Candidates queue up to register to take the civil service exam. 

Educators have defended the candidates who had TOEIC and TOEFL certificates, saying that people with these internationally recognised certificates have English skills equal to or better than those with B-level national certificates.

The HCM City Department of Interior Affairs, when asked by the city’s People’s Committee, said it was strictly following the current law when organizing the civil service exam.

A leader of the department said TOEIC, TOEFL and IELTS were certificates granted by foreign organizations.

Under Vietnamese laws, only national certificates (A, B and C level) are legal. And there is no regulation that specifies equivalencies between TOEIC and TOEFL certificates and Vietnamese certificates.

Dr. Nguyen Tien Dung from the HCM City University of Polytechnic Education said that this should not be blamed on the Department of Interior Affairs, which complied with the laws.

He noted that ministries and branches should have already discussed the recognition of international certificates and degrees as Viet Nam has increasingly integrated with the world in recent years.

“They (Department of Interior Affairs) had the right to refuse the certificates,” he said.

Dung went on to say that state management agencies should be blamed.

“Vietnam, when integrating into the world, has to accept different degrees and certificates granted by different organizations. It is necessary to set up a legal framework for this to be implemented,” he said. “If not, such an odd problem will still exist.”

Nguyen Thi Dung, a lecturer at the HCM City Industry and Trade Junior College, said it was unreasonable for the HCM City Department not to accept the certificates, if the certificates are recognized worldwide. She warned that the regulation would cause the department to miss capable candidates.

One educator said that it was a habit of Vietnamese state agencies to apply regulations in a “mechanical way”.

“Vietnam will never succeed in its renovation process if its state agencies still follow the old way of thinking,” he said. “The policymakers and executive bodies need to update information to make reasonable decisions.”

Meanwhile, a teacher of English in HCM City said that the B-level national certificate is “unreliable”, because many people with B-level certificates had poor English skills.

“Schools nowadays tend to set up easier requirements for students so they can attract more learners. This explains why even learners with poor skills receive certificates,” she said.