This is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in Ho Chi Minh City.
Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted in Ho Chi Minh City (also known by the familiar name “Tran Chuyen”) is one of the oldest and most prestigious schools in Ho Chi Minh City.
Besides studying and extra-curricular activities, one thing that makes “people” here “blow their eyebrows” whenever it is mentioned is the poetic nearly 150-year-old ancient architecture. Many people even liken that, coming to “Tran Chuyen”, just pick up the phone and you will have thousands of “virtual” photos! Indeed, because rain or shine, “Tran Chuyen” shows up with an ancient and romantic beauty.
The school is nearly 150 years old with ancient architecture boldly French
Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted is one of the high schools with a very long history. Accordingly, the school was built in 1874 by Father Juhel des Isles De Kerlan – Father So, who considered the Saigon Cathedral to be self-funded, was located in the area that used to be the campus of the Tan Binh Tri Palace.
This place was originally used to raise abandoned European and French orphans, later accepting students regardless of religion. In those first days, the school had 58 students taught by monks and missionaries, including 2 Vietnamese and 2 French.
In 1976, Ho Chi Minh City established a new school at this facility named Ho Chi Minh City Pedagogical High School. By 2000, the Pedagogical High School was transformed into the present-day Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted.
The school has a long history and an extremely ancient campus
The school buildings are divided into zones A, B, C, D and the central building
Referring to Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted, it is impossible not to mention the architectural style with classic French lines. This place is a combination of beautiful architecture, encapsulated in a green shady campus. Every corner of the schoolyard appears extremely poetic. In addition, the unique design style of the school is clearly shown in each line such as: The windows, stairs, railings… All seem to be tinged with time.
Experiencing the fluctuations of time, buildings C, D and the center still retain almost intact French-style architecture mixed with Asian-style decoration.
This nearly 150-year-old school wears an ancient and poetic beauty thanks to its delicate decorative lines
The colored doorways and rows of chairs are carefully preserved, lasting with time. It is known that the main materials to build Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted are bricks, sand, stone, inside with a steel core and glued with molasses.
In particular, the classrooms at the school are decorated in the style of ancient French architecture.With a dome style, alternating green patches, the harmony between two tones of yellow and white, this nearly 150-year-old school appears very poetic.
The stairs are still the same as in the previous period
Hidden inside the ancient architectural lines, the rooms of “Tran Chuyen” are fully equipped with modern equipment systems, especially the library. It is known that the new library has been expanded to an area of 1000 m2. The lower floor of the library is a bookstore spread to more than 2 rooms with more than 30 computers. Upstairs is a reading room, four cabins – a meeting room for teachers and students to have regular meetings or club activities.
Although the architecture is ancient, the school’s facilities are very modern, fully serving the needs of teaching and learning.
Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted is also recognized as a City-level Artistic Architectural Monument
“Wanting to study here is not easy”
Every admission season comes, students often say to each other: “In order to get into Tran Dai Nghia, being good is not only enough, but also very good.” Indeed, just looking at the school’s entrance exam is already fierce!
For the entrance exam alone, in the 6 months of 2022 – 2023, there are nearly 4,000 students who won a place to specialize in Tran Dai Nghia. Meanwhile, the school only recruited 525 students into 15 grade 6 (equivalent to 1 to 6.8 students). It seemed that the odds were already very high, but in other years, a student had to fight up to 7 or even 8 people to get into the school.
Candidates taking the aptitude test enter grade 6, Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted
Not stopping there, in order to pass the pre-qualification round, students must complete the primary school program in Ho Chi Minh City, have a periodical test score at the end of the 5th grade in Vietnamese and Math subjects with a score of 9 or higher. In particular, Tran Dai Nghia is also the only school in Ho Chi Minh City to recruit 6th grade students with a survey to assess knowledge and skills in English, Math, History, Geography, Science.. The specific structure of the competency assessment test is as follows:
– The multiple-choice section consists of 20 questions in English, testing knowledge of Maths, English, Science, History and Geography. The total score of this test is 40 points.
– The essay section consists of 3 topics: English, Math, logical thinking and Vietnamese with 60 points. A new feature of this year’s survey is that there are more questions in Vietnamese for the content of thinking math and reading – understanding – writing.
For the English test, there are additional listening and comprehension questions to comprehensively assess the candidate’s four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. This is the first year that the survey has added listening-comprehension questions, in addition to questions about reading-comprehension and writing in English.
In addition, the school also enrolls high school students and of course, to become a “resident” here, you have to work hard and have a study plan early.
Student “Tran Chuyen” is not only good at studying, but also extremely active
It is not wrong to say that student “Tran Chuyen” is extremely “multi-talented” when both studying well and actively participating in extracurricular activities. The proof is that, for the school year 2021-2022 alone, the total number of students who won prizes in the school’s excellent student exams was 144. In which, 135 students won provincial/city prizes; 9 prizes in national, regional and international competitions. Tran Chuyen’s high school graduation rate for many years is also at the top of the city with 100% and many other achievements and awards.
That is only in terms of learning, and the club and extracurricular activities of “Tran Chuyen” are countless. Try to do a calculation, if you join a school club every day, it is unlikely that one month later you will have discovered all. “Mist” has: Vietnam Culture Club; Japanese Culture Club; Photography Club; Arts Club; Art Club… Not only that, the school’s activities and clubs are also meticulously invested in both quality and quantity, so if you plan to study here, you must prepare mentally to run the event. “take a break” okay!
Student “Tran Chuyen” is very active
In addition, referring to professional Tran Dai Nghia, it is impossible not to mention the “specialties” associated with “residents” here, such as: The TDN Radio – a form of “confessions” of student Tran Dai Nghia on air on a monthly basis; Noi San “Tran Chuyen”; Troll Association Tran Dai Nghia School – a Fanpage was established with the purpose of “fun is the main”…
Photography: Minh Hoa