Extend tuition fee waivers to students in private and semi-private schools.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that the Politburo has requested the Government and the Ministry of Education and Training to study expanding the policy of tuition fee exemption for students from preschool to high school at private and independent schools nationwide.

On the morning of April 17th, continuing its 44th session, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly gave its opinion on the draft Resolution of the National Assembly on universal preschool education for children aged 3-5 years old.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son reported at the meeting.

PHOTO: GIA HAN

More than 116 trillion VND is needed to universalize preschool education for children aged 3-5.

Reporting at the session, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son stated that the draft resolution proposes regulations for universal preschool education for children aged 3 to 5 years old. This includes the mechanisms and policies for implementing this.

Specifically, the government proposed two policies to support tuition fees and provide lunch money for children attending school.

Regarding financial support for education expenses, the Government proposes adding preschool children attending private or semi-private kindergens whose parents are workers or laborers employed in industrial zones as eligible recipients.

The government also proposed that the National Assembly stipulate an increase in the lunch allowance for preschool children aged 3-5 years old compared to the current regulations.

In addition, the Government also proposed establishing specific policies to support, attract, and provide incentives for preschool teachers; and investing in the development of the preschool education network to implement the policy of universal education for preschool children aged 3-5 years old.

Regarding the resources for policy implementation, the total estimated budget for investment in infrastructure and equipment to implement universal preschool education for children aged 3-5 (2026-2030) is 116,314 billion VND.

Of this, the budget for implementing policies for preschool children (support for learning costs and lunch money) is 1,062 billion VND/year. The budget for supporting the recruitment of preschool teachers is 2,827.6 billion VND. The budget for supporting management staff, teachers, and employees in implementing universal preschool education is 3,296.8 billion VND/year. The budget for ensuring physical infrastructure is 91,872.5 billion VND.

Chairman of the Economic and Financial Committee Phan Van Mai emphasized the necessity of universal education for preschool children.

PHOTO: GIA HAN

Submitting a resolution to the National Assembly to waive tuition fees for students nationwide.

During the review, the Chairman of the Culture and Social Affairs Committee, Nguyen Dac Vinh, stated that the review body believes that the current policy on supporting learning costs and lunch money for preschool children is regulated by the Education Law and the Government's implementing decree. Therefore, the review body recommends reconsidering this regulation.

Regarding funding, Mr. Vinh stated that, according to the government's proposal, to implement universal preschool education for children aged 3-5, the State must ensure a very large amount of financial and human resources.

Therefore, the reviewing agency recommends that the drafting agency carefully assess whether the funding for implementing the Resolution falls within the 20% of the total state budget expenditure for education and training. Furthermore, it should consider how allocating resources to preschool education will affect the implementation of other tasks in the education and training sector…

Mr. Vinh also stated that the Standing Committee unanimously recommended that the funding for implementing the resolution be provided by the central government budget, in addition to the 20% of the total state budget expenditure on education and training.

Chairman of the Law and Justice Committee Hoang Thanh Tung questioned why the tuition fee support was only included for preschool children in industrial zones and not extended to all preschool children in private or semi-private schools. He argued that limiting eligibility, such as requiring employment contracts, as stated in the draft, would create difficulties in implementation.

Chairman of the National Assembly's Economic and Financial Committee, Phan Van Mai, expressed strong agreement with the proposed policy and stated that there should be no concern about resources. "If necessary, we should allocate 100,000 billion VND, or even 1 trillion VND," Mr. Mai emphasized.

In further explanation, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son stated that after the Politburo decided to waive tuition fees for public school students nationwide starting from the 2025-2026 school year, a conclusion was also reached requiring the Party Committee, the Government, and the Ministry of Education and Training to expand the tuition fee exemption to include students from preschool to high school in private and independent schools.

Accordingly, students in private and independent schools will receive tuition fee subsidies equivalent to the tuition fees of public schools as stipulated. The Ministry of Education and Training is drafting a resolution of the National Assembly on tuition fee exemption, which is expected to be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly this week.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/mo-rong-mien-hoc-phi-voi-hoc-sinh-dan-lap-tu-thuc-185250417114059665.htm