CIRCULAR

AMENDMENTS TO REGULATION ON HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION EXAM PROMULGATED TOGETHER WITH CIRCULAR NO. 15/2020/TT-BGDDT DATED MAY 26, 2020 AMENDED BY CIRCULAR NO. 05/2021/TT-BGDDT DATED MARCH 12, 2021 OF THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING OF VIETNAM

Pursuant to the Law on Education of Vietnam dated June 14, 2019;

Pursuant to the Law on Higher Education dated June 18, 2012; the Law on Amendments to the Law on Education dated November 19, 2018;

Pursuant to Decree No. 86/2022/ND-CP October 24, 2022 of the Government of Vietnam on functions, tasks, entitlements, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam;

At the request of the General Director of the Quality Control Department;

The Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam hereby promulgates the Circular on amendments to the Regulation on High School Graduation Exam promulgated together with Circular No. 15/2020/TT-BGDDT dated May 26, 2020 amended by Circular No. 05/2021/TT-BGDDT dated March 12, 2021 of the Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam.

Article 1. Amendments to the Regulation on High School Graduation Exam promulgated together with Circular No. 15/2020/TT-BGDDT dated May 26, 2020 amended by Circular No. 05/2021/TT-BGDDT dated March 12, 2021 of the Minister of Education and Training of Vietnam:

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“c) Members: heads of affiliates of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam, the Ministry of Health of Vietnam, and the Government Inspectorate of Vietnam.”

2. Amendments to Clause 3 and Clause 4 Article 10:

“3. In each area of printing-copying of question papers, invigilation, header removal of written papers, marking, and re-marking of the Exam Council, 1 fixed telephone shall be placed (the fixed telephone must have a recording function for the printing-copying of question papers area and the header removal area) at the common working room/security and safety guardroom (if it is not possible to place a fixed telephone at the Exam Place due to force majeure, the President of the Exam Council shall prepare a mobile phone without a recording function, memory card, and internet connection and seal such phone when it is not in use). The telephone shall only be used for communicating with Exam Councils and Steering Committee of all levels; every call shall be on the speaker mode, recorded, and witnessed by inspectors as prescribed in Point a Clause 1 Article 18 (for the printing-copying of question papers area) or the Deputy Manager of the Exam Place in charge of facilities (for the invigilation area) or police officers (for the header removal area) or secretaries of the Exam Council (for the marking area and the re-marking area). 1 computer shall be placed in the guardroom of the Exam Place. The computer shall only be equipped with an internet connection when transferring quick reports to the Exam Council, and its use shall be recorded and witnessed by the Deputy Manager of the Exam Place in charge of facilities.

4. Receivers and transmitters are not allowed in the invigilation, marking, and re-marking areas of the Exam Council, except for devices prescribed in Clause 3 of this Article. In each area of invigilation, marking, and re-marking, the Exam Council shall arrange items to store the receivers and transmitters of on-duty people in such areas; these items shall be sealed in the witness of police officers and preserved at a safe location during each working session”

3. Amendments to Point a Clause 1 Article 13:

 “a) Candidates prescribed in Point a Clause 1 Article 12 of this Regulation shall apply for the exam via online methods or directly at the general school where they attend the 12th grade;”

4. Amendments to Point a Clause 2 Article 13:

“a) For candidates prescribed in Point a Clause 1 Article 12 of this Regulation, an exam registration dossier includes: 2 identical exam registration applications; a master register or certified copy from the master register or authenticated copy extracted from the master register or copy enclosed with the master register (collectively referred to as “copies”) of the high school academic transcript or the continuing education academic transcript at the high school level or the assessment report of continuing education self-study student granted by the headmaster of a general school for comparison; types of certificates valid to receive prioritization or incentive benefits (if any); photo files (or 2 4x6 photos in case of registration via online methods), taken within 6 months before submitting the dossier;”

5. Amendments to Point c Clause 4 Article 13:

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6. Amendments to Point m Clause 4 Article 14:

“m) Only bring the following items into the exam room: pens, pencils, compasses, erasers, rulers, slide rules; calculator without text composing function and memory cards; geographic atlas of Vietnam for Geography paper;”

7. Amendments to Point c and Point d Clause 2 Article 17:

 “c) Members, secretaries, and IT - technical officers are officials and public employees of affiliates of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam; among them, standing members are officials of the Quality Control Department;

d) Question paper compilers and moderators are officials and public employees of Education Authorities or institutes; tenured lecturers and tenured teachers working in educational institutions. A Question Paper Setting Team composed of a leader and question paper compilers and moderators shall be established for each exam paper/subject;”

8. Amendments to Point a Clause 1 Article 18:

“a) Composition of the Printing-Copying Board: The manager: the manager of the Exam Council; deputy managers: heads of Departments of Education and Training or heads of divisions affiliated to Departments of Education and Training; secretaries and members (with 1 member as an inspector): officials and public employees of Departments of Education and Training or general schools; printing-copying security and safety forces mobilized by Provincial Police Forces or Departments of Education and Training; ”

9. Amendments to Clause 1 Article 19:

 “1. Question papers and answer sheets shall be stored in separate cabinets. Cabinets of question papers and answer sheets shall be made of steady materials, locked, and sealed (the seal must bear all signatures of the Manager of the Exam Place, secretaries of the Exam Place, and police officers), and the key shall be kept by the Manager of the Exam Place. The unsealing of a cabinet shall be witnessed by those who signed on that seal, and a record stating time of and reason for unsealing and seal status is required.”

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“a) Composition: The Manager of the Exam Place: the head of a general school; a Deputy Manager: the head or dean of a general school where the Exam Place is located, in charge of facilities; Deputy Managers: heads of deans of other general schools; secretaries of the Exam Place: secretaries of the Exam Council or teachers of general schools; invigilators: teachers of general schools or lower secondary schools in the province; supervisors: teachers of general schools; security guards and staff: staff of the school where the Exam Place is located; healthcare staff and police officers (or military controllers in special cases);”

11. Amendments to Clause 2 Article 21:

“2. On the day of completing exam procedures, the Manager of the Exam Place shall assign staff to instruct candidates to complete exam procedures and inform candidates of the Regulation; record errors in the information of candidates in the Exam Registration Applications and transfer such information to the Secretary Board of the Exam Council for consideration and updates to the exam management software.”

12. Amendments to Clause 2 Article 24:

 “2. The rooms with cabinets, boxes, or containers in which answer sheets are stored shall be locked and sealed; the seal must bear all signatures of the key keeper, manager of the Marking Board, and police officer. The keys of rooms where answer sheets are stored shall be kept by the managers of Marking Boards; the keys of cabinets, boxes or containers in which envelopes of written papers are stored shall be kept by a secretary of the Exam Council who performs tasks at Written Paper Marking Board; the keys of cabinets, boxes or containers in which envelopes of multiple-choice paper answer sheets are stored shall be kept by the Leader of the Secretary Team affiliated to the Multiple-Choice Paper Marking Board. The rooms where answer sheets are stored, multiple-choice answer sheets and written paper sheets are marked, and Secretary Board of Exam Council and Secretary Team of Marking Board perform their tasks, in the marking area, must be equipped with fire safety devices, active surveillance cameras and guarded by police officers and guards 24 hours per day. Activities of opening and closing the rooms where answer sheets are stored and marked, and cabinets, boxes, and containers where envelopes are stored shall be conducted in the presence of the manager of the Marking Board and police officers, and recorded in a logbook.”

13. Amendments to the first part of Clause 3 Article 25:

 “3. Header removal method: the President of the Exam Council shall decide the header removal method. Header numbers shall be generated randomly from software to ensure every exam sheet of candidates (equivalent to candidate identification number) corresponds to 1 header number. Header number generation shall be performed in an isolated area witnessed by supervisors mobilized by Heads of Departments of Education and Training.”

14. Amendments to Point a Clause 4 Article 25:

 “a) The President of the Exam Council shall decide to hand over answer sheets at once or according to the marking progress. The Manager of the Header Removal Board shall hand over answer sheets, headers of which have been removed, to the Manager of the Secretary Board of the Exam Council according to written directives of the President of the Exam Council;”

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 “b) The Score Input Team shall enter scores of written papers to the marking software in two independent rounds, each round shall be conducted by a different sub-team. When entering scores, there must be at least 1 reader, 1 data entry clerk, and 1 supervisor.”

16. Amendments to Clause 1 Article 31:

 “1. After the marking process of all exam subjects, the President of the Exam Council shall approve the exam results, prepare reports, and submit all exam data to the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam (via the Quality Control Department) for comparison and archive. Data on exam results shall be stored in 2 copies of CDs, which shall be sealed under the witness of police officers; 1 CD shall be sent to the President of the Exam Council for storage, and 1 CD shall be handed over to the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam (via the Quality Control Department.”

17. Amendments to the first part of Clause 4 Article 33:

 “4. Re-marking of written papers: Each sheet shall be re-marked by 2 examiners as prescribed in Article 27 of this Regulation using an ink color different from the previous. Any work related to the re-marking shall be joined by at least two members of the Written Paper Re-Marking Board. The re-marking results of written papers shall be decided by the Secretary Board of the Exam Council as follows:”

18. Amendments to Point d Clause 2 Article 39:

“d) Kinh ethnic people and foreigners with a permanent residence during high school for at least 3 years in extremely disadvantaged communes, border communes, former revolution bases under Program 135 according to Decision No. 135/QD-TTg dated July 31, 1998 of the Prime Minister of Vietnam (from when these communes completed Program 135 to earlier); extremely disadvantaged communes in coastal areas and islands; communes in Zones I, II, III, communes with extremely disadvantaged villages in ethnic minority areas and mountainous areas according to current regulations of the Prime Minister of Vietnam or the Minister, Head of the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and have attended high schools not located in districts of centrally affiliated cities for at least two-thirds of their high school time;”

19. Amendments to Point a Clause 3 Article 39:

“a) Ethnic minorities with a permanent residence during high school for at least 3 years in extremely disadvantaged communes, border communes, former revolution bases under Program 135 according to Decision No. 135/QD-TTg dated July 31, 1998 of the Prime Minister of Vietnam (from when these communes completed Program 135 to earlier); extremely disadvantaged communes in coastal areas and islands; communes in Zones I, II, III, communes with extremely disadvantaged villages in ethnic minority areas and mountainous areas according to current regulations of the Prime Minister of Vietnam or the Minister, Head of the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs and have attended boarding ethnic general schools or general schools not located in districts of centrally affiliated cities;”

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Article 3. Implementation provisions

1. This Circular comes into force as of May 9, 2023.

2. Chief of the Office, Director of the Quality Control Department, directors of affiliates of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam; Presidents of People’s Committees of provinces and centrally affiliated cities; Director of the School Department - Ministry of National Defense of Vietnam, Director of the Training Department - Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam; Directors of Departments of Education and Training of Vietnam; directors of universities and institutions; principals of universities; principals of colleges conducting admission to Preschool Education shall implement this Circular./.

PP. MINISTER
DEPUTY MINISTER




Nguyen Huu Do