the competent authority; not signing a contract or cooperation agreement with the service provider; not having documents proving the confidentiality of data security issued by competent authorities.

During the exam invigilation, there were also exam invigilators who did not follow the exam organization process and responsibilities, resulting in a case where a candidate filled in the wrong exam code.

Not following the correct procedure in making the scorecards on the “Exam Scoring Support Tool” software. Specifically, not using the “Export PDF” version of the “Results by scorecard” but using the “Export PDF” version of the “Results by bag” to print out a paper document and send it to the head of the scorecard making committee to collect and send it to other members of the scorecard making committee to number the scores; not checking and matching according to the instructions for the essay scorecard making process. This was determined to be the direct cause of 2,997 exam papers being out of order, causing incorrect scores for 2,750 exam papers.

In addition, the head of the examination marking team and the examiners did not follow the correct procedures and regulations on some examination papers. Specifically, the head of the examination marking team handed the examination paper bags to the examiners without drawing lots by ballot; examiner 2 did not sign or write his/her full name on ballot number 4 of the examination marking record; the examiner did not sign all the papers of the candidates; there were errors in scoring in 43 cases (the candidates' scores were adjusted in the inspection conclusion No. 597/KL-TTr dated August 16 of the provincial Chief Inspector).

In addition, the Thai Binh Department of Education and Training did not organize the marking of essay exams for specialized subjects. Entering scores, entering scores incorrectly in 6 cases (the candidates' scores were adjusted in Inspection Conclusion No. 597/KL-TTr dated August 16, 2024 of the Provincial Chief Inspector).

Failure to comply with regulations during the process of re-scoring essay papers. Specifically, the Secretariat did not make a record but only recorded information about candidates who made errors in manual match-up, reporting to the Head of the exam, but the Head of the exam did not clearly identify the cause and take measures to correct the errors through checking the manual match-up. This is the reason for the incorrect announcement of scores for 2,750 exams.

Not only that, the Thai Binh Department of Education and Training also conducted admissions based on quotas before the results of the review were available, leading to the fact that candidates who passed the review increased the assigned enrollment quotas of the schools.

In the review of the exam papers, 271 exam papers with different scores were not re-scored and 2 exam papers had scores that were not consistent with the published scores. During the inspection, the Department of Education and Training re-scored 273 of these exam papers.

What is the cause?

According to the Inspectorate of Thai Binh province, the reasons for the existence of shortcomings, limitations, shortcomings and violations are: The organization of the exam took place over a large area, in a short time, requiring strictness and confidentiality.

Some officers and teachers are performing their tasks at the exam for the first time, and the guidance is short-lived, so they do not have a firm grasp of the process and do not have enough time to research and understand deeply the assigned tasks.

Viettel Thai Binh's instructions on using the software "Exam scoring support tool" for the 10th grade entrance exam for the 2024-2025 school year are not strict and thorough.

The content of "Results by bag" displayed by exam room on the software interface is different from the content of "Results by bag" when extracted to PDF and arranged by registration number of the "Exam support tool" software, which can easily cause confusion.

Leaders, civil servants and public employees participating in the exam did not strictly comply with the relevant processes, procedures and regulations in performing assigned tasks and powers; did not fully fulfill their responsibilities in directing, advising and assisting at the exam.

Management, inspection, supervision and handling of civil servants and public employees in the performance of their duties and powers have not been seriously implemented...