English center director disappears, 'holding' billions of dong from parents

Each parent pays tens of millions of dong.

On the afternoon of June 16, many parents whose children study at the Australian English Center, Le Van Viet campus (Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City) brought banners to the center, claiming that the center is a scam. They hope that the authorities will soon intervene to restore the parents' trust.

Currently, the two parent groups of the Australian English Center on Zalo have up to hundreds of people. Of which, the group studying at the Australian English Center at Le Van Viet (Thu Duc City) has more than 200 people. The group studying at the Australian English Center at Kha Van Can (Thu Duc City) has more than 500 people.

About 200 parents have counted the amount of money they have paid to the Australian English Center, which is more than 5 billion VND. It is expected that the amount will be higher if parents count it fully. Hundreds of receipts from the Center for parents have also been collected by them to send to the authorities.

Ms. D.TP (Long Truong - Thu Duc) who has two children studying at Le Van Viet Center said that she paid for one child to study from 2023 with a tuition fee of 28 million VND for 2 years. When the old course had not ended, the center urged her to pay for a new course for her child. Thinking that her child would study for a long time and continuously, at the end of December 2024, Ms. P. paid 40 million VND for the new course. "My child is still studying the old course, and the new course of 40 million VND has not attended any sessions. In addition, another child has just been paid 28 million VND by me but has only attended a few sessions," Ms. P said and hoped that the authorities would soon intervene to regain the rights of the parents.

Mr. Huy, a parent, said that 8 days ago, he registered his child for a 3-year Kid 1-Kid 6 English course at the Australian English Center. He transferred 31 million VND in tuition. After he registered and paid the tuition, the center committed to organizing the class on schedule. However, the center has now suddenly closed, the director and staff cannot be contacted, and the signboard has also been removed. “I and many other parents have not received any notice or refunded tuition. This is a sign of absconding, I will file a complaint with the authorities,” said Mr. Huy.

In the application sent to the authorities, Ms. Huyen (Phuoc Long B) stated that she registered her child to study English for IELTS on August 12, 2024 at the Australian English Center, Le Van Viet campus for 18 months. On the same day, she transferred more than 32 million VND to the center. Up to now, her child has studied for 10 months, then the center suddenly closed, the director disappeared, making her worried.

According to preliminary statistics from parents, hundreds of people pay to the Australian English Center with an average amount of 30-50 million VND/person, some up to 70-80 million for a 2-3 year course. Specifically, Ms. Phuong Thanh 31 million, Ms. Ai Thuy 36 million, Ms. Thuy Kieu 46.8 million, Ms. Thanh Hoa 40 million, Ms. Tuyet Lan 44 million...

Parents petition to the Department of Education and Training Inspectorate

Today, the representative of the parents of the Le Van Viet Australian English Center worked with the Inspector of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City. Here, the group of parents reported on the fraudulent appropriation of property of this center. The group of parents stated that the Le Van Viet Australian English Center had collected tuition fees from parents with the commitment to organize English courses. However, after collecting the money, the center did not organize classes, did not have teachers, did not refund tuition fees as committed in the contract, and showed signs of absconding.

"We asked the center to refund the tuition fee but received no response, and they delayed, refused, blocked contact, and showed signs of property appropriation," said a representative of the parent group.

According to the group of parents, this is an organized act, showing signs of violating the law. The parents have reported the incident to the local police station. They requested the Department of Education and Training Inspectorate to quickly investigate the incident and handle it according to the law.

The group of parents provided evidence such as a complaint and authorization to report the fraudulent appropriation of parents' property, a 10-page A4 summary table of the amount of money parents paid to the Australian English Center. The Inspectorate of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City recorded the content of the parents' reflection and will submit it to the leaders for consideration.

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/trung-tam-anh-ngu-co-giam-doc-bien-mat-om-hang-ty-dong-cua-phu-huynh-2401858.html