Reality check for education cheats

The majority of students still play things by the book

National figures released by the Ministry of Education and Training showed that one-third of pupils who sat the recent high school finals failed.
This year’s pass rate was 66.7 per cent, down 25.3 per cent on last year’s rate of 92 per cent.
Many provinces witnessed a drop of half, against nearly 100 per cent of pupils who passed in previous years. A number of northern provinces had the lowest rate with only one-third scraping through in Hoa Binh, one-fourth in Cao Bang, Yen Bai and Son La, and one-seventh in Tuyen Quang.
Education and Training Minister Deputy Banh Tien Long said the poor results reflected the current situation in high school education.
He explained that after the ministry tightened exam conditions, the decline in pass rates had been expected so would not come as a shock to pupils, education staff or wider society.
Until now, the education system has set targets for all examinations. Although a small failure rate is accounted for, many schools and colleges encourage cheating and award false grades to satisfy targets.
This is a common problem and many people are aware of the situation but cheating has proved difficult to eradicate.
“The low pass rate leads us to the truth of the situation. If the result was high, it would still be considered to provide a false picture and win no public confidence,” said Le Thu, director of Vinh Phuc province’s Education and Training Department.
Hanoi’s Nguyen Duc Minh, whose son failed in the finals, said the public considered the low rate as an encouraging sign that would bring about much needed educational reform.
“I have spent a lot of money on my child’s studies, but he still failed these exams. The ministry’s decision to tighten exam conditions was absolutely correct. It is much more important that thorough reforms are implemented than our society witness generations of pupils who are seemingly qualified but lack sufficient knowledge.
“If the cheating continued, the nation’s future would be based on a foundation of untrue knowledge and this would severely undermine Vietnam’s international development,” he said.
Huynh Ho, director of the Education and Training Department in Tra Vinh province, said he was optimistic about the rate of pupils passing the high school finals which was 70 per cent in the province, much lower than previous years.
He said: “Despite the disappointing results, Vietnamese schools are right in their efforts to gain true picture of educational attainment.”
Nguyen Viet Can, principal of Xuan Dinh school in Hanoi, whose rate of pupils passing the finals is 95 per cent against 99 per cent of the previous years, said: “The long-term problem of fake achievement has finally been exposed. The ministry needs to reform the sector from primary education upward, if it is to be completely successful and stamp out the negative effect of cheating in studies and examinations.”