Le Hong Phong High School

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Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted

Established	1927
School type	Public High School
Principal	Võ Anh Dũng
Location	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Campus	Urban, 20 acres
Enrollment	2420
Average class size	30-50
Homepage	Official Website

Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted (in Vietnamese: Trường Phổ Thông Trung Học Chuyên Lê Hồng Phong) is a high school in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Established in 1927, the school is one of the oldest high schools still operating in Vietnam.

1 History
2 Institution
3 Recognitions
4 Petrus Ky students in the war era
5 People associated with Le Hong Phong
- 5.1 Principals
- 5.2 Notable Alumni
6 External links

[edit] History

The school was the third high school founded in Saigon by the French colonialists, after Collège Chasseloup-Laubat (now Le Quy Don High School) and Collège de Jeunes Filles Indigènes (now Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School). In 1925, The architect Hebrard de Villeneuve was commissioned to design a new school construction in Chợ Quán. On November 28, 1927, a temporary branch of Collège Chasseloup-Laubat, called Collège de Cochinchine was founded in Chợ Quán for native students. The branch was under the management of the Board at Collège Chasseloup-Laubat.

The construction of the new school was completed in 1928, and on August 11, 1928, the interim Governor-General of French Indochina, René Robert, signed Decree no. 3116 to establish a native French secondary school (Lycée), combining Collège de Cochinchine and about 200 pupils from Collège Chasseloup Laubat. The Governor Blanchard de la Brosse named the school Lycée Petrus Trương Vĩnh Ký after the renowned scholar.

In 1941, the school was temporarily relocated to the Pedagogical College of Saigon due to the war. It resumed its regular teaching activities in the same year, at its own establishment. In 1945, the school was temporarily closed after evacuating to Tan Dinh ditrict. It re-opened in April 1946 in a seminary on Lucien Mossard street. It returned to Cho Quan in 1947.

In 1961, it became a secondary school in the Southern Vietnamese educational system. In 1976, the school was renamed after a former general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Le Hong Phong, and became a high school. In 1990, it was made a high school for the gifted students. Its current name is Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted. Unlike most other high schools in Vietnam, the school admits its students by entrance examinations.

[edit] Institution

A faculty of about 160 teachers serves about 2400 students in three grades from 10th to 12th. Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted conducts entrance examinations for admission. Its long-standing prestige as the foremost high school in the area attracts many applicants and the competition is fierce. Student must sit four exam papers in Mathematics, Literature, Foreign Language (English) and a paper on one of the eleven subjects offered in the classes for majors. Students applying to the bilingual Vietnamese-French programme are admitted on a different panel. In the 2006/2007 academic year, the school admitted 250 students into 11 classes for majors and 400 students into 8 classes for non-majors.

The school offers 11 classes for majors, each specialising in a single subject including: Mathematics, Physics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Biology, Geology, History, Literature, English, French and Russian. Students in these classes do not have to pay tuition fees.

Upon applying to Le Hong Phong, applicants must specify the section in which he/she wishes to study. A section is a study programme in which the student chooses to specialise in three out of the eleven mandatory subjects. The entrance examination papers for each section differ in level of difficulty of each subject.

Section A: Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry.
Section B: Mathematics, Chemistry and Biology.
Section C: Literature, History and Geography.
Section D: Mathematics, Literature and English.

Students in the classes for non-majors are subjected to a small tuition fees.

The bilingual French - Vietnamese programme is taught in both Vietnamese and French. At the end of 12th grade, students attend two examinations: the Vietnamese National Baccalaureate and the Bilingual Baccalaureate recognised by the Francophone community.

The current prominent student organisation at Le Hong Phong is the Youth Division of the Communist Party of Vietnam. The organisation organises annual recreational and charity events, many of which have become Le Hong Phong traditions.

Petrus Ky - Le Hong Phong has produced many famous alumnis. Amongst the best-known are the political leaders Trần Văn Ơn, Nguyễn Thái Bình, Dương Minh Châu, Huỳnh Văn Kiểng. Huỳnh Tấn Phát, Truong Tan Sang; composer Lưu Hữu Phước [1], professors Nguyễn Văn Chì, Trần Văn Khê [2], Trần Đại Nghĩa [3], Trịnh Kim Ảnh, Nguyễn Ngọc Trân. Notably, Nguyen Minh Triet, the current President of Vietnam, and Truong Tan Sang, the Head of the National Ideology and Culture Committee, also attended the school. In popular culture, singers Cẩm Ly, Tóc Tiên ,Đức Tuấn and Hà Anh Tuấn are also Le Hong Phong graduates.

Since 1975, Le Hong Phong has had a stellar record in educating young minds. Almost 100% of its students pass the National Baccalaureate examination and more than 90% gained entrance to universities and colleges. It is also a strong contestant in the national and international student academic competitions. In the schoolyear 2006-2007, 291 students from Le Hong Phong won the City student academic aptitude competition in 12 subjects and 23 students won the National competitions.[4]

[edit] Recognitions

In 1989, the school was awarded the 3rd Level Labour Medal by the President of Vietnam.
In 2001, the school was awarded the 2nd Level Labour Medal by the President of Vietnam.

[edit] Petrus Ky students in the war era

In 1940, the Petrus Ký Student Club was founded. The club was very active in organising extra-curricular activities including performing arts, sports, camping, attracting students from within and outside Petrus Ky. It was during this time that the students Lưu Hữu Phước and Mai Văn Bộ wrote La Marche des Étudiants song, the predecessor of the patrotic Tiếng Gọi Thanh Niên (Call to the Young), Tiếng Gọi Công Dân (Call to the Citizens) and Quốc Ca của Việt Nam Cộng Hòa (The National Anthem of the Repubic of Vietnam).

Within a year, the club and its activities were prohibited by the French-Indochina government. In 1942, Petrus Ký students, inspired by students in Hanoi, founded an organisation named S.E.T (Section Exécution Tourisme). The organistion functioned as a scout programme aiming at developing character, citizenship, and personal fitness qualities, through which suggests an anti-colonial movement. During this time, several Petrus Ký professors such as Phạm Thiều, Lê Văn Chí and Trần Văn Thanh, also subtly professed their patriotism in lectures.

As France re-occupied Vietnam, in 1948, Petrus Ký students were the leaders in the movement "Teach and Learn in Vietnamese". On September 10, 1949, the first day of the academic year, students of several schools together with scholars and parents went on strike for a month to demand the Minister of Education of these issues. The government closed Petrus Ký and Gia Long and imprisoned a number of students. The students continued to be on strike and demanded immediate release of the imprisoned students.

On January 9, 1950, over 2000 students from Petrus Ký, Gia Long, Áo tím, Kỹ Thuật... protested in front of the Ministry of Education and then the Governor Palace. The government tried to disperse the crowd; however, the number of protesters had risen to more than 50,000 people. The police started firing into the crowd and Tran Van On, a student from Petrus Ký, was killed.

On January 12, 1950, the city went on strike to attend Tran Van On's funeral. Students from My Tho, Can Tho, Hue, and Hanoi came to Sai Gon to participate in the ceremony, carrying protesting banners. More than 1 million people were at the funeral. This was the largest funeral in Sai Gon since the funeral of Phan Chu Trinh in 1925.

On July 14, 1954, Petrus Ký student started the movement to demand independence and democracy at the school by drawing slogans on walls and blackboards, openly supporting the Geneva Accord.

On March 30, 1955, conflicts between the national army and Binh Xuyen arms broke out. Binh Xuyen's volunteering force stationed at Petrus Ký. On April 30, 1955, the national army fought Binh Xuyen out of the school and other locations. On May 1, 1995, Petrus Ký students form a committee to help victims of the conflict. The committee was able to gather considerable amount of money and aids for the people.

In 1970, Petrus Ký students organised a strike and a take-over of the Cambodian Embassy to protest against Lon Nol's massacre of Vietnamese expats living in Cambodia.

In 1972, Nguyen Thai Binh, a Petrus Ký alumnus studying in the United States, participated in anti-war demonstrations and wrote a letter to President Nixon condemning crimes against the Vietnamese people. He was deported from the United States and upon returning to Vietnam, was shot dead at Tan Son Nhat Airport, Sai Gon.

On April 30, 1975, the South Vietnam Liberation Force, headed by General Tran Van Tra, was stationed at the school. The school was temporarily closed until July 1975 and the class of 1974-1974 took their final examinations and graduated in September 1975.

[edit] People associated with Le Hong Phong

[edit] Principals

School year	Principal
1927-1929	Sainte Luce Banchelin
1929-1931	Paul Valencot
1931-1933	Andre Neveu
1933-1938	Paul Valencot
1938-1944	Le Jeannic
1944-1947	Taillade
1947-1951	Lê Văn Khiêm
1951-1955	Phạm Văn Còn
1955-1957	Nguyễn Văn Kính
1957-1958	Nguyễn Văn Thơ
1958-1960	Nguyễn Văn Trương
1960-1963	Phạm Văn Lược
1963-1964	Nguyễn Thanh Liêm
1964-1966	Trần Ngọc Thái
1966-1969	Trần Văn Thử
1969-1971	Trần Ngọc Thái
1971-1971	Trần Văn Nhơn
1971-1973	Bùi Vĩnh Lập
1973-1975	Nguyễn Minh Đức
1975-1977	Nguyễn Văn Thiện
1977-1991	La Thị Hạnh
1991-1997	Nguyễn Hữu Danh
1997-2005	Đặng Thanh Châu
2005-now	Võ Anh Dũng