Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Van Phuong presenting certificates of merit to the students having won the national first-prize, the school year 2021-2022
Gradually increasing the international medals
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Quoc Hoc High School for the Gifted was famous nationwide when students such as Ho Dinh Duan, Ngo Phu Thanh, and Le Ba Khanh Trinh won high international awards.
However, during the two decades from 1990 to 2009, the number and quality of national excellent student awards were low, and very few Quoc Hoc students were selected for international competition teams. During this time, the school's students only achieved 1 certificate of merit and 2 international and regional medals.
However, there has been an increase in the quantity and quality of prizes since 2010. Quoc Hoc High School for the Gifted is one of the 10 best specialized schools in Vietnam, among the top 10 gifted schools with the highest total number of national excellent student awards and the top 5 schools with the most number of first prizes among the gifted schools in the whole country.
In the period from 2016 to 2022, Thua Thien Hue has had over 360 students winning the national excellent student award, of which 16 first prizes. The number of first prizes awarded by Thua Thien Hue students is 1.3 times higher than that of the national average.
The opportunity to achieve high prizes is increasing since there are from 7 to 8 students entering the second round of the national excellent student team participating in international and regional teams in many different subjects, such as biology, physics, chemistry and informatics.
The 2020 International Biology Olympiad named Ho Viet Duc when he won the only gold medal for Vietnam. In 2019, Le Cong Minh Hieu won a bronze medal at the Asia-Pacific Physics Olympiad (APhO).
Ho Ngoc Vinh Phat, a student specialized in Information Technology at Quoc Hoc High School for the Gifted, won a silver medal at the International Informatics Olympiad in 2021. He is also one of the top contestants with the best silver medal score and the highest score in the Vietnamese delegation, ranked 41st out of 351 contestants. Furthermore, Phat won a silver medal at the Asia-Pacific Informatics Competition APIO 2021 held in Indonesia in May 2021.
According to Nguyen Phu Tho, the teacher, Principal of Quoc Hoc High School for the Gifted, although the students have achieved high results in the international arena, they are still not really satisfied. In the last 10 years, Quoc Hoc High School for the Gifted has recruited 20 teachers. The school currently has more than 130 teachers, of which over 70 have master degrees.
However, the number of teachers with doctorate degrees is still limited. The work of fostering and raising standards for teachers abroad is still facing many difficulties. The school's staff has not yet received the provincial regimes for studying to raise standards and improve qualifications abroad.
Mechanisms and advantages
Resolution No. 54-NQ/TW dated December 10, 2019 of the Politburo on construction and development of Thua Thien Hue province to 2030, with a vision to 2045 identifies the main solution as "turning Quoc Hoc High Schools for the Gifted into a bright spot in terms of education quality in the cause of fundamental and comprehensive educational reform in Vietnam.
This will be a school with nationwide attraction and international integration, with a team of excellent teachers in terms of expertise, good professional ethics; its output students are qualified and have good knowledge, good character, and can promote their own talents in culture, art, sports and other skills. At the same time, they would have foreign language ability, integration ability and high organizational and leadership skills, meeting the requirements of developing high-quality human resources and training talents for the country.
Aiming to be invested to become a model quality school of the country, this school will not only be famous for its quality training in culture, but also have a good educational environment when students are trained in many skills. Building an advanced and quality educational model is a must when education is on the way to integration.
The goal set for the period of 2022-2025 are Quoc Hoc High School for the Gifted is in the top 5 and top 3 (2025-2030), the school has the highest key achievements in the country; strive for 90% of excellent students to take the national level exam; from 1 to 2 students win Asian or international Olympiad every year.
According to Mr. Nguyen Phu Tho, in order to do this, it is necessary to create motivation for teachers to improve their spearhead achievements. There should be mechanisms and policies to create motivation for the development of specialized schools, first of all, provide training to raise domestic standards from 4 to 5 teachers and staff annually and provide funding for 2 to 3 teachers and staff to study at universities around the world for a period of 5 years. Allowing the use of funds to send teachers to participate in intensive improvement at domestic institutes and academies.
The solution of inviting excellent teachers will also be taken into account. The school will work closely with national universities to invite leading lecturers and experts to teach certain topics for specialized classes, especially for teams on probation. Not only investing in national and international prizes, but also expanding to international excellent students in the fields of astronomy, economics, jurisprudence, international masters to open up opportunities for capacity development for students.
Another equally important factor in building an advanced and high-quality school is to thoroughly grasp the policy of socialization of education, not to rely only on the State budget, but have clear mechanisms and policies on investment in facilities, remuneration for officials and teachers.
According to the project, spearhead education of Thua Thien Hue will be invested in resources for facilities, laboratories, information technology application connected with famous high schools and universities in the world. That means that spearhead education will mobilize socialization resources to implement specific policies on curricula, recruitment methods, and policies to attract teachers.
At the meeting with the Department of Education and Training on the Development Project of Quoc Hoc High School for the Gifted, in the period of 2022-2030 with a vision to 2045, Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Phan Ngoc Tho emphasized that it is necessary to compare outstanding advantages and unique mechanism compared to other specialized schools in the country to propose effective implementation solutions. The school's facilities and advantages are very favorable conditions to soon become a specialized school of national standards; in which, pay attention to the institutions of comprehensive development for students, including teachers.
Story: Hue Thu. Photo: Ngoc Minh