Many schools in Ho Chi Minh City do not collect funds from students' parents.

No school parent fund collection

Speaking with Tien Phong newspaper reporter, Mr. Do Dinh Dao, Principal of Nguyen Huu Tho High School (Xom Chieu ward, Ho Chi Minh City) informed that in the 2025-2026 school year, the school will not collect funds from parents of students.

This has just been widely announced to parents in the first parent meeting of the year. The school also requested that the Parent Representative Committee of each class not arbitrarily implement collection under the name of collection for the class and the school.

Students of Nguyen Huu Tho High School (Xom Chieu Ward, HCMC) at the year-end ceremony. Photo: School Fanpage

According to Mr. Do Dinh Dao, contributions for students' learning activities in class will be made completely voluntarily, without coercion and without distinction of contribution levels between students.

"All collections must be made in accordance with the provisions of Circular 55 of the Ministry of Education and Training . The school requires homeroom teachers and the Parents' Representative Committee to do this in a transparent, public and correct manner," said Mr. Dao.

In addition to announcing that it will not collect funds from parents, the school also pledged not to collect fees related to other activities, including training excellent students, tutoring weak students, reviewing for 12th grade students to prepare for the 2026 high school graduation exam, and movement and club activities. In addition, the school will not collect tuition fees for regular classes and second-session tuition fees according to the direction of the city's education sector.

A school has not collected parent funds for 8 years

Besides Nguyen Huu Tho High School, another school in Ho Chi Minh City has also applied the policy of not collecting parent funds for many years, that is Nguyen Van Luong Secondary School (Binh Phu Ward, Ho Chi Minh City).

Mr. Dinh Phu Cuong, Principal of Nguyen Van Luong Secondary School, said that since 2018, the school has informed parents that the school does not collect fees from parents or solicit sponsorship from parents.

Instead, the school ensures that educational operating expenses are balanced from the state budget and other legal sources of revenue.

Mr. Cuong explained that the school always has enough financial resources to organize educational activities for students without having to collect more from parents. After paying teachers' salaries, the school still has a surplus of 10% to 15% from the remaining budget to spend on educational activities.

"We use this budget to organize activities for students and at the end of the year, if there is a surplus, this money will be used as an additional source of income for teachers and staff," Mr. Cuong said.