Before Australia, a series of English centers also suddenly closed, with tuition debt.

In recent years, many parents have been devastated by the situation where many English center systems with dozens of facilities suddenly closed and cut off contact while still holding billions of dollars in tuition fees.

A facility of the Australian English Center system in Ho Chi Minh City

PHOTO: NGOC LONG

Australian System: "Repaired" and then Disappeared

In recent days, hundreds of parents whose children are studying at the Australian English System (AIES) facilities were upset when they heard that the system suddenly closed all centers in Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong , Dong Nai, Khanh Hoa and cut off contact for a whole week. Preliminary statistics of Thanh Nien based on reports and documents compiled from parents show that the total tuition fees that parents of the two AIES facilities in Ho Chi Minh City have paid is at least 7.7 billion VND.

The "collapse" of the AIES system, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, has left many people unprepared because these centers had been operating for more than a decade and many parents had sent their children to study there for that long. As Thanh Nien reported, some of these parents paid about a hundred million VND, while the rest usually paid 30-40 million VND for 2-3 years of study, all stemming from the trust in the reputation and seniority of the facilities.

The AIES system incident began last week, when the centers said they would temporarily suspend operations for a week, starting on May 8, for "system-wide repairs", citing that the facilities had been affected after the weather had "widespread heavy rain". However, by noon on May 8, many employees had been unable to contact Mr. Ho Dang Duy, Director of the AIES system, and this has continued until now.

Based on the above facts, the group of employees sent a letter to parents on May 14, stating that they "could not contact the director" and that "all employee login accounts had been deleted". By May 15, the group of employees announced that they were owed wages and "regretfully did not know exactly whether the center could continue to operate or not" and added that they had reported the incident to the police.

Parents whose children study at the Australian center system gathered to compile reports and denunciations and send them to the police on May 15.

PHOTO: NGOC LONG

It is known that the AIES system belongs to Duy Khang Education and Training Company Limited, with Mr. Ho Dang Duy as director since its inception in 2007. The company's headquarters is located at 182-184-186 Le Van Viet (Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City), which is also the address of the AIES Le Van Viet facility. Currently, all 5 AIES centers are closed, according to Thanh Nien 's actual records and shares from parents and readers.

Apax Leaders System: Leaders were arrested and detained

This is not the first time an English center system has suddenly closed and cut off contact. About a year ago, public opinion was also stirred by the news that Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy (Shark Thuy), Chairman of EGroup Corporation and General Director of Apax English Joint Stock Company (Apax Leaders), had been prosecuted and temporarily detained for investigation of fraud after a long time being involved in the tuition fee scandal at Apax Leaders.

Apax Leaders system officially entered the English teaching market in Vietnam and quickly rose to the top position thanks to the trick of using 100% foreign teachers and thoroughly applying technology. At its peak, Apax Leaders had a system of 130 ESL and IELTS English teaching centers spread across more than 32 provinces and cities nationwide with tens of thousands of students.

However, since the Covid-19 pandemic, this unit has continuously closed centers and then started to have tuition debt scandals with parents, the earliest from the end of 2022 and blossoming in late 2023. Thanh Nien also received a petition for help from a number of parent associations about the system not refunding billions of dong in tuition fees as committed after closing the centers. However, the Apax Leaders leadership at that time avoided and did not respond to parents and the press.

By mid-February 2023, under pressure from public opinion, Apax Leaders officially resumed contact with Thanh Nien and parents. Since then, the system has continuously held many meetings with parents, both online and in person, each time promising different methods and times for refunding tuition fees. However, the truth proves that the commitments made by Apax Leaders' leaders were all empty promises when only refunding tuition fees to a small group of parents.

An Apax Leaders English center when it was still in operation

PHOTO: NGOC LONG

By mid-March 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training informed that Apax Leaders had to refund a total of about 108 billion VND in tuition fees to parents in Ho Chi Minh City. Of which, this unit had paid 14.2 billion VND, owing 93.8 billion VND. Regarding the above debt, Apax Leaders proposed to pay in 2025, paying 4 billion VND each quarter, dividing the amount equally among parents until completion, and the remaining debt would be transferred to 2026. This promise was never fulfilled.

Regarding the ecosystem of Egroup Corporation run by Shark Thuy, English centers belonging to the Englishnow system were also accused by parents of suddenly stopping teaching and not refunding tuition fees despite having signed a commitment to refund by the end of 2022.

SAS and Pixar Systems: Director Accused of Absconding

In 2021, Thanh Nien also received feedback from students of the New Generation English Center System (SAS), accusing Mr. Do Van Quan, CEO of Master English Education Company Limited (the owner of the SAS system), of "taking" the money and running away and could not be contacted in any way, and at the same time, these centers also announced a sudden cessation of operations.

According to our research, the SAS system used to have nearly 70 centers spread across many provinces and cities, including 23 centers in Ho Chi Minh City. Responding to the press at that time, a representative of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training said that before the Department could not contact Mr. Quan, he had explained that the Covid-19 outbreak had affected the system's operations and revenue, so it could not pay teachers and staff and would switch to online learning.

Not only the SAS system, at that time Thanh Nien also received feedback from parents whose children registered to study at the Dai Ky Nguyen English Center system (Pixar). This system has 3 centers in Ho Chi Minh City, but according to parents, all of them closed after the locality stopped social distancing due to Covid-19. Many parents suspected that the owner of this system had signs of absconding and did not want to refund the tuition.

A facility of the SAS English center system in Ho Chi Minh City, 2021

PHOTO: DANG NGUYEN

A few days later, Mr. Vu Van Bao Ngoc, Director of Pixar Education Consulting LLC (the owner of the Pixar system), held a dialogue with about 20 parents, promising to find a solution but did not reach a consensus with most parents. By early 2022, the director of this unit suddenly "disappeared" and the centers also removed their signs and stopped operating until now.

In addition to the above names, many other English centers across the country have also been accused by parents of suddenly closing and cutting off contact, such as iSpeaking (with a total of 10 facilities in Hanoi ), Eagle English (opening many centers in Hanoi that are said to operate without a license), EUC (with facilities in Hue and Ho Chi Minh City)... All of which took place during the years when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out nationwide.

Meanwhile, according to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, nearly 80% of foreign language centers in Ho Chi Minh City will have to temporarily close, stop operating or even dissolve in 2022 due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic. Of which, most of the foreign language centers that "disappeared" in Ho Chi Minh City at that time were not licensed to operate education, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/truoc-uc-chau-hang-loat-trung-tam-tieng-anh-cung-dot-ngot-dong-cua-no-hoc-phi-185250517132130982.htm