Chu Văn An High School (Hanoi)


Chu Van An High School, also known as Chu Van An National School or Pomelo School one of the three national high schools for the gifted in Vietnam along with Quoc Hoc High School in Huế and Le Hong Phong High School in Ho Chi Minh City. It is also one of the three magnet high schools in Hanoi, Vietnam, along with Hanoi-Amsterdam High School and Nguyen Hue High School. Established by the French authorities in 1908 as High School of the Protectorate, Chu Van An is one of the oldest institutions for secondary education in South East Asia. Despite the initial intention to train native civil servants to serve the French colonial establishments, Vietnamese students at Bưởi school had many times struggled against colonial doctrine. A lot of Bưởi alumni became renowned political leaders and cultural figures in many areas of Vietnamese society such as Nguyễn Văn Cừ - the fourth general secretary of Communist Party of Vietnam,Phạm Văn Đồng - the first prime minister of North Vietnam and united Vietnam, Nguyễn Cao Kỳ- former vice president and prime minister of South Vietnam, Kaysone Phomvihane- former leader of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party, Prince Souphanouvong- the first president of Laos.
In 1945, Lycée du Protectorat was renamed to Chu Van An High School.

History

On 12 December 1908, the Governor-General of Indochina Antony Wladislas Klobukowski made the decision to establish Collège du Protectorat based on the merger of the Thông ngôn Bờ sông school, the Jules Ferry Nam Dinh secondary school and the pedagogy class on Pottier street. In 1931, the school was upgraded to a lycée - Lycée du Protectorat. Since the school was built on the land of Thuy Khuê village, Kẻ Bưởi, people often called itBưởi School.
By 1943, the school had to move to the Phúc Nhạc monastery in Ninh Bình.In 1945, they returned to Hà Nội. After Japan overthrow France, on 12 June 1945, the northern king's special envoy Phan Kế Toại decided to change the school's name to Chu Van An - named after the most well-respected teacher in Vietnamese history Chu Văn An, and appointed professor Nguyễn Gia Tường to the principal position. Tường was the first Vietnamese principal of the Bưởi - Chu Văn An High School.

Admission

As one of three high schools for gifted students in Hanoi, Chu Van An High School is highly selective in its admission process. Every year, the school receives over 3000 applications out of which only 500 to 600 would be admitted. Applicants are required to take an entrance examination conducted by Hanoi Department of Education and Training. This examination usually takes place around mid-June with three subjects - Mathematics, Literature and English, and one additional subject for students who want to be admitted in specialized classes.

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