15 fees in a primary school receipt, parents 'shocked'

Gate of Luong The Vinh Primary School, where about 2,500 students are studying in the 2024-2025 school year - Photo: MY DUNG

Over the past month, Tuoi Tre newspaper has received many complaints and petitions from parents of students at Luong The Vinh Primary School about the school's leadership's ambiguity and irregularities in publicly and transparently disclosing the timetable for teaching extracurricular subjects and collecting money.

No public schedule

Students of Luong The Vinh Primary School started the new school year 2024-2025 from September 6. However, many parents in many classes of this school reported that for a long time, from September 6 to September 22 (the time of the parent-teacher meeting), the school did not provide a timetable to parents.

As of September 22, most parents at Luong The Vinh Primary School did not have a timetable. In the photo is a message from a parent to the class representative based on information provided by the homeroom teacher - Photo: PHCC

In many classes, after each school day, students text the teacher to ask "What are we going to learn tomorrow?" and in response, sometimes the teacher can send a quick (one-day) schedule for tomorrow, sometimes she can't, the students just go to school while the parents at home don't know what their children are learning or doing in class.

"From the time school started (August 26) to September 5, I only followed the homeroom teacher's instructions on reviewing lessons, not knowing what subjects to study or what specific lessons to take. But this period of time is considered a "draft" without a schedule, which is still acceptable.

From September 6 to 22, my child's class was not provided with a timetable for going to school. Many parents asked but the teacher kept saying that the school did not have one yet. We were really upset," said Ms. P. - a parent of a 4th grade class at this school.

"5 no" schedule

After September 22, some classes were provided with a timetable by their homeroom teachers, but it was a timetable that only had the subjects of the day, without clear class times and number of periods.

The timetable of a 4th grade student provided by the homeroom teacher to parents only lists the following subjects: Monday: Experiential activities, Vietnamese, Math, Science, Digital transformation, International IT; Wednesday: Vietnamese, Math, Technology, Science, Experiential activities, English, Thinking skills; Friday: Vietnamese, Swimming, Math, Science, IT, Physical education, English...

The timetable of a class at Luong The Vinh Primary School was provided by the teacher after September 22 to parents with 5 no's: no time to enter class, no time for class, no time for recess, no time to end class, no time to leave - Photo: PHCC

"We, the parents, are really confused. We don't know what time our children will study, how long it will be, and what they will do with the subjects they didn't register for with this schedule. I asked the homeroom teacher, but she said the school only has such a schedule," said Mr. N., a parent of this school, indignantly.

Tuoi Tre repeatedly investigated and recorded that at public places where the class schedules were posted on the internal information board (mounted on the ground floor of the stairs leading up to the classrooms) of the school on September 9; September 12; September 16; September 20; September 27; and October 3, there was no schedule for the 2024-2025 school year.

Not only that, on September 16, on the internal information board, the school still posted "2023-2024 school year timetable", causing confusion for students and parents.

According to the revelation of some teachers of the school, the school's leaders sent a report timetable to the Department of Education and Training of Thu Duc City about teaching activities at the school, which was a different timetable from the actual timetable that the homeroom teachers of the classes taught at the school.

"Because the timetable sent to the classroom is different from the homeroom teacher's timetable, the homeroom teacher is not ordered to send the timetable to parents. Because it already includes arrangements for clubs and extra-curricular hours," a teacher informed.

Huge receipts

September 2024 collection notice of a student of Luong The Vinh Primary School with 15 collections, not including 3 collections included in "other collections" - Photo: PHCC

After a period of unclear schedules with parents, Luong The Vinh Primary School recently sent out a bill for tuition, meals, and boarding fees for students in September, leaving many parents "shocked" by the way fees for extracurricular activities are calculated.

In a student's September payment and collection notice, there are 15 receivables (one of which is marked "others").

This parent has to pay a series of fees: life skills education organization; stem education organization, thinking skills club; information technology application and digital transformation; thinking skills education organization... This student's receipt and payment receipt is up to 3,081,000 VND.

The collection and payment notices for September 2024 of Luong The Vinh Primary School students are not the same because many of the fees are for extracurricular subjects, which are elective subjects. Students who do not participate will not have to pay.

This receipt charges for subjects that parents did not register their children for - Photo: PHCC

There are receipts sent to Tuoi Tre with different prices, a student with only 3 extracurricular subjects has a receipt for September of 504,000 VND; another student with more than 6 extracurricular fees has a receipt of more than 2,600,000 VND.

A receipt and payment notice of another student in grade 3 has 12 collection items, including items such as: Stem robotics club, stem education organization; digital citizen activity organization... with a payment of 1,946,000 VND.

"I did not register my child for the Stem Robotics Club and I do not know when my child will study, but the receipt and payment notice includes this subject. Many of the fees in the notice sent to me are not clear, we are really worried about this chaotic collection and payment method at the school," a parent named T. complained.

According to many parents, before September 22 (from September 6 to September 22 for half of September), even though they did not receive a timetable and did not know what their children were studying, in the collection and payment notice for September, students were still charged for the entire month for extracurricular subjects. This is very ambiguous, unreasonable, unfair and shows signs of overcharging.

Checking, requesting explanation

Responding to Tuoi Tre about this incident, Mr. Nguyen Thai Vinh Nguyen - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Thu Duc City - said that he had received a complaint about "the school sending a timetable to the Department of Education and Training that was different from the actual teaching timetable" and was in the process of asking the principal of Luong The Vinh Primary School to explain.

Regarding collecting subjects that parents do not know about, collecting lessons outside of regular school hours before parents are provided with the timetable, and asking for parents' opinions, according to Mr. Nguyen, this is the school's wrongdoing.

"Tuition for extracurricular subjects will be calculated based on the number of hours of study. The school must explain and return all the money it has collected incorrectly," Mr. Nguyen affirmed.

According to Mr. Nguyen, the Thu Duc Department of Education and Training is inspecting and working with Luong The Vinh Primary School to have a basis for handling revenue and expenditure issues. Mr. Nguyen affirmed that he will strictly handle and thoroughly investigate the case, not cover up any violations.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/15-khoan-thu-trong-mot-phieu-thu-cua-truong-tieu-hoc-phu-huynh-nga-ngua-20241009103437264.htm