Circular No. 02/2016/TT-BGDĐT on Amending and Supplementing Certain Articles of the National High School Examination Regulation issued together with Circular No. 02/2015/TT-BGDĐT dated February 26, 2015, by the Minister of Education and Training.

CIRCULAR

Regarding amendments and supplements to certain provisions of the National High School Examination Regulations issued together with Circular No. 02/2015/TT-BGDĐT

dated February 26, 2015 February 26, 2015

of the Minister of Education and Training

Pursuant to the Education Law on June 14, 2005; the Law Amending and Supplementing Certain Provisions of the Education Law on November 25, 2009;

Pursuant to the Higher Education Law on June 18, 2012;

Pursuant to Decree No. 36/2012/NĐ-CP dated April 18, 2012 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of ministries and ministerial-level agencies;

Pursuant to Decree No. 32/2008/NĐ-CP dated March 19, 2008 of the Government stipulating the functions, tasks, powers, and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training;

Pursuant to Decree No. 75/2006/NĐ-CP dated August 2, 2006 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Education Law; Decree No. 31/2011/NĐ-CP dated May 11, 2011 of the Government amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decree No. 75/2006/NĐ-CP dated August 2, 2006 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Education Law; Decree No. 07/2013/NĐ-CP dated January 9, 2013 of the Government amending Point b Clause 13 Article 1 of Decree No. 31/2011/NĐ-CP dated May 11, 2011 of the Government amending and supplementing certain provisions of Decree No. 75/2006/NĐ-CP dated August 2, 2006 of the Government detailing and guiding the implementation of certain provisions of the Education Law;

Implementing the guidance of Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam in Official Letter No. 743/VPCP-KGVX dated February 1, 2016 of the Government Office regarding the organization of high school graduation examinations and the use of results for university and college admissions in 2016;

At the proposal of the Director of the Department of Testing and Quality Assurance,

The Minister of Education and Training issues this Circular amending and supplementing certain provisions of the National High School Examination Regulations issued together with Circular No. 02/2015/TT-BGDĐT dated February 26, 2015 of the Minister of Education and Training.

Article 1. Amend and supplement certain provisions of the National High School Examination Regulations issued together with Circular No. 02/2015/TT-BGDĐT dated February 26, 2015 of the Minister of Education and Training, as follows:

1. Article 5 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 5. Examination clusters

1. Each province/city directly under the Central Government shall organize:

a) An examination cluster for candidates taking the exam to obtain the results for recognition of high school graduation and admission to universities and colleges, hosted by a university and coordinated with the provincial Department of Education and Training and other universities and colleges (hereinafter referred to as the university examination cluster);

b) An examination cluster for candidates taking the exam to obtain the results for recognition of high school graduation, hosted by the provincial Department of Education and Training and coordinated with universities and colleges (hereinafter referred to as the graduation examination cluster).

2. Depending on the specific circumstances of the locality, the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee may decide not to organize the graduation examination cluster but to organize both groups of candidates to take the exam at the university examination cluster in the locality."

2. The second bullet point of Point a Clause 1 Article 8 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"- Deputy Chairperson: Leaders of the university or college hosting the examination cluster or participating in the cluster, leaders of the provincial Department of Education and Training. In cases where there are insufficient leaders from universities or colleges to fill the role of Deputy Chairperson, the Deputy Chairperson may be a leader from departments, offices, faculties, or centers of the university hosting the examination cluster; a leader from departments or offices of the provincial Department of Education and Training."

3. Add Clause 3 and Clause 4 to Article 10 as follows:

"3. At each examination venue, one fixed telephone shall be arranged for communication with the Examination Board; in venues where it is impossible to arrange a fixed telephone, one extended telephone or a mobile phone placed in a fixed location in the examination venue's control room shall be arranged. All calls during the examination period must be made with the speakerphone on and heard publicly. If necessary, a computer can be arranged in the examination venue's control room and must only be connected to the internet when transmitting quick reports to the Examination Board.

4. Within the examination and marking areas, review areas, no devices for receiving or transmitting information (except as provided in Clause 3 of this Article) shall be carried or used."

4. Article 11 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 11. Management and use of examination data

1. Examination Boards shall announce examination results after transferring examination result data to the Ministry of Education and Training and completing the verification process between the examination result data sent to the Ministry of Education and Training and the examination result data stored at the Examination Board.

2. The Ministry of Education and Training shall be responsible for managing candidates' examination data; Departments of Education and Training shall use examination data to assess high school graduation certification; universities, colleges, and secondary vocational schools shall use examination data for admissions.

5. Clause 5 of Article 13 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"5. The deadline for submitting the Application Form for Registration to Take the Examination shall be specified in the annual examination organization guidance document issued by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Upon expiration of the registration period, if any errors or mistakes are discovered, candidates must promptly notify the Principal of the general education school or the Head of the unit where they registered or the Examination Board on the day of registration procedures to make corrections or additions.

Special cases that require additional certificates to enjoy preferential treatment or bonus points must be completed before the examination date to be valid."

6. Point d and Point e of Clause 1 of Article 20 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"d) Supervisors, security officers, medical staff, service personnel, police (where necessary, military inspectors may be added);

e) The Chairman of the Examination Board shall base on the number of candidates registered for the examination at the cluster and the material conditions and human resources to decide on establishing examination venues at universities, colleges, secondary vocational schools, and other educational institutions that meet the requirements for organizing examinations. Each venue shall have a Venue Director and may have Deputy Venue Directors appointed by the Chairman of the Examination Board to oversee all examination supervision work at the assigned venue.

Examination supervisors shall not perform tasks at venues where their relatives are taking the examination."

7. Clause 3 of Article 20 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"3. Deputy Examination Supervisors and Venue Directors shall carry out tasks assigned by the Examination Supervisor; Deputy Venue Directors shall carry out tasks assigned by the Venue Director."

8. Point a of Clause 2 of Article 22 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"a) The Venue Director shall arrange supervisors for examination rooms; ensuring that each supervisor does not oversee more than seven examination rooms."

9. The first bullet point under Point c of Clause 2 of Article 22 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"- Supervise the performance of duties and responsibilities of examination supervisors and other members in the assigned area; supervise candidates who are allowed to leave the examination room by examination supervisors;"

10. Clause 2 of Article 23 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"2. Examination papers and equipment storage rooms, cabinets, and boxes containing examination papers must be sealed and locked; keys shall be kept by the Secretary General of the Examination Board; opening and closing must be witnessed by the police and a member of the Examination Board's Secretariat."

11. Point b and Point c of Clause 1 of Article 24 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"b) Deputy Secretary: Leaders of universities, colleges, leaders of Departments of Education and Training, or leaders of departments, centers of universities, colleges; leaders of departments, centers of Departments of Education and Training and general education schools; among them, the permanent Deputy Secretary is the leader of the main unit of the examination cluster or the head of departments, centers of universities and Departments of Education and Training in charge of the examination cluster;

c) Members include Heads of marking teams and markers (MMTs) who are university, college faculty members, and high school teachers. Each subject must have at least three MMTs.

MMTs must be currently teaching the subject they are assigned to mark. Interning lecturers, teachers, and members of the Secretariat and Shuffling Committee of the Examination Board are not allowed to mark examinations;"

12. Clause 6 of Article 26 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"6. Marking teams shall score and convert raw scores from computer-based tests to a ten-point scale, rounded to two decimal places for each multiple-choice test. A standardized subject code shall be used in all data files according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training."

13. Clause 1 and Clause 2 of Article 28 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"1. After marking all subjects, the Chairman of the Examination Board shall review the examination results, report, and submit all examination result data to the Ministry of Education and Training (Examination and Quality Assurance Department) for storage and verification. Examination result data must be saved on two identical CDs, sealed and documented under the supervision of inspectors and police; one CD shall be retained by the Chairman of the Examination Board, and one CD shall be handed over to the Ministry of Education and Training (Examination and Quality Assurance Department).

2. After reviewing the examination results and submitting examination data to the Ministry of Education and Training, the Chairman of the Examination Board shall direct the Secretariat to print Examination Result Certificates for candidates who have applied for university and college admissions (according to a unified model prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training), sign, stamp, and send them to the Departments of Education and Training where the candidates registered.

Each candidate shall be issued one Examination Result Certificate with a unique identification number."

14. Point b of Clause 4 of Article 30 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"b) The Secretariat of the Examination Board shall handle the results of re-marking subjective examination papers as follows:

- If the results of the two re-markers are the same, that result shall be taken as the re-marked score and the examination paper shall be signed off by both re-markers;

- If the results of the two re-markers differ, the examination paper shall be given to the Head of the Re-marking Team to organize a third marker to directly re-mark the candidate's work using a different ink color;

- If the results of two out of the three re-markers are the same, that result shall be taken as the re-marked score. If the results of all three re-markers differ, the Head of the Re-marking Team shall take the average of the three scores, rounded to two decimal places, as the re-marked score and sign it off;

- Examination papers with a re-marked score differing from the initial marked score (announced) by 0.25 points or more shall be adjusted. In cases where the re-marked score differs from the initial marked score by 0.5 points or more, a direct dialogue must be organized between the initial markers and the re-markers (with a record). If there are signs of misconduct, appropriate action shall be taken;

- The final score of the examination paper after re-marking shall be submitted by the Head of the Re-marking Team for approval by the Chairman of the Examination Board."

15. Clause 6 of Article 30 shall be amended and supplemented as follows:

"6. Report on re-marking results

The scores of the examination subjects adjusted after re-examination shall be decided by the Head of the Re-examination Board and updated into the examination management software system in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training. The Chairman of the Examination Board shall report and send data to the Ministry of Education and Training, simultaneously announce and return the re-examination results to the examinees.

16. Point c Clause 2 Article 36 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"c) Students in secondary education, learners in continuing education who are subject to moral assessment, learners in continuing education participating in both intermediate-level vocational training programs and cultural programs according to the secondary school continuing education curriculum, holding a Vocational Certificate issued by the Department of Education and Training or educational and training institutions authorized by the Ministry of Education and Training during their secondary education period shall be granted bonus points based on the classification recorded in the Vocational Certificate as follows:

- Excellent grade: 2.0 points;

- Good grade: 1.5 points;

- Average grade: 1.0 point"

17. Chapter X is amended and supplemented as follows:

"INSPECTION, AUDIT, REWARD, HANDLING OF UNUSUAL INCIDENTS AND VIOLATIONS"

18. Article 44 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"Article 44. Inspection and Audit

1. The Minister of Education and Training decides on inspection and establishes inspection teams for the preparation, supervision, marking, re-examination, and recognition of high school graduation at all examination boards and departments of education and training.

2. The head of higher education institutions hosting examination clusters decides on establishing audit teams for the supervision, marking, and re-examination of examination papers within the clusters they host.

3. The Director of the Department of Education and Training hosting examination clusters decides on establishing inspection teams for the preparation, supervision, marking, and re-examination within the clusters they host and the recognition of high school graduation in their jurisdiction.

4. Procedures and formalities for organizing inspections and audits shall be carried out in accordance with the laws on inspection and audit and guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Training.

5. Individuals with relatives participating in the examination board in the year of the examination period shall not participate in inspection and audit work.

19. Point d Clause 4 Article 49 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"d) Examinees who are suspended from a subject will receive zero (0) points for that subject; they shall not continue to take subsequent subjects; they shall not use examination results to apply for high school graduation certification and admission to universities and colleges;"

20. Clause 5 Article 51 is amended and supplemented as follows:

"5. To lead or coordinate with the main unit of the examination cluster to mobilize staff and teachers to join the Examination Steering Committee, Examination Board, Examination Committees, and various stages of examination supervision, marking, re-examination, auditing, and inspection."

Article 2. This Circular takes effect from April 25, 2016.

Article 3. The Chief of the Office, the Director of the Testing and Quality Assurance Agency under the Ministry of Education and Training, the heads of relevant units under the Ministry of Education and Training; the Chairmen of People's Committees of provinces and centrally-administered cities; the Director of the Military Academy Bureau under the Ministry of National Defense; the Directors of Departments of Education and Training; the Directors of universities and academies; the Principals of universities and colleges; the Principals of boarding schools for ethnic minorities under the Ministry of Education and Training are responsible for implementing this Circular./.