Officially exempt and support tuition fees for preschool children and students nationwide

TPO - Tuition is free for all preschool children, primary school students and general education students at public educational institutions. Students studying at private educational institutions will receive tuition support.

Starting from the new school year

On the afternoon of June 26, with 440/441 National Assembly deputies participating in the vote, the National Assembly passed a Resolution on tuition exemption and support for preschool children, general education students, and those studying generaleducation programs in educational institutions within the national education system.

Previously, presenting a report explaining and receiving delegates' opinions, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that there were opinions suggesting that the policy be included in the Law on Education (amended) to synchronize with the legal system.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son. Photo: QH

Minister Nguyen Kim Son explained that the Ministry of Education is currently assigned to draft amendments and supplements to the Law on Education, the Law on Vocational Education, and the Law on Higher Education, to be submitted to the National Assembly for comments and approval at the 10th Session (October 2025).

If approved by the National Assembly, the effective date of these Laws will certainly be after the start of the 2025-2026 school year. Therefore, the implementation of the policy will be delayed by 1 school year.

Therefore, in order to have a legal basis for ministries, branches and localities to apply from the 2025-2026 school year, he proposed to allow this resolution to be passed at the 9th Session.

Some delegates suggested that the draft resolution should carefully assess the budget impact on students of general education programs at continuing education institutions and other educational institutions.

In response to this opinion, in the previous submission, the Government reported in detail on the budget impact by structure for each level of education and by type of educational institution. Of which, the budget for students of general education programs at continuing education institutions and other educational institutions is 774.2 billion VND/school year for 418,850 students.

According to Mr. Son, there is a proposal to expand the beneficiaries to cover all preschool children at private and public preschools, students of general education programs at continuing education centers, vocational education centers, and disadvantaged groups.

In response to this opinion, the resolution clearly stipulates: The State exempts tuition fees for all preschool children, primary school students and students of general education programs at public educational institutions. Students studying at private educational institutions will receive tuition support.

The level of tuition support is decided by the People's Council of the province or centrally-run city according to the tuition fee framework prescribed by the Government but must not exceed the tuition fee level of private educational institutions.

Total implementation cost is about 30,600 billion VND

Regarding the implementation budget, Mr. Son said that the draft regulation is funded by the state budget, ensuring compliance with the law on budget management decentralization. The central budget supports localities that have not yet balanced their budgets to implement the tuition exemption and support policy in accordance with the law.

According to Minister Nguyen Kim Son, the Government has reported in detail on the budget impact with the total cost of implementing the policy being about VND30,600 billion.

Of which, the amount of funds that must be paid according to the issued regulations on tuition fee exemption, non-collection, and support from September 1, 2025 is 22,400 billion VND; the additional funds that must be ensured to implement the policy according to the draft Resolution is 8,200 billion VND.

Regarding the expected increase in funding, the National Assembly issued a resolution to transfer the remaining unallocated 6,623 billion VND of the central budget's regular expenditure estimate for 2024 to 2025 to implement the tuition exemption policy and perform tasks arising from the arrangement and consolidation of the apparatus.

According to the Minister, in reality, 10 provinces/cities have supported tuition fees for the 2024-2025 school year for preschool and primary school students in the area.

The above Resolution takes effect from June 26, 2025 and applies from the 2025-2026 school year.

Luan Dung

Source: https://tienphong.vn/chinh-thuc-mien-ho-tro-hoc-phi-cho-tre-mam-non-hoc-sinh-tren-toan-quoc-post1754822.tpo