Proposal to support tuition fees for private and public school students who are children of workers

Continuing the 44th session, on the morning of April 17, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on universalizing preschool education for preschool children from 3 to 5 years old.

Presenting the report, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said the Government proposed regulations on universalizing preschool education for preschool children from 3 to 5 years old and implementation mechanisms and policies.

In which, policy 1 is preferential treatment for preschool children of universal age, ensuring the proportion of preschool-age children mobilized to preschool education facilities to be nurtured, cared for and educated.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son. (Photo: quochoi.vn)

" Adding a group of preschool children from 3 to 5 years old studying at private preschools licensed by competent authorities to establish and operate in accordance with regulations, whose parents or legal caregivers are workers or laborers working in industrial parks with enterprises signing labor contracts in accordance with regulations, will be supported with study costs, " said Mr. Nguyen Kim Son.

At the same time, the Government proposed to increase the level of lunch allowance compared to current regulations for preschool children from 3 to 5 years old.

Policy 2 is to encourage and attract preschool teachers, ensuring preschool teachers to achieve the goal of universalizing preschool education.

Policy 3 focuses on removing and resolving difficulties and obstacles in land policies, credit loans, and prioritizing the leasing of public assets; promoting socialization, creating conditions for individuals, businesses, and organizations at home and abroad to invest in the construction and development of private and non-public preschool education, especially independent private and non-public preschools in industrial parks, export processing zones, and densely populated urban areas.

Regarding resources to implement the policy, the Minister of Education and Training estimates that the funding requirement to implement the policy for preschool children is 1,062 billion VND/year, of which 116.9 billion VND will be used to support learning costs and 945 billion VND/year for lunch.

Regarding funding to support the recruitment of kindergarten teachers, the amount of funding needed from the State to attract teachers is more than 2,827 billion VND, and the funding to support managers, teachers, and staff to carry out the universalization task is more than 3,296 billion VND/year.

Regarding the budget for consolidating schools and classrooms, the minister said that 24,228 preschool classrooms will be built, replacing temporary classrooms, temporary classrooms... with a capital need of about 26,651 billion VND.

At the same time, build enough additional classrooms and the number of students in each class does not exceed the regulations of each level of education, including building 25,412 preschool classrooms; with a capital need of about 27,953 billion VND.

" Thus, the total budget needed to implement universal education for children from 3 to 5 years old in terms of facilities to ensure minimum conditions according to regulations (minimum standards) is: 91,872.5 billion VND (implementation period 2026-2030) ", Mr. Nguyen Kim Son stated the figures.

During the review, Chairman of the Committee for Culture and Society Nguyen Dac Vinh said that the review agency believes that the current policy of supporting study costs and supporting lunch money for preschool children is in accordance with the provisions of the Education Law and the Government's guiding decree. Therefore, the review agency recommends considering this provision.

Regarding funding sources, Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh said that according to the Government's proposal, to implement universal preschool education for children aged 3-5, the State must ensure a large amount of financial and human resources.

Therefore, the review agency recommends that the drafting agency carefully assess whether the funding source for implementing the Resolution is within 20% of the total state budget expenditure for education and training. At the same time, how allocating resources for preschool education will affect the implementation of other tasks in the education and training sector.

The Chairman of the Committee on Culture and Society also said that the Standing Committee of the Committee agreed to propose that the funding source for implementing the resolution be supported by the central budget, increasing in addition to 20% of the total state budget expenditure for education and training.

Chairman of the Law and Justice Committee Hoang Thanh Tung wondered why tuition support was only added to preschool children in industrial parks and not expanded to all preschool children in public and private schools. Limiting the subjects such as those with work contracts as stated in the draft will cause difficulties in implementation.

Explaining further later, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that after the Politburo decided to exempt tuition fees for public school students nationwide from the 2025-2026 school year, the Standing Secretariat issued a document directing the Party Committee, Government, and the Ministry of Education and Training to consider expanding the scope to private schools.

Mr. Nguyen Kim Son cited the second draft resolution on tuition exemption, which updated the Politburo's directive on this matter.

" Therefore, this resolution has a basis for expansion and is being implemented in conjunction with the National Assembly's resolution on tuition exemption that will be submitted to the National Assembly this session ," said the Minister.

English

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