On March 20, many parents of children studying at American International High School (AIS for short) continued to send petitions everywhere asking for a plan to ensure the rights of nearly 3 students studying at the school. school after a series of financial scandals that prevented students from going to school.
Parents no longer believe promises
Mr. PTH (living in Da Kao Ward, District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) said that his family has 3 children all studying at AIS School. Among them, the oldest child graduated 3 years ago, the second child graduated 1 year ago and currently the youngest child is in 7th grade. "To send my 3 children to school, I signed a loan contract with school with a total amount of about 7 billion VND. The contract content clearly states that the school does not collect tuition fees when my children attend school. After the children graduate, within 30 days, the school will refund the capital to the parents. However, it has been 3 years now, the school has promised over and over again but has not yet returned the loan to me," Mr. H. informed.
This is also the common situation of many parents who sign contracts to "borrow money" from the school in the form of raising capital, whereas students can study for free at the school. However, when the students graduated, all parents did not receive the promised return.
Mr. PTH and many other parents have filed a request for help to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, and Ho Chi Minh City Police for intervention and resolution. According to the content of the request for help, the parents asked the authorities to take drastic action because the case showed signs of fraud. In addition, to avoid disruption to students' learning, parents recommended that the authorities closely monitor the school restructuring process, ensuring that the situation of students not being able to go to school is not repeated.
In a notice sent to parents, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut Em, Chairwoman of the AIS School Council, informed: "The school is coordinating closely with investment funds to restructure the school. However, in order for the implementation process to take place professionally and according to market practices, we are required to commit to information security. The school affirms that it will stabilize as soon as possible."
Do not agree to support school transfer
On March 2 and 19, AIS School reopened after a day of temporary closure. However, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut Em, Chairwoman of the School Council, said that the school is open but cannot teach normally because about 20% of teachers have not come to class. The reason is that teachers are owed 3-50 months' salary and insurance. At present, the school is having serious difficulties in raising finances, resulting in it being unable to pay salaries for teachers, staff and operating fees.
On March 20, Mr. Ho Tan Minh, Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City has directed the heads of education and training departments of districts and Thu Duc City, principals of high schools, High schools with many levels of education and schools with foreign investment create favorable conditions for accepting students who want to transfer from American International Middle School to High School, not leaving their studies behind. interruption.
“According to general regulations of the education sector, schools do not allow students to transfer schools in the middle of the school year. However, with the current situation, schools are ready to support solutions to ensure students' learning rights, especially financial issues that are beyond the management authority of the Department of Education and Training", Chief Minister Office of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City said.
In fact, many parents said they do not want to change schools because they have paid full tuition at AIS and do not want to pay additional tuition at the new school.
On March 20, the interdisciplinary team with the participation of relevant departments sent a report to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee for guidance on handling the matter. Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training Nguyen Van Hieu requested non-public schools and foreign-invested schools to separate business and professional activities. Schools only collect tuition for one school year, not multiple years.
THU TAM – THANH HUNG
