Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training: Parents wanting to run AISVN International School is not feasible

Don't want your child to change schools.

" This morning (March 21), all parents said they did not want their children to transfer schools. They wanted the Department to negotiate with the investor so that parents could take over and run the school. This is not feasible because it is beyond the authority of the Department ," said Ms. Le Thuy My Chau, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, discussing issues related to the American International School Vietnam (AISVN International School, located in Nha Be District, Ho Chi Minh City).

According to Ms. Le Thuy My Chau, AISVN International School is a private school with 3 levels: Primary, Secondary and High School. The school has 129 foreign teachers and 26 Vietnamese teachers.

Ms. Le Thuy My Chau - Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training.

On March 4, 53 teachers at the school applied for sick leave. After that, the number of teachers absent increased. By March 20, the whole school had 85 teachers absent.

Knowing the situation, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City has had many working sessions with Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut Em - Chairwoman of the school board. At these working sessions, Ms. Ut Em said that the school is facing financial difficulties and cannot pay full salaries to teachers and staff. The school is currently in the process of contacting investment funds to restructure the school.

The Department requests the Chairman of the School Board and the Principal to urgently implement solutions to end the situation of teachers taking leave en masse to ensure stableeducational activities at the school and maximize the learning rights of students.

AISVN International School (220 Nguyen Van Tao, Nha Be District, Ho Chi Minh City).

Up to now, the school representative said that they are still contacting investment funds to restructure the school. The school representative also committed that after a week, there will be a roadmap to solve the teaching problem for students.

At the meeting with parents on March 21, the Department proposed a solution. Accordingly, in case parents want to transfer their children to another school, the Department will contact schools that offer the IB (International Baccalaureate) program to facilitate the transfer.

To promptly guide parents' feedback, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training has set up a hotline (Phone: 028.38294016; Email: [email protected]) to receive information from parents, and at the same time established a specialized team to handle parents' petitions.

"Huge" tuition fees, still owe teachers salaries

According to VTC News reporters, AISVN International School is a system of schools from kindergarten to grade 12. The school has nearly 1,300 students studying. According to the announcement, the tuition fee for the 2023-2024 school year of this school ranges from 280 million VND to the highest of 725 million VND/year, not including many other expenses.

Of the nearly 1,300 students, 1,000 have their tuition fully paid by their parents from grade 1 to grade 12, while the rest have their tuition paid by their parents each year.

Tuition fees are publicly available on the AISVN International School website.

"I have 2 children studying at the school. My husband and I have paid 8.2 billion VND to Ms. Ut Em for our children to study from grade 1 to grade 12. According to her promise, after my children finish grade 12, the school will refund the money, as a form of investment capital.

Some other students who choose to pay annually will not get a refund. The tuition fees are the same, according to the published tuition table: The smallest class is 280 million VND/year, the largest class is 725 million VND/year. Adding some other costs such as application fees, registration, extracurricular activities, bus... is also nearly 200 million VND/year", said Ms. TH, a parent of a student.

With tuition fees being so high and the "huge" amount of money collected from parents, many people cannot help but wonder why the school has unpaid wages, causing teachers to quit teaching and students to be unable to attend class.

"We are the parents, the ones who paid the money, but we don't know what Ms. Ut Em did with that money," said Ms. NH, a parent of a 9th grade student, indignantly.

According to Ms. H., when she was preparing for her child to enter school, Ms. Ut Em issued an investment contract, promising a long-term training program that would be refunded after graduating from high school. However, after she and other parents paid, no one knew what Ms. Ut Em used all that money for.

In October 2023, the school was also on the verge of closing due to unpaid salaries, insurance, etc. of teachers and staff. The crisis was later resolved thanks to tens of billions of dong in donations from parents.

Faced with the prospect of their children having to take a long break from school, parents of students at AISVN International School are currently "sitting on hot coals". Especially for 12th graders, when the IB (International Baccalaureate) exam is only 1 month away.

For now, parents of each grade have agreed to donate money to support teachers' expenses. In just 2 days of launching, the amount of donations has reached hundreds of millions of VND per grade.

"The teachers are not at fault. Most of them are foreigners. The cost of living is very high. They cannot afford to pay their salaries for 3 months. We are donating and hope that the teachers will try to accompany the children," said a parent of a 12th grader.

Thy Hue

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