Ho Chi Minh City to test all candidates sitting national high school graduation exams

All candidates participating in the first phase of the 2021 National High School Graduation Exam held in Ho Chi Minh City will be tested for COVID-19. This is a mandatory condition if the candidate wants to sit the exams.

Students in Ho Chi Minh City participate in the 2020 High School Graduation Exams. (Photo: NDO/Cao Tan)
Students in Ho Chi Minh City participate in the 2020 High School Graduation Exams. (Photo: NDO/Cao Tan)

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Students will be tested on July 3 and 4 and if negative, they will be allowed to take the exam, as announced by Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Huu Do at the Government’s regular press conference for June yesterday.

Do said that phase 1 of the exams will take place on July 7 and 8 for normal students without pathogens, with 55% of the registered taking the graduation exam results as a basis to apply for university and college admission.

Amid the complicated epidemic developments, the Ministry of Education and Training put the safety of students first along with the serious, safely and quality organisation of the exams.

The ministry has also decided to organise a second round of exams for students who are close contacts to infection cases, those who recover from infection, and students in areas under medical blockade.

As of 5 pm on June 30, the country has a total of 1,141 candidates who are infection cases and their close contacts, along with over 17,000 under medical blockade.

In Ho Chi Minh City alone, there are 16 candidates who are COVID-19 cases, 254 close contacts to infections and 991 in the medical blockade areas. Thus, there will be 1,272 candidates who will not take the 1st but the 2nd phase exams.

To ensure exam safety, all exam officials, candidates and other participants will be sampled for COVID-19 testing.

Over 89,000 Ho Chi Minh City candidates have registered for the exam. The city's Department of Education and Training has mobilised over 18,000 officials, teachers, employees and participants to examine the exams at 155 venues with 4,134 exam rooms, along with several backup test sites to handle cases with signs of cough or fever.

On July 1, Hanoi leaders went to check the preparation for the exams and the prevention of the COVID-19 epidemic at testing venues in Dong Da District. This year, Hanoi has more than 101,000 candidates registered to take the exams.

Hanoi leaders inspect the exam preparation work at Be Van Dan Secondary School in Dong Da District, July 1, 2021. (Photo: NDO/Quynh Nguyen)

Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Chu Ngoc Anh requested Dong Da District to develop plans to ensure traffic flow at the exam venues and closely follow the direction of the city authorities on exam organisation and abnormal situations that may arise to proactively handle.

Also on July 1, Deputy Secretary of the Hanoi Party Committee Nguyen Thi Tuyen attended the rehearsal of the exam organisation in Dong My High School and Ngu Hiep Secondary School in Thanh Tri District.

On the same day, an inspection from the National Steering Committee for the 2021 High School Graduation Exams, led by Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong, inspected the preparation for the exams in Nam Dinh Province. This year, Nam Dinh has 20,962 candidates registered for the exams in 35 testing venues with a total of 907 exam rooms.

On the day, Hai Phong City People's Committee issued a document detailing the organisation of the exams in the context of the COVID-19 epidemic, with the local students sitting the exams in two phases as per the plan issued by the education ministry.