Double joy

A parent whose child is studying at a secondary school in Ha Dong District (Hanoi) shared that in early March, when the Politburo decided to exempt all tuition fees for students from kindergarten to high school nationwide from the 2025-2026 school year, parents were very happy to have their tuition fees reduced.

Now that the General Secretary has given clearer instructions on tuition exemption, even for schools that teach two sessions a day, that joy has truly multiplied.

The clear and decisive direction on free tuition for 2 sessions per day has special significance in the current reality of organizing 2 sessions per day in different places. At the primary level, although the Constitution and the current Education Law have stipulated free tuition, there are many different ways of understanding and implementing whether or not to exempt the 2nd session.

It is worth mentioning that when implementing the 2018 General Education Program, primary schools were designed to require 2 sessions per day, but not all localities have therefore stopped collecting tuition fees for the 2nd session for primary school students.

For junior high school and high school levels, because the current general education program is only designed to teach one session per day, in places that teach two sessions per day, parents have had to pay tuition twice: in addition to the main tuition fee, there is also the tuition fee for the second session, which is often much higher.

Right in Hanoi, at present, public secondary schools that organize 2 sessions/day require parents to pay at least two fees. First, the tuition fee collected according to state regulations is 155,000 VND/month/student. Second, the fee for 2 sessions/day is 235,000 VND/student/month, implemented according to the resolution of the Hanoi People's Council on support services for educational activities at public educational institutions. For schools that do not organize 2 sessions, before Circular 29 of the Ministry of Education and Training on extra classes, schools organized extra classes for "main" subjects (math, literature, English) and collected extra tuition fees per class, causing the fee to increase significantly. When Circular 29 took effect, schools were not allowed to collect extra tuition fees, so many schools circumvented the regulations by switching to 2 sessions/day to collect 235,000 VND/month per student.

Therefore, when the General Secretary requested that primary and secondary schools nationwide teach two sessions a day without charging fees from the 2025-2026 school year, parents believed that there would be no exceptions. Students, regardless of school or locality, would not have to pay tuition twice for the same main curriculum as they have in the past.

With this request from the General Secretary, schools will be given enough budget to operate teaching 2 sessions/day, pay teachers' salaries...

On the other hand, what parents and educators want is for the way of organizing 2 sessions/day to change. Instead of spending all the time focusing on some knowledge-intensive subjects such as math, literature, English, students have more time to develop their abilities, practice life skills; practice and experience more; and learn the arts and sports that they love.

Only then will education oriented towards comprehensive development for learners have enough practical basis for implementation.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/niem-vui-nhan-doi-185250508005544506.htm