TPrefer to write “anonymously” than ask questions TRỰC TIẾP
The new school year 2024-2025 has passed 2 weeks, on a parent group in Ho Chi Minh City with tens of thousands of followers, there have been many posts asking questions about income and expenses, buying TVs, air conditioners, and arranging voluntary subjects in the school timetable.
Parents contribute to creating a civilized and happy school environment for their children.
Below these posts (most of them set to “anonymous participant”) are other “comments” from parents asking the question “instead of just talking about it here, why don’t we discuss it in the class group or meet the teachers at our child’s school to ask frankly and discuss”. One person in this group also expressed: “I see many parents when asked for their opinions in class or at school, they don’t say anything but when they get home, they go online to write”.
The principal of a secondary school in Binh Thanh District (HCMC) said he wanted to hear goodwill comments from teachers, parents, and students about questions about the program, about income and expenditure, or any other issues at school so that he could promptly grasp information, change, and adjust if there were any unreasonable things. "However, the suggestion box I hang outside the school gate often does not receive any letters, except for random pieces of paper written by students. The email I publish on the school website also occasionally receives a few questions about enrollment, but rarely receives letters from parents," he added.
TTHE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE UNIT HEAD IS VERY GREAT
Teacher Nguyen Van Ngai, former Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that in recent school years, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City has provided very strict and drastic guidance and direction on the issue of revenue and expenditure, transparency of revenue and expenditure in each educational institution, on preventing overcharging, the responsibility of unit heads in preventing overcharging, and preventing the emergence of unauthorized revenues. The People's Council of Ho Chi Minh City has issued a resolution regulating revenues; the Ministry of Education and Training has also issued a full set of circulars, such as Circular 55 on the Charter of the Parents' Representative Board; Circular 16 on Regulations on funding for educational institutions in the national education system, etc.
“I find all the documents, regulations, announcements, and instructions of the education sector very easy to understand, specific, and detailed. But why do we see somewhere a scandal about revenue and expenditure every school year, in some places or other, upsetting students and parents about the collection, to the point that many parents say that “the parent-teacher meeting at the beginning of the year is just to talk about collecting money”. In this story, the biggest role and responsibility is the head of the unit – the school principal. As the head of an educational institution, when something happens, the principal cannot say “I don’t understand the document”, “I don’t understand the regulations” or “I don’t know, that collection is implemented by the parents of the students in that class, I don’t know anything”, these are fallacious excuses”, teacher Nguyen Van Ngai frankly said.
“As the head of the school, the principal must be responsible for understanding the documents, regulations, and instructions from superiors to implement them in his/her school. During the implementation process, if the principal finds anything inappropriate or needs to be adjusted, he/she must report it to the superior agency; but while waiting for instructions, the principal must still comply with the provisions of the law and current documents. As the head of the unit, the general manager of the school in all aspects, the principal must be the leader, an exemplary person, both bringing good results to the school and building prestige for the head of the unit himself/herself,” said Mr. Nguyen Van Ngai.
Mr. Ngai also hopes that the regular or surprise inspections by the leaders of the Department of Education and Training on revenue and expenditure in the new school year 2024-2025 will be effective. Any case of intentional violation leading to overcharging must be strictly handled.
"We must make public the handling of violations throughout the industry to both deter those who intentionally commit wrongdoing and to avoid similar violations in other educational institutions," Mr. Ngai said.
Parents accompany their children in learning activities
PHOTO: DAO NGOC THACH
CVOICES OF GOODWILL FROM PARENTS
Mr. NV, a parent of a primary school student in Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City, and also a teacher working at a public high school in Ho Chi Minh City, said that in order to contribute to creating a happy and civilized learning environment for students, parents cannot stand aside.
“When I see something wrong in the classroom or school, as a parent, I choose to discuss, give feedback, and share directly with the school. If the school and teachers have a receptive attitude and change for the better, that’s great; but if not, parents have more civilized channels to reflect, in writing, by email, or by calling the hotline at the Department of Education and Training,” said Mr. V.
Mr. V. also believes that parents should not choose social media as the first channel to express their frustrations about their children's schools. This is not a goodwill way to build a healthy learning environment, not to mention that unverified information spread on social media can cause many harmful consequences.
The principal of a secondary school in Binh Thanh District said that currently, all schools need to have the responsibility and obligation to publicly disclose on the school's official website all the contents required by the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, including disclosure of financial revenues and expenditures (school revenues according to the state budget; tuition; activities...; school expenditures for salaries, income of teachers, staff, facilities...); revenues, collection levels for students; tuition exemption and reduction policies; balances of funds and other financial disclosure contents according to the provisions of law...
“When the school has made all the information public, we hope that parents will take the time to pay attention and study the documents and content. To effectively accompany their children and work with the school in the process of educating, caring for, and nurturing students, parents also need to have an understanding of the specific nature of each level of education. We hope to receive goodwill comments from parents. We understand that parents may be hesitant to make public comments in meetings, but parents can send their feedback to the homeroom teacher and the school board via mailboxes, emails, text messages, etc.,” said the principal.
At the same time, according to this person, the homeroom teacher, the bridge between parents and the school, needs to have skillful, accurate, and timely ways of communicating and capturing information.
Contributions must be voluntary in nature.
Entering the new school year, overcharging is a problem that worries parents. Overcharging has been causing negative consequences, affecting the reputation of the education sector.
Overcharging comes from providing necessary conditions and facilities to serve teaching and learning activities, but not doing a good job of transparency and publicity, not promoting democracy such as limiting the rights of parents to participate in discussions and give opinions on school revenues.
In addition, the collection of voluntary contributions must be voluntary, parents should not be required or forced to contribute a minimum or maximum amount. Many voluntary collections are agreed upon in advance by the class's parent representative committee and announced to all parents, but many parents have voted to approve them before they have time to give their opinions... In addition, some schools set their own collections that do not directly serve the needs of students.
Therefore, the education sector needs to direct more strongly and decisively to rectify the situation of overcharging; schools need to promote democracy in discussing and agreeing on voluntary collections between the school, the parent-teacher association and parents.
Do Van Nhan (Kon Tum)
Sources: https://thanhnien.vn/de-chong-lam-thu-khong-chi-tren-giay-185240916192108804.htm
