A 60-year-old man in southern Vietnam is joining his daughter to take part in the ongoing national high school exam.

The exam lasts from July 1 to 4 and requires students to take tests on four subjects, including the three compulsory papers on mathematics, literature, and a foreign language; as well as another subject selected from physics, chemistry, biology, history and geography.

The results of the national exam will be used for both high school graduation and university admission.

Candidates can also do extra tests chosen from the specified subjects for a better chance to get into their favorite universities and colleges.

Those who already graduated from high school in previous years and want to get into college this year have to sit for the tests designated by the school of their choice.

Le Tuan Anh, from Xa Bang Commune, Chau Duc District in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, said he registered to take the tests on three subjects, including literature, history and geography, to apply for the Faculty of Journalism and Communication of the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities.

He expressed his wish to become a journalist to write about social issues and help the poor.

60-year-old contestant Le Tuan Anh carries out the procedure before taking the exam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

He added that his daughter, Le Thi Thu Nguyet, also takes the exam at the same venue with him, but she aims to get into the Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy.

60-year-old contestant Le Tuan Anh and other students listen to the exam regulations. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Anh is not the only contestant who overcame old age to take the exam.

This year, the central province of Thua Thien-Hue has also seen the participation of 51 middle-aged contestants, mostly from ethnic minority groups in A Luoi District, in the exam at A Luoi High School, located in the center of the district.

One of them has taken part in the high school graduation exam seven times.

Born in 1979, Ho Viet Poan, deputy chief of Dong Son Commune Police, said he had taken six exams before and failed them all.

This year, he is determined to pass the exam and get the graduation certificate to “please his wife and kids.”

“If I still can’t make it this year, I will continue next year and won’t stop until I pass it,” Poan asserted.

Ho Viet Poan, 36, said he would continue to take the exam until he passes it, though he has failed six times. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Meanwhile, Ho Van Hinh, 55, chairman of Hong Kim Commune’s Famer Association, said he takes the exam and resolves to get a high school graduation certificate to set a good example of studying for his grandchildren to follow.

55-year-old contestant Ho Van Hinh. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Also, female contestants over 30 had to send their kids to their parents so that they could enter the exam.

Ho Thi Giang, 31, from Ta Lo Village in Hong Van Commune, said she and her husband are still school students though their job is farming.

They had to bring their kids to the class when their parents could not take care of them.

Giang’s husband is now a 10th grader, though he is seven years older than her, a 12th grader who is sitting for the national exam, as he started studying later.

“I work for my hamlet’s women association, my husband told me to go to school so that I could become an official,” Giang said.

Tran Xuan Oai, an official from the Co Tu minority group, said he entered the exam to set a good example for other officials in his hamlet. 

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