High school exam procedure error falsifies scores for 1,600 students

The Thai Binh People’s Committee reported at a press conference on Tuesday that a manual re-evaluation of all written exams uncovered 2,769 incorrect scores, where 1,368 tests were awarded higher marks than they deserved, while the rest received lower marks than they should have.

This error led to adjustments in entrance scores for 12 schools, ranging from 0.1 to 0.2 points. As a result, around 500 students saw their admission status change—some students who initially thought they had passed were later informed they had failed, and others unexpectedly found themselves accepted.

Dang Xuan Phong, the vice director of the Thai Binh Department of Education and Training, assured that “from an educational perspective, these errors were not the result of any malpractice during the exam process.”

Nguyen Viet Hien, the head of the Department of Education and Training, was suspended on July 30 pending further investigation.

Pham Van Nghiem, vice chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, acknowledged the significant impact of the incident on the reputation of the education sector and the affected students. He expressed regret over the situation, emphasizing that the students would now be admitted based on their true abilities. Authorities are committed to holding those responsible for the errors accountable.

Concerns were first raised by parents last month, who reported “abnormalities” in the exam process. Some students reportedly saw their scores increase by 4-5 points after a re-evaluation.

The high school entrance exams, held from June 6-7, involved 20,500 participants. Results were announced 10 days later, with approximately 16,300 students gaining admission to various schools, covering 90% of the available seats.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Thai Binh inspectors revealed that the head of the examination steering committee, who also serves as the director of the education department, along with the secretarial committee, failed to properly execute exam procedures and did not report the irregularities promptly. Around 30 individuals involved in the exam process were found to have violated procedures.