English teachers fail English exam in Vietnam

Aug 29, 2011, 6:00 GMT

Hanoi - Most English teachers at primary schools in Vietnam have failed English exams authorities ordered them to take, news reports said Monday.

The Ministry of Education and Training stipulated that all English-language teachers at primary schools are required to score at least 550 on the Test of English as a Foreign Language exam or 6 on the International English Language Testing System by the start of the new academic year, the Viet Nam News newspaper reported. Teachers who do not make the grade would be required to improve their skills and retake the exam. Those who fail the exam twice would be sacked, it said.

Surveys carried out by the ministry revealed that few teachers have passed the exams.

In the southern province of Ben Tre, 61 out of 700 English teachers achieved the required score while nearly 150 teachers from 90 primary schools took the exams in Hanoi, but only 28, or 18 per cent, passed. Other provinces have reported similar results.

English is a compulsory subject for primary school pupils, but the age at which they begin learning varies among provinces.

Authorities allow teachers who fail to continue teaching but have told them to meet the requirement by year's end, but teachers are not confident they would meet the standard, the Phap Luat newspaper reported, quoting Le Thi Hoa, deputy director of the Khanh Hoa province's Department of Education and Training. Nguyen Hoai Chuong, deputy director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, said improving the English skills of teachers was not an easy task, Viet Nam News reported.

It would take until 2020 for teachers to achieve the required scores, he said.