The National Assembly passed a Resolution on tuition exemption and support for preschool children, primary school students, and students of general education programs at educational institutions in the national education system.
On June 26, 2025, at the 9th session, the 15th National Assembly passed Resolution No. 217/2025/QH15 (Resolution 217) on tuition exemption and support for preschool children, general education students, and students of general education programs at educational institutions in the national education system. This is an important milestone, demonstrating the superiority of Vietnam's education policy, meeting the expectations of the majority of people.
Throughout the 80-year history since the country's founding, education has always been a top priority in the policies of the Party and State.
In 1945, after gaining independence, although the young Democratic Republic of Vietnam was facing many difficulties and challenges, President Ho Chi Minh emphasized the importance of eliminating illiteracy, considering education as the key to improving people's knowledge, training human resources and nurturing talents.
He pointed out that: "Education is the cause of the masses" so regardless of age, gender, as long as you are Vietnamese, you must participate in learning and participate in eliminating illiteracy, because "only by constantly learning can you progress forever".
| Article 61 of the 2013 Constitution stipulates: “1. Education development is the top national policy to improve people's knowledge, develop human resources, and nurture talents. 2. The State prioritizes investment and attracts other investment sources for education; takes care of preschool education; ensures that primary education is compulsory, the State does not collect tuition fees; gradually universalizes secondary education; develops university education and vocational education; implements reasonable scholarship and tuition policies...”. |
Article 15 of the 1946 Constitution stipulates: “Primary education is compulsory and free of charge (...) Poor students are assisted by the Government.”
By the 2013 Constitution, education policies continued to be improved with many outstanding points. Specifically, Article 61 of the Constitution stipulates: “1. Education development is the top national policy to improve people's knowledge, develop human resources, and nurture talents. 2. The State prioritizes investment and attracts other investment sources for education; takes care of preschool education; ensures that primary education is compulsory, the State does not collect tuition fees; gradually universalizes secondary education; develops higher education and vocational education; implements reasonable scholarship and tuition policies...”.
The policy of tuition exemption and support is specified in the 2019 Law on Education: “The State has policies to subsidize and exempt or reduce tuition fees for learners who are beneficiaries of social policies, ethnic minorities in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions, orphans, homeless children, people with disabilities, people from poor and near-poor households (Clause 2, Article 85).
Through the congresses, our Party has always paid attention to and directed the implementation of humane educational policies, including universalizing primary and secondary education, and paying attention to tuition support for disadvantaged groups.
On November 4, 2013, the Party Central Committee issued Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW on fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training to meet the requirements of industrialization and modernization in the context of a socialist-oriented market economy and international integration (Resolution 29), setting the goal of completing universal preschool education for 5-year-old children by 2015, improving the quality of universalization in the following years and exempting tuition fees before 2000.
In order to implement the Party's documents and resolutions on education, including the issue of tuition fees, on August 27, 2021, the Government issued Decree No. 81/2021/ND-CP stipulating the mechanism for collecting and managing tuition fees for educational institutions in the national education system and policies on tuition exemption and reduction, support for learning costs; service prices in the field of education and training.
Accordingly, from September 1, 2024, 5-year-old preschool children will enjoy a tuition-free policy. In response to the requirements of the new situation, on August 12, 2024, the Politburo issued Conclusion No. 91-KL/TW to continue implementing Resolution No. 29, which clearly states: Timely adjust the increase in state budget expenditure for education and training in line with economic growth; The State ensures funding for compulsory education, universal education, tuition-free education for 5-year-old preschool children and carries out key tasks in the education sector; prioritizes investment in education and training in ethnic minority, mountainous, border and island areas; completes policies to support learners from the state budget through scholarships or tuition exemption and reduction support.
At the Politburo meeting on February 28, 2025, after listening to the Government's report on the ability to balance finances during and after the process of streamlining the political system's apparatus, the Politburo decided to exempt all tuition fees for students, from preschool to high school, nationwide, starting from the 2025-2026 school year.
Previously, promoting the spirit of initiative, many provinces and cities have piloted the exemption of tuition fees for preschool and primary school students from local budget sources. Recently, at the 9th session of the 15th National Assembly, Resolution 217 was passed.
From the 2025-2026 school year, all preschool children, primary school students and general education students at public educational institutions nationwide will be exempted from tuition fees. At the same time, students at private and non-public institutions will also receive tuition support.
The level of tuition support is decided by the People's Council of the province or centrally-run city according to the tuition fee framework prescribed by the Government but must not exceed the tuition fee of non-public and private educational institutions.
This policy applies to Vietnamese citizens and people of Vietnamese origin whose nationality has not been determined and who are living in Vietnam and studying in educational institutions within the national education system.
Thus, it can be seen that in each period, based on the practical situation, our Party and State have appropriate policies to meet the desires and aspirations of the masses.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, the country currently has about 23.2 million students, of which 21.5 million students study at public institutions and 1.7 million students at non-public institutions.
Applying a policy of free tuition for public schools and tuition support for private schools will significantly reduce the financial burden on millions of families.
Tuition exemption and support is not only a socio-economic policy but also a development choice with a long-term vision, a step forward in thinking about the role of a constructive and people-oriented State. In that choice, we clearly see consensus from top to bottom, from leaders to legislative and executive agencies, and more broadly - from the people. (Dr. Nguyen Si Dung) |
It is also important to emphasize that Vietnam is currently the only country in ASEAN that offers free tuition from kindergarten to high school. As soon as it was issued, Resolution 217 was warmly welcomed and highly appreciated by the masses.
Dr. Nguyen Si Dung assessed: “Exemption and support of tuition fees is not only a socio-economic policy but also a development choice with a long-term vision, a step forward in thinking about the role of a constructive and people-oriented State. In that choice, we clearly see consensus from top to bottom, from leaders to legislative and executive agencies and more broadly - from the people.
We are on the right track: Using institutions to unleash resources; using resources to invest in people; and using people to create the future.”
With the aim of obstructing the implementation of a humane and correct policy, hindering development in Vietnam, hostile and reactionary forces have spread the rumor that the tuition-free policy is not new and does not solve the root cause of educational inequality, is just a "populist trick", and at the same time tried to propagate the policy is not feasible due to limited budget; fabricating that Vietnam exempts tuition fees but increases external revenues.
There are even opinions that deliberately distort, claiming that the policy causes inequality between types of schools, when public school students are completely exempted, while private school students only receive partial support.
However, in reality, Resolution 217 was passed with high consensus, with a specific and clear implementation roadmap, demonstrating the strong political determination of our Party and State.
Regarding implementation resources, on May 17, 2025, the National Assembly passed Resolution No. 196/2025/QH15 on adjusting and supplementing the state budget estimate for 2025, in which it agreed to transfer the remaining unallocated VND 6,623 billion of the central budget's regular expenditure estimate for 2024 to 2025 to implement the tuition exemption policy and perform tasks arising from the arrangement and consolidation of the apparatus organization as approved by competent authorities.
The Government also built a long-term roadmap with a total budget of 30,600 billion VND, ensuring the feasibility of Resolution 217.
Regarding tuition support for preschool children, high school students, and students of general education programs in private and non-public educational institutions, Resolution 217 clearly states: "The level of tuition support is decided by the People's Council of the province or centrally-run city according to the tuition fee framework prescribed by the Government but does not exceed the tuition fee level of private and non-public educational institutions", thus not creating inequality.
The collection of funds at educational institutions is closely monitored by the authorities, with inspection and examination measures strengthened and violations strictly handled, while propaganda is stepped up so that parents can cooperate in implementing the regulations; there is no exemption of tuition fees to increase other sources of income as bad elements are deliberately spreading.
To prevent toxic and false information from affecting public psychology and policy implementation, authorities need to promptly provide transparent and accurate information to the people.
In addition, each individual, especially families whose members are beneficiaries of the newly issued policy, should proactively access official information. If they do not understand or have any questions, they can contact the authorities to promptly resolve them. Avoid posting untrue and unverified information on social networks.
According to NDĐT
Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/mien-ho-tro-hoc-phi-mot-chinh-sach-nhan-van-hop-long-nguoi-195934.htm
Comment (0)