Khuong Ha School: A series of financial violations and the paradox of teachers "bearing debt" for leaders

Nhan Dan Online Newspaper received many complaints from teachers and parents about the revenue-expenditure irregularities at Khuong Ha Primary, Secondary and High School. Notably, the authorities pointed out the violations, but instead of handling the responsibility of the leaders, the Board of Directors decided to deduct teachers' salaries to remedy the consequences.

The inspection team of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training pointed out a series of violations at Khuong Ha Primary, Secondary and High School.

A series of violations lasting many years

According to the inspection results of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training, Khuong Ha Primary, Secondary and High School committed many systematic violations that lasted for many years, seriously affecting financial transparency and workers' rights.

Specifically, regarding the revenue from extra teaching, extra learning and clubs, the inspection team pointed out: "The school organized extra teaching and extra learning not in accordance with the regulations in Article 5 of Circular No. 17/2012/TT-BGDDT: There was no application from students; there was no plan to organize extra teaching and extra learning; the establishment of extra classes followed the main curriculum; teachers taught subjects according to the main curriculum and also taught extra classes."

“The collection and expenditure of money for extra teaching and learning is not in accordance with the regulations in Decision No. 22/2013/QD-UBND. The collection and expenditure have not been fully and honestly monitored in accounting books and financial reports according to the actual occurrence at the school.”

The actual fee in the past two years far exceeded the regulations: 20,000 VND/period/student for junior high school and 17,500 VND/period/student for high school, while the maximum fee is only 7,000 VND/period/student.

From this difference, the Department concluded that the organization of extra teaching and learning at Khuong Ha School was "not in accordance with regulations", and at the same time required the school to refund the students the illegally collected money along with other remedial measures.

In business cooperation, the inspection team pointed out: the school cooperated with businesses to organize clubs, rent classrooms and campuses for business purposes but did not disclose finances according to Circular 36/2018/TT-BGDDT. The Trade Union, Pedagogical Council and functional departments were not provided with full information on settlement and revenue and expenditure plans.

In addition, many revenue and expenditure activities from clubs, extra-curricular and advanced learning services are not included in the accounting system, leading to "unclear and improper use of revenue sources, violating the Accounting Law and regulations on public asset management".

The school has leased the premises from the 2nd to the 5th floor in building B to Truong Hai International Corporation to serve as an office and accommodation for training students to work abroad.

In terms of financial scale, the amount of money that needs to be refunded or returned to the budget is huge. The report states:

“The total amount of money collected from renting rooms to Truong Hai Company and from car parking services in 3 years is 1,825,000,000 VND... The school leaders, security team and some related individuals were dishonest in providing information and did not provide sufficient related documents.”

The main responsibility lies with the Principal, Vice Principal in charge of facilities, accounting and security team.

Notably, the homeroom teacher directly collected money from students and paid it to the treasurer in cash or transferred it to the treasurer's personal account, leading to a negative cash book, violating the principles of tuition fee management.

The Department's conclusion requires: "Seriously review the responsibilities of the Principal, Vice Principal and related individuals; remedy all financial consequences, and terminate illegal contracts."

Leaders held accountable but teachers' salaries deducted

It is worth mentioning that although the responsibility was clearly stated to belong to the Board of Directors, in July 2025, Khuong Ha School announced that it would deduct the salaries of more than 110 teachers, including overtime pay and welfare, for a period of 12-24 months.

This happened even though there was no Resolution of the Pedagogical Council, no personal agreement, and especially it was not mentioned in the document approving the salary fund for the third quarter of 2025 of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training.

Ms. Ho Thi Xuan Thu, a teacher at the school, reflected: “My salary for the third quarter of 2025 approved by the Department was 12.932 million VND, after deducting insurance, it was 11.8 million. But in reality, I only received more than 7 million, missing nearly 4 million VND. This directly affects the lives of teachers, while the mistake is not ours.”

Another teacher said that more than 2.3 million VND was deducted and worried: "The deduction not only affects income but also makes us lose trust and prestige in the educational environment."

Three professional groups met, made minutes and proposed to the Board of Directors to have a public dialogue, requesting the full payment of basic salary for July 2025 and payment of overtime teaching fees for the 2024-2025 school year for the school's teachers.

“We did nothing wrong and cannot be forced to bear the consequences instead of the leaders. If the salary deduction continues, it will set a bad precedent in the educational environment,” a teacher emphasized.

Another point of concern is that the support that teachers received during the 2021-2024 period (Covid-19 support, salary delay, summer support) were all taken from legitimate welfare funds. If the school now believes that these funds came from the wrong source and need to be recovered, the question is: where did the money for renting facilities and other sources of income actually go?

Parents also expressed concern. One parent shared: “The school had collected the wrong tuition fees, and we are still waiting for the school to refund the amount collected in excess of the regulations. But instead of returning it to the students, I heard that the teachers had their salaries deducted to correct the mistake. So where is the deducted money now? Has it really been refunded to the parents?”

Document No. 2194 dated June 16, 2025 of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training requested Khuong Ha School to urgently correct violations.

On June 16, 2025, the Hanoi Department of Education and Training issued a third document requesting Khuong Ha School to urgently correct the violations, emphasizing that Principal Nguyen Phuong Lien was the person primarily responsible. However, up to now, the handling has not been thorough, and even resulted in unauthorized deductions of teachers' salaries.

Signs of abuse of power?

Lawyer Hoang Thi Oanh (Hanoi Bar Association) said that deducting teachers' collective salaries, while they have not been found guilty of wrongdoing, is illegal: "The salaries and legal incomes of civil servants are property rights protected by law. Any form of deduction can only be made when there is a decision to handle specific individual responsibilities. 'Dividing' financial responsibility equally among the entire group of teachers, those who do not participate in signing business contracts or are in charge of finances, is illegal and goes against the principle of fairness," lawyer Oanh emphasized.

The lawyer added: The Law on Public Employees and Decree 112/2020/ND-CP on disciplinary action against public employees do not stipulate the form of disciplinary action by collective salary deduction. According to the legal principle of public service responsibility, only those who directly cause damage must compensate or reimburse, and cannot be collectively and baselessly held responsible. The lawyer also warned that if school leaders deliberately impose decisions contrary to regulations causing serious damage to teachers, the prosecuting agency may consider it in the group of crimes related to positions according to the 2015 Penal Code (amended in 2017, Articles 356 and 357), based on the nature, extent and specific consequences.

A parent frankly said: “We cannot let teachers or parents bear the burden of wrong decisions from the leadership. What we need now is a transparent answer: Who is specifically responsible, and when will students be fully reimbursed for the illegal fees?”

Khuong Ha Primary, Secondary and High School rented rooms to a business and collected a total of VND 1,825,000,000 from car parking services in 3 years, which is not in accordance with regulations.

Internal audit documents and minutes clearly show the shortcomings in the management of the school board: lack of financial transparency, failure to consult the collective before making decisions directly related to teachers’ rights, and delays and reactiveness in correcting violations. Instead of admitting responsibility, the principal cited the reasons of “voluntary”, “serving educational goals”, and even blamed budget difficulties and the pandemic.

In that context, parents, teachers and experts recommend that the school immediately return the amount of money that was wrongly deducted to teachers; publicly and transparently disclose all financial revenues and expenditures, especially those from extra classes, clubs and facility rentals; and clarify the personal responsibilities of the Principal and related staff. If there are signs of criminal violations, the case must be transferred to the investigation agency for handling according to regulations.

The question “Who will restore the legitimate rights of teachers, who only want to devote themselves to teaching?” still awaits an answer. Clearly, this is not only an internal affair of a school, but also a test of discipline and transparency in the public education system.

Readers who have comments or information related to the incident, please send them to the email address: bandocbaonhandan@gmail.com. Nhan Dan Online Newspaper will continue to monitor, report to the authorities and promptly update the results of handling and correcting violations at Khuong Ha Primary, Secondary and High School.

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Source: https://nhandan.vn/truong-khuong-ha-hang-loat-sai-pham-tai-chinh-va-nghich-ly-giao-vien-ganh-no-cho-lanh-dao-post902910.html