Free tuition and equitable education

With the new resolution of the People's Council, Ho Chi Minh City becomes the 9th locality in the country to implement the policy of waiving tuition fees for all preschool children and primary and secondary school students. Although this only accounts for 14% of provinces and cities, it is of great significance.

Nearly 10 years ago, Ho Chi Minh City proposed waiving tuition fees for public secondary school students. However, at that time, the Ministry of Finance disagreed, arguing that Ho Chi Minh City has a high per capita income, and tuition fees of 85,000-100,000 VND per month were not excessively high. The 2005 Education Law only stipulates tuition fee exemption for primary school, therefore, tuition fee exemption for other levels falls under the authority of the National Assembly. Furthermore, waiving tuition fees specifically for public secondary school students in Ho Chi Minh City would create inconsistency among families with children attending secondary school in the city compared to other localities.

The Ministry of Finance's disagreement with Ho Chi Minh City's proposal at the time was based on complying with the Education Law. However, it also revealed a lingering mindset of "equal treatment based on equal footing."

In the context of current scientific and technological development and socio -economic progress, on the one hand, we need a policy and a common direction to ensure fairness, but at the same time, we also need the dynamism and creativity of each locality, each family, and even each individual.

For the development of education and training, there needs to be general development orientations, policies, and strategies to create equity throughout the country, but it is also necessary to create conditions for some localities and units with the resources to take the lead in gaining experience to disseminate and spread to other localities.

The 2019 Education Law, effective from July 1, 2020, stipulates tuition fee exemption for lower secondary education and 5-year-old kindergarten children, but leaves it to the Government to determine the roadmap. Government Decree 81/2021 dated August 27, 2021, on the mechanism for collecting, spending, and managing tuition fees for educational institutions and policies on tuition fee exemption and reduction, and support for learning costs, stipulates: All 5-year-old kindergarten students will be exempt from tuition fees from the 2024-2025 school year, and lower secondary school students will be exempt from tuition fees from the 2025-2026 school year. In this context, many localities have pioneered the complete exemption of tuition fees for preschool and general education. With this decision, some localities not only reached the goal ahead of the Government's roadmap but also surpassed the Education Law by exempting tuition fees for kindergarten students under 5 years old and high school students, as well as high school-level continuing education students. This also raises the issue of whether the Education Law should be amended to allow localities to completely waive tuition fees for preschool education, general education, and continuing education.

Ho Chi Minh City has become the 9th locality nationwide, along with Hai Phong, Da Nang, Ba Ria-Vung Tau, Quang Ninh, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Vinh Phuc, and Yen Bai, to implement a policy of waiving tuition fees for all preschool and primary school students. Don't think that a few tens or hundreds of thousands of dong in tuition fees each month is too small, because for children of poor working families, this is still a significant expense.

For Ho Chi Minh City in particular, with its large population, vast area, and significant number of immigrants, educational opportunities for children of poor working families remain challenging. Therefore, the city's annual budget allocation of over 1,000 billion VND for tuition fee exemption is a significant effort. Waiving tuition fees for students is a step towards implementing 9 years of compulsory education, and gradually progressing towards 12 years of compulsory education, as many countries around the world have already done. This is a major policy investing in human resources, developing Vietnamese people to enter a new era of national progress.

However, for tuition fee exemption to be truly meaningful, it is necessary to encourage and facilitate its implementation by localities nationwide, creating fairness for all citizens, so that everyone can have access to education as President Ho Chi Minh wished in 1946.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/mien-hoc-phi-and-cong-bang-giao-duc-185250221230043995.htm