Attracting social resources for education: Sharing investment pressure with the state budget

Many years ago, under the pressure of rapid population growth but limited state budget investment resources for schools, Dong Nai province boldly promoted the call for socialization of education. Thereby, the province has attracted thousands of billions of VND in investment capital in education, forming a system of non-public educational institutions from kindergarten to university.

Students of Bui Thi Xuan Primary, Secondary and High School (Tam Hiep Ward) have lunch at the school canteen. Photo: Cong Nghia

Ms. Trieu Thi Ha, owner of Thien Binh Kindergarten (Long Binh Ward) shared: “More than 10 years ago, I started investing in preschool education in the old Long Thanh town (now Long Thanh commune) when I realized the great need for childcare, especially for children under 3 years old. Up to now, my family has developed another facility in Long Binh Ward to serve the childcare needs of workers working in industrial parks.”

Confidently "invest" in education

Located in the middle of a crowded residential area of ​​Long Binh ward, Thien Binh Kindergarten of Ms. Trieu Thi Ha's family is quite spacious. In addition to the children's activity rooms, there is also a swimming pool and a kitchen to cook meals for the children every day. The fee for childcare at Thien Binh Kindergarten ranges from 1.5 to 1.8 million VND/month, suitable for the income of parents who are workers in industrial parks renting accommodation in Long Binh ward.

Ms. Ngo Kim Hue, a worker at Mabuchi Motor Co., Ltd. (in Bien Hoa 2 Industrial Park, Tran Bien Ward) who is raising a child under 3 years old, said: "Currently, there are many non-public preschools, so parents can easily choose to send their children based on their ability to pay."

Meanwhile, Mr. Dinh Ngoc Tu, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Dinh Thuan Joint Stock Company, said: With more than 15 years of investment in education, the company has developed a system of kindergartens, general schools and vocational secondary schools in Tam Hiep ward, Long Thanh commune and Trang Bom commune. Currently, the company has calculated to open more general education facilities when the State facilitates land procedures.

And Mr. Le Xuan Tho, Principal of the School
Tran Dai Nghia Secondary School (in Ho Nai Ward) said: The school is located in an area with many industrial parks and a dense population. Meanwhile, public schools are overloaded, especially in an area where there is no public high school, so the school's enrollment is quite favorable. Currently, the school has over 6,000 students from grades 1 to 12. Because most of the school's students are children of workers, the monthly tuition fee the school collects is quite low, only from 1.2 to 1.5 million VND/month. What makes many parents want to send their children to school is that the school has a boarding model, convenient for parents to pick up and drop off.

Need more policies to develop private education

Up to now, the province's private school network from kindergarten to university has had over 200 schools, in which the private school system from high school to university has received a large amount of private investment. In addition to the general schools teaching the general education program of the Ministry of Education and Training , Dong Nai has formed bilingual general school models, general school models teaching 100% international programs. In particular, the province now has 3 private universities, multi-disciplinary training, including schools that meet international assessment standards, some majors have met US education standards.

Dong Nai will continue to pay attention to strongly attracting socialized education, thereby forming key high-quality schools of international standards from primary to university. This is determined in the Resolution of the 1st Provincial Party Congress, term 2025-2030. The Department will continue to advise the province to issue policies to ensure the rights of educational investors; at the same time, create more favorable policies and mechanisms so that investors can confidently invest more in education.

Provincial Party Committee Member, Director of the Department of Education and Training Truong Thi Kim Hue

According to the Department of Education and Training, compared to the national average, Dong Nai is a locality that has done well in the socialization of education. Before merging Binh Phuoc province with Dong Nai, Dong Nai province was previously one of the top localities in the country in developing socialized education. The province's non-public schools attracted nearly 150,000 students, accounting for nearly 20% of the province's total students. It is estimated that the proportion of non-public students in Dong Nai province was previously 20.6%, while the national rate was only 6.68%. Not stopping there, the province's non-public schools are sharing with the province over 7,000 teacher positions. Thus, every year, the province has saved a large amount of money to pay for teachers, thereby reducing the pressure on budget expenditure.

The investor of a large non-public educational institution in Tran Bien ward said: The government is investing more in public education such as: exempting all tuition fees, increasing teachers' salaries, building more public schools... These are very correct policies, parents and teachers are very happy. However, for private investors in the education sector, they must recalculate appropriately.

For example, when the State exempts tuition fees for public schools, private schools will have to compete with public schools on service quality to retain students and parents. Or like before, teachers' salaries in the private school sector were much higher than those in the public school sector, now the balance has begun to return when the State increases salaries for public school teachers quite high. The private school system must recalculate the "problem" of retaining teachers who quit their jobs to find jobs in public schools with gradually better salary policies.

Ms. Pham Ngoc Ly, Principal of Bui Thi Xuan Primary, Secondary and High School, said: The State's support for public education is very appropriate, contributing to improving the quality of education for the country in the new era. In addition, the State needs to have synchronous support policies for the private education system, such as: supporting part of students' tuition fees, having additional support policies on corporate income tax... so that non-public education can continue to develop more strongly.

Justice

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/giao-duc/202510/thu-hut-nguon-luc-xa-hoi-hoa-giao-duc-chia-se-ap-luc-dau-tu-cung-ngan-sach-nha-nuoc-df93d8e/