At the opening of a new school year, parents of Vietnamese students have to struggle with the huge fees they have to pay. In addition to tuition fees according to state regulations, parents also have to pay additional fees at the request of the school and the parent-student associations, in the name of “voluntary” with a large amount of money, even is huge.
These are amounts such as: parent board funds, money to build and repair school infrastructure, add lights, buy air conditioners, etc. To legalize, many educational establishments have “secret regulations” in the form of “voluntary” collection.
Most recently, on September 29, Dan Tri newspaper had an article “Unable to pay ‘voluntary’ contributions, mother took her child out of public school.” Accordingly, “having to pay many ‘voluntary’ fees in school to the point of fatigue and disgust, Ms. M.D. decided to transfer my child to a private school.”
Public opinion sees that these fees are a burden for many families, especially poor workers. Even though they know that many of the fees are unreasonable, with the fear of affecting their children, many parents still have to close their eyes and borrow at high interest rates to contribute.
After a few years of overcharging, the schools themselves also found it unsightly to collect money from students, so they came up with a countermeasure, which was to ask the parents’ committee to “collect money for” the school. Since letting this parent committee “collect money for them,” collecting money is even more “comfortable” because the principal and the school have absolutely no responsibility. Although everyone knows, how much the parent board wants to collect and what amounts must be collected must be approved and approved by the principal.
Assessing the current situation of overcharging in schools, a retired expert from the Hanoi-based Institute of Educational Sciences, who did not want to be identified, told Thoibao.de: “In recent years, with the policy of socialization of education, widespread overcharging has reached an uncontrollable level. What is worth mentioning is that parent-student associations collect money in the form of campaigns, but it is mandatory.”
This person also added, “Teachers only receive a small amount from the parent-student association fund. The school board of directors benefits the most. Whoever participates in these tasks will benefit. Usually, the school board and accountants and treasurers get the additional fees from students.”
Meanwhile, the policy of the Ministry of Education and school leaders always supports collecting fees from students. They explain that collecting additional fees is necessary, with the purpose of improving the quality of teaching and learning. However, the majority of teachers who are still interested in the cause of “real education” think that this is something that should not be done, because it will worsen the image of the school.
Answering the question of what measures are needed to limit and gradually end the situation of overcharging in schools today, the education expert affirmed:
“Since the 2011-2012 school year, the Ministry of Education has issued regulations prohibiting the collection of “school construction” money and prohibiting the collection of “off-line” money, as well as regulations for student parent representative boards, to prevent abuse of fees in the name of parents’ association. But the situation of overcharging in public schools still cannot be stopped, due to the intention of the school board of directors.”
Talking about the solution, this person affirmed, “It’s extremely simple. It is only necessary to immediately dismiss the principal when verifying that this situation exists in the school under his charge. Just remove one man from office and order will be restored immediately. But unfortunately the superiors did not dare to dismiss him, everyone knows why.”
The issue that public opinion is currently concerned about is that, in reality, the fees are said to be “voluntary“, but if students do not pay as required, the school will cause difficulties and even discipline.
That has made many people skeptical, raising the question: Has the Vietnamese educational environment been turned into a business environment, aimed at profiteering for some individuals in the education sector while students’ parents become their preys.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
