Tears of a mother who paid billions, but her child never got to go to school

As the school year is coming to an end, Ms. NTT, a parent at the American International School Vietnam (AISVN), living in Nha Be, cannot help but feel restless and worried.

It has been more than a year since the school stopped operating after the bankruptcy incident that caused a stir. She and many parents still hope that the school can reopen soon so that their children will have a place to study after they have paid thousands of billions of dong.

Ms. NTT said that she paid more than 4 billion VND to AISVN school under a non-refundableeducation investment package for her 2 children. This is like her way of buying education insurance for her children, in case of any family incident, she can still ensure that her children can finish 12th grade.

Ms. NTT paid more than 4 billion VND to AISVN school for her two children, one of whom has never attended school (Photo: HN).

However, the older child only had time to study for one year in first grade, and the younger child had not had time to study a single day when the school went bankrupt and closed. After that, she and many other parents at the school were left in a state of confusion, scrambling to find a school for their children.

"I transferred my older child to another elementary school, and my younger child is currently being sent to a nearby preschool. The money has been paid, and I just hope for the day the school reopens so my children will have a place to study, and not have to study in this temporary situation," Ms. T. said.

Even though she paid billions of dong, her child has not had a chance to study a single day, but Ms. T. still feels that she is luckier than many parents. Her child is still young so she has not been too affected by the transition to a different learning environment.

Ms. T. knows many cases where children of middle and high school age suddenly and hastily transferred to a new school, so they could not adapt or cope. In addition, the children's psychology was heavily affected after the incident at the school.

Many students have had to stay home from school to wait for a suitable solution, and some families have had financial problems, and their children have had to stay home from school for the past year.

Husband died, wife sick, children left school unfinished

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Ms. Le Ngoc Han (name has been changed), a parent at AISVN school, whose daughter is in 8th grade, could not hold back her tears when talking about her situation.

Many years ago, after considering and setting up the situation that "if something happens to the family, the child's education will still be guaranteed", Ms. Han paid about 3.5 billion VND to AISVN school for her child to finish grade 12 under a refundable education investment contract.

After the school went bankrupt and closed, a family tragedy struck. Her husband passed away, and she fell ill and was bedridden for a long time, at one point weighing only 38kg.

Her family's economy is difficult, and she alone, in her illness, has to take care of her elderly mother and her daughter who is still studying.

Many students at the American International School had their education affected after the school ceased operations in mid-March 2024 due to bankruptcy (Photo: AISVN).

Her child, like many students at the school, had difficulty transferring to a public school because the curriculum was different and many schools could not accept them. Some schools accepted them but the learning environment and curriculum were different and the children could not keep up.

Ms. Han also has no more money to find another bilingual or international school for her child, so for a long time now, the child has only been studying online.

Not only Ms. Han's daughter, many students at AISVN school after the school incident are also having to drop out of school or passively homeschool.

The recent news that Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut Em, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the American International School, was prosecuted and temporarily detained has made many parents even more worried about how the school will reopen in the future.

Recently, many parents and students of AISVN School sent a petition to the authorities, hoping for a solution so that the school can resume operations after the suspension period; students can continue studying according to the program and curriculum they have learned.

Parents also requested that the school take responsibility for implementing the signed contract, continuing to organize teaching and training to ensure students' learning until high school graduation as committed in the contract.

AISVN School stopped operating in mid-March 2024 due to bankruptcy and lack of operating funds after mobilizing at least 3,600 billion VND from parents.

After that, with the participation of an interdisciplinary working group (including the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City Police, the American International School Council and parents), the school continued to call on parents to contribute 125 billion VND to pay off teachers' salaries and operate until the end of June to finish the school year.

Parents paid an additional 32 billion VND, the school ended the school year on April 26, 2024 instead of the end of May as usual.

In July 2024, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City decided to suspend the operations of the American International School for 12 months.

Recently, many investors have wanted to take over AISVN school. However, due to many reasons related to previous financial problems, reopening AISVN school has become more difficult.

According to the announcement before closing, AISVN's tuition fees ranged from 280 million VND to the highest of 725 million VND.

This tuition fee does not include a series of other fees such as application documents, registration fees, English development program fees, transportation fees, etc. The total cost of attending the school at the highest level can be up to nearly 1 billion VND/year.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/nuoc-mat-nguoi-me-dong-tien-ty-con-chua-duoc-hoc-ngay-nao-20250525064016617.htm