The "hand-to-mouth" solution cannot last any longer.

Uncertainty in maintaining education.

On April 4th, students at AISVN International School returned to school after a period of disruption due to the school's failure to pay teachers' salaries. To facilitate this, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training established a three-party jointly owned bank account between the Department, the school, and parents, with financial contributions from parents following a meeting on March 30th, where Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut Em, Chairwoman of the School Board, proposed a donation of 125 billion VND to maintain operations.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training is implementing solutions to ensure the educational rights of students at AISVN International School.

Mr. Tran Khac Huy, Head of the Planning and Finance Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, said that from April 2nd to the afternoon of April 15th, parents contributed approximately 30.5 billion VND. Currently, payments for January and February salaries, advances for March based on actual working days for foreign teachers and Vietnamese teachers and staff, along with operating expenses such as electricity and transportation, have been made. Mr. Huy added that after completing these payments, the remaining balance in the parents' support account is approximately 3 billion VND.

Given the reality that parental contributions cannot sustain the learning of all students for an extended period, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training has requested schools to develop online teaching plans and send open letters to all parents, appealing for their cooperation, agreement, and financial contributions to maintain the school's educational activities, so that students' learning in the remaining months of the 2023-2024 school year will not be interrupted.

Maintaining education for educational purposes is the responsibility of the state; investment and borrowing between schools and parents are business and investment relationships, and will be handled as normal business and civil relations, outside the purview of educational management.

Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Huan

Given the current situation, the Board of Directors of AISVN International School has sought and received approval from the International Baccalaureate (IB) organization, as well as consultation from the Department of Education and Training, to plan for the early conclusion of the 2023-2024 school year, approximately one month earlier, to ensure stability. Therefore, students from the Discovery stream to grade 11 will complete their studies on April 26th; grade 12 students will continue to attend school to participate in the IB exams as planned until May 17th.

With the funds contributed by parents, foreign teachers received their full February salary and an advance for March, based on the actual number of working days. However, last week, one teacher sent an email to the parents of students in their class announcing that they would not continue teaching because "the situation has not improved and seems unstable due to insufficient funds for some payments."

The school may be suspended or dissolved.

Teachers at AISVN International School went on strike right in the middle of the school year. Therefore, all attention immediately focused on resolving the students' educational needs. A temporary solution was to ask parents to contribute 125 billion VND to maintain teaching and learning until the end of the school year. However, according to experts, this contribution is not a mandatory obligation for parents. This is a makeshift solution, appealing to voluntary contributions to address the urgent situation. To resolve the root of the problem, legal action must be taken.

According to lawyer Nguyen Thanh Huan, Director of Law Firm 11, when a school lacks sufficient funds to maintain teaching and learning, in accordance with Clause 2, Article 49 and Article 50 of the Education Law, its educational activities will be suspended. The suspension period is for the school to address and rectify the causes. If the causes are not rectified after the suspension period, the school will be dissolved in accordance with Point b, Clause 2, Article 51 of this law.

Due to a lack of funding to extend teaching and learning, except for grade 12, students in other grades will complete the program on April 26th.

We need to distinguish between two issues.

Therefore, according to lawyer Huan, the responsibility of the state management agency at this time should focus on educational goals, not on resolving the financial relationship between the school and parents. The dissolution decision must include measures to ensure the rights and interests of teachers, educational administrators, students, and employees of the school.

Acting as an advisor to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, the Department of Education and Training has connected seven international schools and the public school system to be ready to accept all students from AISVN International School. Thus, the most important issue – providing a place for students to study – has been resolved. Parents now have many options to ensure their children's education is not interrupted, catering to various needs and circumstances. The rights of teachers and employees will be addressed in the same way as employees in companies and businesses, according to Labor Law, Social Insurance Law, and Bankruptcy Law.

Thus, the legal framework clearly separates the two issues. "The issue of maintaining education for educational purposes is the responsibility of the state; the issue of investment and borrowing between schools and parents is an investment and business relationship, which will be resolved as a normal business and civil relationship, outside the responsibility of educational management," the Director of Law Firm 11 cited.

According to lawyer Nguyen Thanh Huan, restructuring, converting loans into equity, financing business recovery, bankruptcy, or other solutions are matters of negotiation between the school and parents, and are outside the responsibility of the education management agency. If negotiations fail, the parties will have legal solutions to protect their rights. They can file a lawsuit in court or report a criminal offense if there are sufficient grounds for it.

Comprehensive inspection of American International Education Joint Stock Company and AISVN International School.

In addition to instructing the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training to quickly implement solutions to ensure students' learning rights and prevent disruptions to their education, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has instructed the Department of Education and Training to suspend enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year for AISVN International School until the investor resolves all financial and personnel issues and stabilizes educational activities. AISVN International School will cease operations if it fails to resolve its financial and personnel issues as required by regulations.

The city government has assigned the City Inspectorate to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the American International Education Joint Stock Company and AISVN International School to clearly and fully identify all related issues and take appropriate action in accordance with regulations.

The Department of Education and Training supports the operation but does not replace the investor in managing it.

On April 14th, in a letter sent to teachers at AISVN International School, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training stated that in March, upon learning of the situation, the Department of Education and Training "held an initial meeting with the teachers to affirm that we were there to support them and ensure the best conditions for students to return to school. An account was set up to solicit contributions from parents, and the Department of Education and Training only supervised the payment of necessary expenses so that teachers and staff at AISVN could operate until the end of the school year."

At the same time, the Department of Education and Training affirmed: "We are the supervisors, not the account holders. Our task is to supervise the payment of salaries by schools, ensuring that the money is paid to the correct recipients and in the correct amounts."

In addition, the Department of Education and Training wants to clarify: "Here, we are looking for a solution to help the school return to normal operation to finish the school year, without affecting the students' learning process. We are not replacing the investor in managing the school. We are supervising and requiring the investor to ensure the conditions for teachers and staff are met."

Therefore, the Department of Education and Training affirms that "the account contributed by parents is to help maintain students' learning until the end of the school year; this account is not used to pay off debts on behalf of the owner of AISVN school."

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