Number of secondary school students decreased
According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, there are currently more than 88,000 ninth grade students studying at public secondary schools, a decrease of about 28,000 students compared to the 2023-2024 school year.
According to the roadmap, from the 2025-2026 school year, Ho Chi Minh City will stop organizing specialized classes in 4 high schools including: Gia Dinh (Binh Thanh District), Mac Dinh Chi (District 6), Nguyen Thuong Hien (Tan Binh District) and Nguyen Huu Huan (Thu Duc City). Specialized classes will only be held at 2 schools: Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted and Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted.
Mr. Ho Tan Minh - Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City - said that previously, specialized classes in high schools were formed to meet the needs of students, especially in outlying districts, where Le Hong Phong and Tran Dai Nghia schools are far away. The specialized class model helps students in these areas have the opportunity to study specialized classes at schools near their homes.
In the 2024-2025 school year, the group of 4 high schools above will recruit 5-6 specialized classes. Of which, Mac Dinh Chi High School, Gia Dinh will recruit 6 specialized classes and Nguyen Thuong Hien High School, Nguyen Huu Huan will recruit 5 specialized classes (35 students/class).
Mr. Lam Trieu Nghi - Principal of Nguyen Thuong Hien High School, said that up to this point, the Department has not requested the school to register enrollment quotas for the 2025-2026 school year. However, when the school no longer enrolls specialized 10th graders, it will propose to enroll 5 more regular classes (45 students/class, equivalent to 225 students).
Thus, the decrease in the number of junior high school students, combined with the fact that specialized classes in schools often stop enrolling students (it is expected that this group of schools will recruit about 1,000 more regular class quotas), will increase the number of places to study in grade 10 of public high schools.
Can not be subjective
Many students and parents believe that they cannot be subjective even though the chance of being admitted to public schools may be higher than in previous school years, because the opportunity only comes once. If students are subjective and do not properly assess their learning ability when choosing their wishes, they may lose the opportunity to study at a public high school.
According to Nguyen Xuan Huy - a 9th grade student in Phu Nhuan district, he still feels a lot of pressure from the 10th grade exam this year. "In addition to studying at school, I also take extra classes for 3 subjects: Math, Literature and English outside, with each subject 2 sessions/week" - Xuan Huy shared.
In addition, the male student said, the worry also comes from the fact that the third exam subject may change, not English but another exam subject according to the draft announced by the Ministry of Education and Training. "If it is not English, it will be very stressful" - Xuan Huy said.
That is also the general mood of Hoang Quan. This male student said that since the summer of 8th grade, he has been taking 3 extra classes in Math, Literature and English to prepare for the 10th grade exam. However, the Ministry of Education and Training's draft to change the 3rd exam subject has made Hoang Quan worried.
The draft regulations on secondary and high school admission announced by the Ministry of Education and Training and is soliciting opinions, the entrance exam for grade 10 from 2025 will include 3 subjects, in which in addition to Literature and Math, the 3rd subject will be decided by the Department of Education and Training, changed annually and announced before March 31.
Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training proposes to keep Foreign Language as the third exam subject.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training believes that randomly choosing subjects other than Math and Literature causes stress and psychological “shock” for students. Choosing a foreign language as the third subject helps stabilize psychology, is consistent with career orientation and the goal of making English the second language in schools.
