Addressing excessive fees in schools.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training has recently issued a document requesting the People's Committees of wards, communes, and special zones, as well as the heads of schools, to strengthen the management of fees collected at the beginning of the school year. This directive is not new compared to previous school years, with many points reiterated annually, such as: schools are not allowed to arbitrarily add fees beyond regulations, not to combine multiple fees at the beginning of the school year, and to prevent excessive fee collection; principals who violate these regulations will be severely punished.

However, the strict measures only exist on paper, while in reality, social media is always abuzz with cases of schools collecting fees illegally every year.

On September 19th, LNH Primary School (Ben Thanh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City) publicly posted an announcement on its website regarding the review of the activities of the Parent-Teacher Associations in each class, and simultaneously requested that classes refrain from collecting any donations for the 2025-2026 school year. The reason is that previously, some classes at this school had implemented various collection methods that violated the regulations of Circular No. 55/2011/TT-BGDĐT (dated November 22, 2011) of the Ministry of Education and Training on the Charter of Parent-Teacher Associations.

Specifically, parents are required to pay numerous fees not stipulated in the regulations, such as: money for installing Wi-Fi equipment for classrooms, money for organizing graduation ceremonies at the theater, and money for rewarding outstanding students… What's even more concerning is that the budget for many classes clearly states "not mandatory," yet each parent is required to pay an amount totaling over 3.5 million VND per student per semester. At the beginning of last school year, a fourth-grade teacher at CD Primary School (formerly District 1) was suspended from teaching after asking parents for financial assistance to purchase a laptop.

Furthermore, in September 2023, a class at HH Primary School (formerly Binh Thanh District) collected over 300 million VND in class funds to support nannies who served and cleaned up food for students; to buy microphones and speakers for teachers to use in class…

Thus, despite calls for rectification from the authorities, the beginning of the school year is a time when parents complain about the excessive fees collected at the start of the year. When the media intervenes, the principal apologizes, and parents are refunded the money they paid. However, while rectification is done in one class, excessive fees occur in another class or other school. Although these incidents take many forms and involve varying amounts of money, no principal has been disciplined or prosecuted. This is why many principals turn a blind eye, allowing the Parent-Teacher Associations in each class to become an "extension" of the school in collecting fees that are not in accordance with regulations.

To combat the problem of excessive fees, the education sector has now regulated which fees are permitted in schools, as well as the penalties for individuals who violate these regulations. This is a necessary condition, but not sufficient. Without strict penalties for violators, the regulations will only serve as a "slap on the wrist," and excessive fees will continue to recur, becoming increasingly sophisticated.

Therefore, in parallel with establishing inspection teams to monitor revenue and expenditure at the beginning of the school year, the management agency needs to implement stronger measures such as: setting up a hotline to promptly receive feedback from parents; ensuring that information on handling violations by individuals is public and transparent; organizing commendations and rewards for units that perform well, while simultaneously making decisions on transferring or disciplining individuals who violate regulations to set an example throughout the entire sector.

Currently, the education sector is facing many important changes that directly determine the effectiveness of improving the quality of teaching and learning. A series of policies demonstrating the high determination of the Party and State, prioritizing education as a top national priority, include: free tuition for all public school students, a unified set of textbooks nationwide, ensuring two-session schooling per day, and goals to improve learning outcomes, foreign language proficiency, and computer skills for students at all levels... Given limited budget, mobilizing resources from society is necessary, but this can become a "double-edged sword" if implemented without transparency and accountability, leading to a loss of public trust.

THU TAM

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/tri-lam-thu-trong-truong-hoc-post814757.html