Vietnam: What is the number of half-days of absence taken by upper secondary school students during the school year ineligible for grade advancement?

In Vietnam, what is the number of half-days of absence taken by upper secondary school students during the school year ineligible for grade advancement?

Article 12 of Circular 22/2021/TT-BGDDT stipulates the grade advancement, re-assessment during summer break, and grade retention as follows:

Grade advancement, re-assessment during summer break, and grade retention

1. A student who meets following eligibility may advance to the next grade or be recognized as to have completed lower education program or upper education program:

a) Training results of the entire school year (including re-assessment results after training during summer break according to Article 13 hereof) are Qualified or higher.

b) Learning results of the entire school year (including re-assessment results of all subjects according to Article 14 hereof) is Qualified or higher.

c) Number of half-days of absence does not exceed 45 (calculated according to education plans which is 1 half-day for every day under formal education plan, including permitted leave, unpermitted leave, continuous leave, and intermittent leave).

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4. For students with disabilities: Principals shall rely on assessment results of students with disabilities as per Article 11 hereof to consider grade advancement or recognition of completion of lower secondary education level or upper secondary education level.

Thus, one of the conditions for grade advancement of upper secondary school students is that they should not be absent exceeding 45 half-days in a school year. Therefore, upper secondary school students who are absent exceeding 45 half-days will be ineligible for grade advancement.

Note: These 45 half-days are calculated according to education plans which is 1 half-day for every day under the formal education plan, including permitted leave, unpermitted leave, continuous leave, and intermittent leave.

In Vietnam, what is the number of half-days of absence taken by upper secondary school students during the school year ineligible for grade advancement?

When do upper secondary school students in Vietnam have to undergo training during summer break?

Article 13 of Circular 22/2021/TT-BGDDT stipulates training during summer break as follows:

Training during summer break

1. A student with Unqualified training results for the whole school year must undergo training during summer break.

2. Forms of training during summer break shall be decided by principals.

3. Based on forms of training during summer break, class advisors shall assign summer training tasks to students and inform students’ parents. At the end of the summer, if training tasks are considered completed by class advisors (reports on training progress and results must be produced and bear signatures of students' parents), class advisors shall request principals to conduct re-assessment of training results of the entire school year of students. Re-assessment results shall be used in place of training results of the entire school year which are used for considering grade advancement under Article 12 hereof.

Furthermore, Clause 2 of Article 8 of Circular 22/2021/TT-BGDDT stipulates as follows:

Assessment of training results of students

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2. Training results of students in each semester and in the entire school year

Training results of students in each semester and in the entire school year shall be assessed by one of 4 categories: Excellent, Good, Qualified, Unqualified.

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- Unqualified: Fail to satisfy requirements for traits under formal education program.

b) Training results of students in the entire school year

- Excellent: a student is placed in Excellent category in the 2nd semester and in Good category or higher in the 1st semester.

- Good: a student is placed in Good category in the 2nd semester and Qualified category or higher in the 1st semester; or Qualified category in the 2nd semester and Good category in the 1st semester; or Good category in the 2nd semester and Qualified category or Unqualified category in the 1st semester.

- Qualified: a student is placed in Qualified category in the 2nd semester and Good, Qualified, or Unqualified category in the 1st category; or Good category in the 2nd semester and Unqualified in the 1st semester.

- Unqualified: other cases.

Thus, upper secondary school students with Unqualified training results for the whole school year must undergo training during summer break in the form specified by the school principal.

Upper secondary school students are assessed as Unqualified if they fail to satisfy requirements for traits under formal education program.

Will grade retention be recorded in the education records of upper secondary school students in Vietnam?

According to the usage guidelines for education records of upper secondary school students issued with Circular 22/2021/TT-BGDDT, the following instructions are provided:

Usage guidelines for education records

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3. Homeroom Teacher

- Receive and hand over students' education records to the school office.

- Supervise the recording of average scores or evaluation levels of students' academic results by subject teachers.

- Fully record contents on page 1, introductory contents on the following pages, and evaluate students' conduct and academic results for each school year.

- Record the summary evaluation results; reassessment results of subjects or additional training during the summer break (if any); evaluation of task completion for students requiring additional summer break training (if any).

- Record clearly grade retention or advancement; whether the student has completed the upper secondary education program or not; certificates (if any), participation results in competitions (if any), rewards (if any).

- Note progress, outstanding advantages, main limitations, and notable characteristics of students during their training and study process; issues requiring additional support during their training and study process.

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Thus, grade retention shall be recorded in the education records of upper secondary school students in Vietnam.