National Assembly Delegate: Rich Children Can Refuse Tuition Exemption

The above content was stated at the group discussion this afternoon (May 22) on the draft Resolution on exemption and support of tuition fees for preschool children, general education students, and people studying generaleducation programs at educational institutions in the national education system.

Delegate Nguyen Minh Duc (Ho Chi Minh City Delegation) commented that the draft resolution on tuition exemption and support stated that the State budget will support tuition for preschool children, high school students, and those studying general education programs at private and public educational institutions.

Thus, in principle, all families with children in the beneficiary group, whether studying in public or private schools, are entitled to the policy.

However, Mr. Duc raised the issue that currently, many families with good economic conditions are willing to pay a lot of money for their children to study at public and private schools; the general tuition exemption and reduction has little impact on them. These families can voluntarily not accept support.

Delegate Nguyen Minh Duc spoke this afternoon.

Therefore, he suggested that the resolution drafting committee design a policy that demonstrates the State's fairness in exempting and reducing tuition fees, while also having regulations to create conditions and acknowledge parents' ability to refuse to receive tuition exemption and reduction policies.

"The voluntary refusal to receive the policy will be calculated by the fathers and mothers. If they have the conditions and do not need support, but we just take the budget and divide it equally, it will not be effective, while the money refused can be returned to the budget so that we can support many other cases in greater need," said delegate Nguyen Minh Duc.

Considering the above idea "very good", Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai said that when the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, the State issued economic support policies, and there was also an opinion that for those who were able to not receive support, they should be allowed to send their portion back to the budget.

With free tuition, in principle, the policy must cover all subjects. However, for parents who are financially well-off and do not want to receive support, Mr. Phan Van Mai said that the resolution should add provisions to handle these cases, and the implementation can be guided by local authorities.

Concerned about the budget for tuition exemption, delegate Nguyen Thi Lan Anh (Lao Cai delegation) said that the draft only assigned the provincial People's Council to decide on the level of support without clearly defining the principles of support and criteria for determining the level of support. This could lead to large differences between localities.

Some provinces and cities such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Hai Phong, Da Nang... with good budget conditions will provide high support, while disadvantaged provinces may provide very low support or not have enough resources to implement, affecting the rights of learners.

Delegates from Lao Cai proposed to supplement regulations on principles for determining support levels, ensuring fairness, reasonableness and priority for remote areas, ethnic minority areas, and areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions.

Regarding the payment method, Ms. Lan Anh said that the National Assembly Standing Committee proposed a direct payment plan for non-public students.

"I am a little concerned. Directly granting scholarships to students in urban areas is very convenient, and sometimes they can be transferred to parents. However, in difficult areas and ethnic minority areas, this method is really difficult and also creates administrative procedures," the delegate said.

Regarding funding for implementing the tuition exemption policy, the draft resolution stipulates that the central budget will support local budgets in places where the budgets are not balanced. Delegate Nguyen Thi Ha said that clearer regulations are needed to ensure fair support among localities.

Specifically, for provinces and cities that balance their own budgets, the People's Councils at the provincial and municipal levels will issue special resolutions with the principle of not being lower than the support level for public school students. For localities that have not balanced their budgets, have difficulty in budget allocation, and still depend on the central budget, they do not have to issue special resolutions and must stipulate in this resolution that the central government will pay.

Ha Cuong

Source: https://vtcnews.vn/national-con-nha-giau-co-the-tu-choi-mien-hoc-phi-ar944641.html