Need to replicate the tuition exemption model in many localities

In the 2023-2024 school year, many provinces and cities will apply a tuition-free policy for high school students, such as Quang Binh, Can Tho City, Da Nang City, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Province, Quang Ninh Province, Bac Kan Province, and Hai Phong City. Each province and city has a policy suitable to its own conditions.

It is commendable that poor provinces such as Quang Binh and Bac Kan have arranged budgets and reduced tuition fees, which shows that the application of tuition fee reduction and exemption policies can be expanded to many other localities.

need to expand the tuition exemption model to many localities picture 1 — Tuition is free but overcharging at the beginning of the year must be avoided (illustrative photo - internet source).

Commenting on this issue, Mr. Le Nhu Tien, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education, said that this is a good policy and needs to be further expanded.

According to Mr. Le Nhu Tien, currently, for general education, many countries in the world have completely exempted tuition fees, and many countries are implementing the exemption according to a roadmap. Like our country, the roadmap will exempt preschool, primary, secondary and high school.

“The entire general education system in many countries in Europe and Northern Europe has been tuition-free for a long time. Tuition-free is right, it should be done, and there needs to be unity throughout the country,” Mr. Le Nhu Tien emphasized.

According to this person, the lack of consistency in policies, one province exempting another, will not be suitable. "If one province exempts and another does not exempt, in the end, people will look at each other with difficulty" - Mr. Le Nhu Tien analyzed.

In particular, according to Mr. Le Nhu Tien, provinces with favorable conditions such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Duong, Da Nang... and some cities with high GDP should exempt tuition fees early and comprehensively for students. "It is necessary to do it sooner because this is the right thing to do " - the former Deputy Head of the Committee for Culture and Education emphasized.

Also according to Mr. Le Nhu Tien: “I support free tuition, education and training is a national policy, the state has spent 20% of the regular budget on training, so the locality must shoulder the state budget. In addition to equipment, tuition is very important. Poor families, they will have a lot of difficulties if they have 2 to 3 children going to school together”.

Besides exempting tuition fees, Mr. Le Nhu Tien is worried that if the school charges too much, then exempting or reducing tuition fees will no longer be meaningful.

Accordingly, while many provinces and places exempt tuition fees, some educational institutions charge extra fees at the beginning of the year, causing further difficulties for parents and students.

Therefore, when exempting tuition fees, it is important not to overcharge parents. If you exempt 100,000 VND but collect an additional million, the exemption does not make much sense.

“It is necessary to strictly handle the problem of overcharging and overcharging parents. Only when overcharging is handled will the tuition fee exemption and reduction policy bring many positive meanings,” Mr. Le Nhu Tien emphasized.

Source