Proposal to exempt tuition fees for children under 5 years old at private schools

On April 11, Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu chaired the Council for Appraisal of the draft Resolution of the National Assembly regulating tuition exemption for preschool children, junior high school students, high school students and no tuition for primary school students in public educational institutions.

According to the Submission of the Ministry of Education and Training , the draft Resolution includes 3 Articles with provisions on subjects exempted from or not required to pay tuition fees, and subjects receiving tuition support from the state budget.

Accordingly, the draft Resolution adds the following subjects exempted from tuition fees: Children and preschool students under 5 years old studying ateducational institutions; high school students and students studying high school culture at educational institutions.

Thus, the policy will support tuition fees for both preschool children and primary school students at public and private educational institutions to ensure consistent and fair policy implementation for learners.

The Ministry of Education and Training proposes to apply the above regulation from the 2025-2026 school year.

Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu.

At the appraisal session, Mr. Nguyen Van Quy, representative of the Ministry of National Defense, said that the agency agreed with the Submission of the draft Resolution, which is an important and necessary Resolution, in line with the policies of the Party and the State. At the same time, he requested the drafting agency to study and add preschool children in preschool educational institutions under the Ministry of National Defense to the subjects exempted from tuition fees like preschool children in public educational institutions.

Ms. Do Thi Kieu Dung, Office of the National Assembly, suggested that the drafting agency should not stipulate primary school students in the Resolution because this subject has been stipulated in the Constitution and the Law on Education; suggested reviewing the subjects of 5-year-old preschool children and secondary school students who have been exempted from tuition fees according to the provisions of the Law on Education, currently being implemented according to the roadmap of Decree 81/2021/ND-CP, to exclude them.

In Article 2 of the draft Resolution, Ms. Dung said that it is necessary to take into account the subjects of students studying at high-quality general education institutions in the capital area that are implementing the Capital Law to have appropriate support; is there support for preschool and general education institutions with foreign elements? At the same time, it is necessary to calculate the ceiling to support tuition fees for public preschool and general education.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister of Justice Nguyen Thanh Tu requested the drafting agency to review the scope of adjustment to be consistent with Notice 13594 of the Politburo; proposed to remove the content "primary school students in public educational institutions do not have to pay tuition fees".

However, regarding policies on tuition support, the Deputy Minister of Justice assessed that the draft Decree does not have clear regulations and is not suitable, which may cause difficulties in the implementation process when compared to Decree 81/2021/ND-CP.

Mr. Tu requested that the drafting agency consider suitable, feasible and consistent options within the legal system; review the language and techniques to ensure compliance with regulations; request further explanation of the Ministry of National Defense's opinions; work with the Ministry of Finance to re-evaluate the data.

According to statistics, the country currently has 23.2 million students, including 4.8 million preschool children, 8.8 million primary school students, 6.5 million secondary school students, and 2.99 million high school students.

The total state budget that has exempted (not collected) tuition fees for 5-year-old preschool children; primary school students; secondary school students from the 2025-2026 school year is 22.5 trillion VND. The state budget will increase by implementing the policy according to the National Assembly's Resolution by 8.2 trillion VND.

Hoang An

Source: https://tienphong.vn/de-xuat-mien-hoc-phi-cho-tre-duoi-5-tuoi-tai-cac-truong-dan-lap-post1732724.tpo