Tuition fee is 1 dong, additional charge is 10 dong.

At the beginning of the school year, parents are overwhelmed with countless worries: money for school supplies and clothes for their children, plus other voluntary contributions, making the financial burden even heavier.

The financial dilemma keeps many parents awake at night, especially those from struggling families who are grappling with daily expenses.

Tuition fee is 1 dong, additional charge is 10 dong.

As children begin a new school year, parents are once again burdened with worries due to the countless fees they have to pay. (Illustrative image)

Mr. and Mrs. Nguyen Quoc (37 years old, Cau Giay, Hanoi ) have to save and scrimp, "pocketing" more than 12 million VND just to have enough to buy things and pay the initial school fees for their two children in grades 1 and 3.

The tuition fees aren't exorbitant; my child in first grade doesn't have to pay tuition, but the actual costs for the new school year are a real headache – various funds, expenses for experiential activities, life skills classes, and classroom decorations. These funds are usually collected at the beginning of the year, and if any additional expenses arise during the year, we'll try to raise more.

"They're all labeled 'voluntary,' but in reality, you can't avoid paying; the head of the parent committee keeps messaging you every day to urge you to pay ," he said. Typically, the notices for these fees don't explicitly name the school or the homeroom teacher, but are collected under the name of the parent-teacher association.

Parents will be added to a Zalo group to exchange and discuss issues in the classroom. Within this group, representatives of the parent-teacher association will compile, and even propose, the necessary contributions, often broken down into small amounts that might seem insignificant at first glance. However, when combined into more than a dozen items, parents end up paying millions of dong.

Every year, the lists of contributions from parents, supposedly "voluntary," are incredibly long. He remembers last year, besides special holidays like November 20th, Lunar New Year, October 20th, March 8th, and Mid-Autumn Festival, the parent committee even "invented" gifts for teachers for Christmas, Halloween, and many other decorations.

This year, his third-grade daughter has to pay over 2 million VND in parent-teacher association fees, while his first-grade son has to pay 3 million VND. Not to mention the cost of uniforms, textbooks, and other supplies, which will also add up to a considerable amount.

"Even waiving tuition fees for students doesn't mean much because the additional fees are several times higher. At the beginning of the year, there are hundreds of fees to pay, such as sanitation fees, club activity fees, facility renovation fees... It's not wrong to say that tuition costs 1 dollar but the additional fees amount to 10 dollars. Parents who can't afford it are scrambling to gather all the money," the parent lamented.

Ambiguity surrounding voluntary contributions

This year, Ms. Ngoc Mai (37 years old, Hoang Mai district, Hanoi) pays over 1.5 million VND per semester to the parent-teacher association fund to purchase school supplies and equipment for her child in the third grade. The parent-teacher association uses this money to buy various items and equipment, but Ms. Mai considers the proposed installation of a touchscreen TV completely unnecessary.

"Some expenses are acceptable, but buying a touchscreen TV doesn't seem right to me. In fact, the TV is mounted quite high, so I wonder if the touchscreen function will even be used," she said.

Parents are stressed out by the various fees at the beginning of the school year. (Illustrative image)

According to the proposal, the cost to install this equipment in one classroom is approximately 25 million VND. My daughter's class has 44 students, meaning each student would contribute an average of nearly 600,000 VND. The cost breakdown provided by the parent association representative doesn't specify which brand of TV will be purchased, only listing the purchase cost, plus labor and installation accessories, totaling 2 million VND.

Ms. Mai said that calling for social contributions and voluntary donations to purchase and renovate physical equipment is not uncommon in schools before the start of a new school year. Typically, these matters are discussed internally within the parent-teacher association. Accordingly, the entire process, from proposing and budgeting to soliciting and collecting money, is all presented as a voluntary contribution from parents.

The mother of two shared that although her and her husband's income was sufficient to cover these expenses, she felt it was unrealistic to say they were voluntary contributions.

Besides parents who enthusiastically participate in this contribution, there are also those who outwardly agree but inwardly disagree, choosing to silently pay the money for safety reasons, following the majority. The concentration of educational socialization fees at the beginning of the year has become a significant burden for many families.

In addition, Ms. Mai calculated that at the beginning of the school year, each child spent more than 5.5 million VND on various expenses. These voluntary contributions do not include money for books, uniforms, extra classes, or extracurricular activities.

" We agree to contribute to better support students' education, but the fees should be reasonable and fair. Don't say 'voluntary' but then make it mandatory so that parents don't have to struggle too much ," she expressed.

As the new school year approaches, the issue of excessive fees in schools has resurfaced. Recently, a parent whose child is in first grade at Huu Hoa Primary School (Thanh Tri, Hanoi) posted on social media complaining that the homeroom teacher requested parents to contribute to installing air conditioners and projectors for their children's learning, with the added condition that these items must be donated to the school after the children graduate from fifth grade.

According to this person, the school will not allow new equipment to be installed for parents who do not commit to donating it. Parents are concerned about why families have to commit to donating to the school, when these assets could be used by students in subsequent years to save money.

Subsequently, the Thanh Tri District People's Committee established a working group comprising functional departments in coordination with the Huu Hoa Commune People's Committee to investigate and verify the information. According to Mr. Pham Van Ngat, Head of the Thanh Tri District Education and Training Department, the verification results showed that parents had formed a group to discuss and exchange ideas about installing air conditioners; the school and teachers had not yet issued any directives regarding this matter.

Despite the "clarification," this story still sparked heated discussions among parents about excessive fees at the beginning of the school year.

In February 2023, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son sent a document responding to voters' requests to review the function of the Parents' Association in light of the "problem" of numerous unauthorized fees.
Regarding operating funds, the Ministry stipulates that the Parent-Teacher Association is not allowed to collect non-voluntary donations or contributions that do not directly serve the association's activities, such as: protecting school facilities, ensuring school security, supervising students' transportation, cleaning classrooms, and cleaning the school.
The Parent-Teacher Association is also prohibited from collecting fees for rewarding school administrators, teachers, and staff; purchasing machinery, equipment, and teaching materials for the school, classrooms, or for school administrators, teachers, and staff; supporting management, teaching organization, and educational activities; and repairing, upgrading, or constructing new school facilities.

NHI NHI

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