Parents "shocked" when international school stops operating, not knowing whether to wait or transfer schools

The Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City has just issued a document requesting primary schools and multi-level schools in the area to accept students from Saigon Star International School - Saigon Star - at the request of the students' parents.

School temporarily closed due to enforcement of judgment

Recently, Saigon Star International School suddenly announced its temporary closure due to forced execution of a judgment.

According to the school's announcement, students will be off from school from today (December 14) and will return to school on February 12, 2025, at the new facility at 577 National Highway 13, Hiep Binh Phuoc Ward, Thu Duc City.

Phụ huynh — Saigon Star International School. Photo: School website

Many parents expressed concern that the extended break would affect their students’ learning process. At the same time, parents were also wondering whether they should transfer schools or continue to wait, because the amount of tuition they had paid amounted to billions of dong.

In response to parents' concerns, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City issued Document No. 8022/SGDĐT - GDTH regarding school transfers and receiving students transferred from Saigon Star International School.

Specifically, the Department requested the Principal of Saigon Star International Primary School to assign personnel and organize the implementation of school transfer procedures; create the most favorable conditions for parents when they come to contact and provide complete documents according to regulations when parents complete school transfer procedures.

At the same time, principals of general schools, based on the instructions in section 1.5 of Official Dispatch No. 5432/SGDĐT-GDTH dated August 30, 2024 (Instructions for implementing school transfers), shall receive students transferring to other schools at the request of their parents.

"The Head of the Department of Education and Training of Thu Duc City and districts shall guide high schools to receive students transferred from Saigon Star International School in accordance with regulations and ensure smooth reception.

During the implementation process, if there are any difficulties, leaders of the units are requested to contact the Department of Primary Education for specific instructions," the official dispatch of the Department of Education and Training requested.

Parents were shocked when the international school had its land confiscated and stopped operating.

Specifically, Saigon Star International School was forced to execute a judgment because the land where the headquarters is located (a plot of land in Thanh My Loi Ward, Thu Duc City) has been in dispute with a bank for many years. According to the 2020 verdict of the People's Court of District 2 (old), the school investor must return the land to the bank.

After the suspension of execution, from May to July 2024, the Thu Duc City Civil Judgment Enforcement Office repeatedly announced enforcement, requesting the investor to notify teachers, parents, and students about the termination of operations at this address.

Notably, most parents do not know that the school is located on disputed land for many years.

Ms. Thanh Lan (Thu Duc City), whose 3-year-old child is studying at the school, said: "My house is near the school, my younger sister also studied here but I have never heard any information about lawsuits or disputes. It was not until the notice of enforcement of the judgment was posted in front of the school gate on November 18 that I was shocked."

Ms. Lan said that she had paid for three years of tuition, totaling 550 million VND. Up to now, her child has only studied for 3 months. Immediately after learning that her school was enforcing the judgment, she and many other parents repeatedly asked the school to refund the tuition so that their child could transfer to another school, but the representative made repeated appointments and then avoided meeting them.

Like Ms. Lan, Ms. UP (Binh Thanh District), a parent of a first grader at Saigon Star School, shared that she is not sure what to do, whether to transfer her child to another school or continue waiting. At the same time, she also expressed concern that she might lose the money she had previously paid to the school.

Ms. UP informed that her child will start studying at the school from August 2024 and she has signed an agreement with Saigon Star International School to use the tuition commitment program for her child at the school for the entire 4 years of study. The total amount she paid to the school is more than 870 million VND.

"Up to now, my child has only been studying for 4 months and has just gotten used to the school when he suddenly received an email from the school announcing that he will temporarily stop studying at this facility and move to a new facility from February 2025," Ms. UP shared.

According to Ms. UP, she and many other parents went to the new address the school said it would move to, but found nothing there yet.

She and many parents have met with school leaders many times but have not met anyone.

In addition to Ms. UP, there are many other parents paying tuition fees for Saigon Star International School in packages ranging from several hundred thousand to more than 1 billion VND.

Saigon Star International School has no goodwill to cooperate with relevant parties.

Mr. Ho Tan Minh - Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City said that the Department has sent a document to the Department of Education of Thu Duc City regarding instructions on transferring schools and receiving students of Saigon Star International School.

According to Mr. Minh, currently, the school has no goodwill to cooperate with the relevant parties and cannot be contacted, so he suggests that parents should soon transfer schools and find a new place for their children to study.

He said that the transfer of schools does not have a big impact on preschool children. For primary school students, this stage has just ended the first semester, so it is also convenient for other schools to accept them.

Mr. Minh added that at the end of May, the Department requested that this school not enroll students for the 2024-2025 school year. However, the school still deliberately violated the law.

Regarding the dispute between parents and the school regarding the parents' rights in paying tuition fees, the Department recommends that parents file a lawsuit at a competent people's court to ensure their rights according to the law.

Source: https://danviet.vn/phu-huynh-nga-ngua-khi-truong-quoc-te-dung-hoat-dong-khong-biet-nen-cho-doi-hay-chuyen-truong-20241214123011009.htm