The 2026 National High School Graduation Exam concluded with over 1.2 million candidates, an increase of more than 61,000 students compared with last year.
As the exam period ends, attention now turns to a critical national challenge guiding this massive wave of young people toward appropriate educational and career pathways, whether through universities, colleges, vocational training, or direct entry into the workforce.
With this academic year marking the inaugural implementation of the Politburo's Resolution 71 on breakthrough developments in education and training, the post-exam period is no longer just about high test scores, but about a calculated strategy for high-quality human resources.
In recent years, high-tech buzzwords like artificial intelligence (AI), semiconductors, big data, automation, and digital technology have aggressively captured the attention of students and parents. While this shift signals national alignment with strategic global tech fields, it poses an acute risk to career counseling.
When media coverage and public interest exclusively focus on trendy, high-cutoff university majors, other essential sectors face severe neglect. A modern economy does not function on engineers and scientists alone; it demands a robust pyramid of human resources, including technical specialists, skilled laborers, and operational managers.
Despite a persistent societal obsession with securing university degrees, modern factories, high-tech farms, and hospitals cannot boost productivity without skilled personnel on the ground. The current systemic bias treats vocational education as an inferior alternative, leading to widespread shortages of skilled technicians and workers in critical industrial zones.
The critical disconnect in career orientation is starkly visible in the high-tech agriculture sector. Data from the first quarter of 2026 reveals that agriculture, forestry, and fisheries employ approximately 13.3 million workers, accounting for 25.3 percent of the country’s total employed workforce. Furthermore, agricultural exports alone brought in nearly US$30 billion in the first five months of 2026.
These metrics prove that agriculture is not a marginal economic byproduct, but a major livelihood space, an export pillar, and a sector requiring technological integration just as much as any tech industry. Despite employing over a quarter of the nation's workforce, these localized and practical technical needs are continuously overshadowed during college enrollment seasons by trending corporate degrees.
To solve this systemic imbalance, vocational and technical schools must take a more proactive approach alongside local authorities and enterprises. Instead of relying on generic promotional brochures, institutions need to outline concrete career paths detailing:
* Specific vocational skills taught,
* Exact employment locations and partnerships,
* Transparent starting salaries and income progression,
* Clear pathways for continuous higher education.
An exam can be organized safely and strictly, but if hundreds of thousands of students continue to pick majors based on trends, scores, and crowd mentality, the educational system fails its developmental duty. The true breakthrough of Resolution 71 will not be measured by test metrics, but by the ability to help each high school graduate choose an educational path that aligns with their personal capability while fulfilling the real labor demands of the country.
