THE SCHOOL STILL OWES BILLIONS OF VIETNAMESE DONG IN STUDENT LIVING FEES.
Recently, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education issued a series of decisions regarding the provision of living allowances for the first seven months of 2023, in accordance with Decree 116, for students in the teacher training field. Specifically, for the 48th cohort (trained under the social needs model), over 1,200 students received nearly 30.8 billion VND. The 47th cohort had 1,249 students receiving payments for six months, each receiving over 21.7 million VND, totaling over 27 billion VND in living allowances. For the training model based on local orders from Long An and Ninh Thuan provinces, the university also issued decisions to provide financial support for the first six months of the year.
Candidates participating in this year's specialized aptitude test at Ho Chi Minh City University of Education.
However, according to a representative from the school, students in teacher training programs have only received living allowance support until the end of February 2023. From March until now, students have not received the support as stipulated. The representative added: "The school has submitted a budget estimate to the Ministry of Education and Training and issued a decision on support, but is still waiting for the funds to be transferred." Therefore, according to the school representative, the decisions are in place, but the payment to students, amounting to billions of VND, can only be made after the budget funds are transferred.
Meanwhile, Master Pham Hong Hai, Deputy Head of the Political and Student Affairs Department of Da Lat University, said that the university has just received funding to support living expenses for teacher training students in the first semester of the 2023-2024 academic year (February - June). However, the funding for the three months of last year (October - December 2022) is still pending. The university has issued a payment decision and provided the students' bank account numbers, but is still waiting for the funds to be transferred to the students.
Earlier in November, students at the Central College of Pedagogy in Ho Chi Minh City also reported being owed living expenses for several months. According to them, they had only received living expenses for the first two months of the year. Several other schools are experiencing similar situations.
It is necessary to determine the correct training targets for teachers.
According to a representative from a teacher training university, the decree is a good policy for teacher training. The draft amendments to the decree also include adjustments that are more in line with reality. However, the biggest obstacle in implementing the decree is the delay in disbursing living allowances to students, and there is currently no solution to overcome this. According to this representative, the key issue is accurately determining the teacher training quotas to match actual needs. Based on that, the regulations should clearly define the responsibility of the state budget (central and local) to ensure funding for the support policy for students. At the same time, there should be stricter regulations for the post-graduation period, especially regarding the management of reimbursement of training costs. This would prevent the situation of over-investment in training that does not achieve the desired results.
Ha Anh
ADJUST THE DECREE TO SUIT REALITY
Government Decree 116, effective from the 2021 enrollment cohort, stipulates policies to support tuition and living expenses for teacher training students. Accordingly, students studying teacher training who commit to working in the education sector will receive tuition support and a monthly living allowance of 3.63 million VND from the state budget. The support period is calculated based on the actual number of months of study at the school, but not exceeding 10 months per academic year.
After two years of implementing the aforementioned policy, the situation of teacher training students owing living expenses has occurred simultaneously in many schools and localities. According to a report from the Ministry of Education and Training to the Prime Minister on the implementation of Decree 116 in February this year, aggregated data from training institutions under the Ministry shows that the funding need until the end of 2022 is 1,604,628 million VND (over 1,604 billion VND). The total funding from the state budget allocated to schools under the Ministry is 1,166,205 million VND (over 1,166 billion VND) - only meeting 73% of the need. The funding shortfall for tuition fee subsidies and living expense support for teacher training students under Decree 116 is 438,423 million VND (over 438 billion VND). The Ministry of Education and Training has submitted a document to the Ministry of Finance requesting an assessment and report to the Prime Minister on the allocation of additional funds to units, especially for student living expenses.
Due to issues arising during implementation, in mid-August, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a draft Decree amending and supplementing several articles of Decree No. 116/2020/ND-CP. Accordingly, the Ministry of Education and Training added a new point to the regulations on support levels based on academic performance to motivate teacher training students and improve quality. From the second year and subsequent years, if students have a poor academic average or poor conduct score, they will not be considered for support to cover living expenses. Teacher training institutions will assess living expense support for teacher training students on an annual basis.
In addition, the Ministry of Education and Training also revised and supplemented content related to the mechanism for implementing support policies for teacher training students, the preparation of budget estimates and allocation of funds, the reimbursement of support funds, and the responsibilities of relevant units.
The admissions counseling process will face difficulties!
After more than two years of implementing Decree 116, the situation of teacher training students owing living expenses is occurring in many schools and localities.
Specifically, at Nha Trang Central College of Pedagogy, students admitted in 2021 only received living allowances until the end of November 2022, while students admitted in 2022 only received support until the end of February 2023.
The Central College of Pedagogy in Ho Chi Minh City is still in arrears with living expenses as stipulated in Decree 116 for thousands of students.
Hanoi Pedagogical University, Vinh University, Saigon University, Can Tho University, Dong Thap University, Khanh Hoa University… also have long-standing debts related to living allowance payments.
At Tay Nguyen University, teacher training students admitted in 2022 have only received living allowances up to December 2022. The 2022-2023 academic year has ended, and the 2023-2024 academic year is more than halfway through its first semester, but students still haven't received the full living allowance for the previous academic year.
The most unusual cases involve two universities in Thanh Hoa province: Hong Duc University and Thanh Hoa University of Culture, Sports and Tourism. The province had to send a letter to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Training requesting that they report to the Prime Minister for consideration of financial support exceeding 87.2 billion VND for students in the 2021 and 2022 cohorts. The reason is that the number of students benefiting from the province's support policy is so large that, despite allocating existing revenue sources, the province's budget currently lacks the funds to ensure the implementation of Decree 116.
After more than two years of implementing the policy of providing living allowance support for teacher training students according to Decree 116, the situation of teacher training students owing living expenses clearly shows that the implementation is facing many obstacles. As a result, students from disadvantaged economic backgrounds who choose to study education are struggling, leading to frustration. If this situation continues without a solution, it will hinder student recruitment counseling, and teacher training students will feel that the attractive promise of 3.63 million VND/month they once heard was just an empty promise!
Dai Lam
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