Lack of good students closes specialized English classes

Although the HCMC Department of Education and Training reduced the pass mark from 12 to 8, four high schools in the city’s suburbs cannot enroll enough students for specialized English, as many have failed in their entrance exams.

Although the HCMC Department of Education and Training reduced the pass mark from 12 to 8, four high schools in the city’s suburbs cannot enroll enough students for specialized English, as many have failed in their entrance exams.

Students take part in the 10th grade entrance exam.
Students take part in the 10th grade entrance exam.

The high schools, Nguyen Huu Cau in Hoc Mon District, Nguyen Huu Huan in Thu Duc District, Cu Chi and Trung Phu in Cu Chi District, will not open specialized English classes as planned.

There are only three high schools with such classes remaining:  Le Hong Phong in District 5, Tran Dai Nghia in District 1 and Nguyen Thuong Hien in Tan Binh District.

A total of 99.76 percent of students failed to reach standard marks for English specialized classes in the last 10th grade entrance exam.

The deputy head of the city’s High School Department, Le Hoang Dung, said that students mostly concentrated on cramming for exams and did not have enough vocabulary.

They did not read and understand the exam questions correctly, he added.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the last exam focused on listening and speaking skills, instead of reading and writing.

As such, the results could be forecast, said the director of the city’s Department of Education and Training, Huynh Cong Minh.

A parent said to the Sai Gon Giai Phong Newspaper that schools have focused on teaching vocabulary rather than listening and speaking skills for a long time. So, there were many students failed to reach standard marks for English specialized classes in this year's 10th grade entrance exam.

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