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From WIRE REPORTS
Vietnamese
educators have endorsed a survey that found almost 85 percent of students in
Viet Nam acknowledged rampant cheating in the recent high school graduation
exams, saying the findings came as no surprise to them.
Done
last month by a Vietnamese newspaper
together with sociologists, the survey polled 500 high school students who took
this year’s exam in 36 provinces and cities. More than 84 percent said
discussing test questions was common, and 83.5 percent said they saw students
copy from others. More than a third (36.4 percent) said proctors watched
students discuss answers without acting, and 23.4 percent said they saw cheat
sheets being used.
The
newspaper initiated the survey after the Ministry of Education and Training
reported a graduation rate of around 98 percent, raising the hackles of
educators, especially after the exam had been marred by a sensational scandal
in northern Viet Nam.
Six
teachers and staff members of a private school in the northern province of Bac
Giang were axed after videos posted on the Internet showed the use of cheat
sheets with proctors’ help during the exam. A student had recorded the
proceedings with a pen camera.
After
the survey findings were released recently, a number of educators, researchers,
and former senior education officials said they were not surprised. A former
deputy education minister even attributed the high graduation rates to
widespread cheating.
But
Ben Wilkinson, co-author of a 2008 report on Viet Nam’s higher education done
by the Harvard University’s Kennedy School, told a newspaper: “I don’t think cheating on the high school
graduation examination is a new phenomenon. Many educators believed that it was
perhaps more prevalent 10 years ago.
“It
is difficult to escape the conclusion that local governments cannot be relied
on to accurately report on what is happening.”
In
2010 Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer for Viet Nam
found that education was perceived as the second-most corrupt sector. Corrupt
practices ranged from siphoning off money meant for poor students to plagiarism
and rigging exam marks, the Berlin-based organization said.
In
a Confucian society where academic achievement is a national obsession, a
culture of cheating nurtured at the top of the system has flowed downward,
permeating examinations at every level.
In
2006 a government member and ministerial-ranked official was penalized after
proctors caught him using crib sheets in a postgraduate exam. The same year,
the prime minister vowed to crack down on the widespread cheating in exams
after 900 cases were uncovered during university entrance tests.
The
prime minister at the time condemned the “disease of chasing academic
achievement” through cheating and the then-education minister launched a
campaign euphemistically called “Say No to Negative Phenomena in Exams” to
combat the worsening trend.
The
campaign sent graduation rates plummeting in the next two years. But the
cheating has not reduced in schools, as the media has been reporting.
Teachers
too seem no better.
An
English-language instructor teaching primary-school teachers in Sai Gon said
she was very “disappointed” to find that her students cheated in their exams.
Three out of 20 did so, she told newspaper,
asking not to be named.
“They
cheated out of fear that if they failed they would lose face and, most
importantly, not get promoted or lose
their jobs.
“But
what really disappoints me is the fact that it is these very teachers who teach
their students to be honest in exams. They are supposed to set an example.”
Experts
blame both the education authorities and society for the failure to vigorously
continue the fight against cheating.
Tran
Hong Quan, who was education minister for a decade up to 1997, said the 2006
education ministry-initiated crackdown has kind of gone off the tracks.
“But
the responsibility is not just with the [education] ministry.
“If
society continues to pursue its craze for academic achievement, and if job
promotions hinge on degree-based criteria, academic honesty will continue to be
a casualty.”
The
Harvard report said “it is well known that degrees and titles can be purchased”
in Vietnam.
Minister
of Interior Nguyen Thai Binh did not dismiss recent rumors about a growing
trend of bribes-for-jobs plaguing government bureaucracies, saying merely it
would be very “difficult” to expose such cases.
Hoang
Tuy, a prominent educator, summed it up best in an article several years ago:
“Recently a great number of officials have acquired academic titles
dishonestly; they are completely undeserving of these honors, but many people
still believe that they are meant only for individuals of outstanding talent.”
