Parents came to Apax Leaders English system to demand tuition fees paid in 2023. Many parents paid multi-year tuition packages worth tens, even hundreds of millions of dong - Photo: TRONG NHAN
This is the latest directive of the Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee after Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy - General Director of Egroup Corporation, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Apax English Joint Stock Company - was arrested for fraud and property appropriation.
Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training strengthens coordination with departments and branches
The Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has just directed the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training to strengthen coordination with departments and branches in resolving issues related to Apax Leaders English Center.
At the request of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City assigned the Department of Education and Training, relevant departments and branches, People's Committees of districts and Thu Duc City to strengthen coordination in resolving issues related to Apax Leaders English Center; if necessary, report and propose to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City for consideration and resolution.
Previously, on March 29, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City sent a document reporting to the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City on the situation of handling Apax Leaders English centers in the city.
The Department said it promptly discovered the violations of Apax Leaders English Center. The Department's inspectors quickly discovered the violations and imposed administrative penalties (2 penalties in March and May 2023), urging the center to correct the violations.
Dissolved 20 Apax Leaders centers, continue to handle the remaining centers
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training also said that it always accompanies and creates favorable conditions to attract businesses to participate in educational activities in the area, and always creates favorable conditions for foreign language centers to resume operations after the epidemic (including Apax Leaders English Center).
The problem of Apax Leaders English Center is that financial resources and compliance with regulations to ensure educational quality have not been strictly followed, and salaries and social insurance for teachers have not been fully implemented.
The closure and suspension of operations without reporting to the Department of Education and Training caused confusion among parents and students; the use of foreign teachers was not in accordance with regulations (different from the application for permission to resume operations).
On March 25, the Department of Education and Training issued a decision to dissolve 20 Apax Leaders English centers.
With the remaining 19 Apax Leaders foreign language centers, the department is continuing to coordinate with local management agencies to review and assess the actual situation in order to carry out a handling plan in the direction of assessing the level of "serious violations of regulations on management, organization, and operation of foreign language and information technology centers" according to the provisions of Decree 46/2017.
Regarding Apax Leaders 5 and 15 foreign language centers, Apax English Joint Stock Company reported that it will "relocate the premises and reopen in June 2024". The Department of Education and Training is considering suspending educational activities for the two above centers in the direction of "due to objective reasons that do not ensure the normal operation of the center" according to the provisions of Decree 46.
To ensure the legitimate rights and interests of students, the Department of Education and Training will mobilize foreign language centers in the area to support the reception of students of Apax Leaders Foreign Language Center with preferential tuition fees in case these centers do not ensure conditions to continue operating.
The Department of Education and Training also instructed parents to contact relevant authorities to resolve the issue according to their authority. The Department said it will continue to monitor and coordinate to provide information to relevant authorities when requested.
Dozens of Apax Leaders English centers owe more than 100 billion VND
As soon as the incident occurred, after determining the complexity of the incident due to the large scale of the centers in the system (41 centers), the large number of students (11,295 students) and the large amount of money the center still owed (tuition of 93.8 billion VND; salary of teachers and staff until February 2023 is 11.5 billion VND; rental of premises of 9 billion VND), wide scope (16 districts, towns and Thu Duc City), and rapid developments (closing a series of centers in a short period of time), the Department of Education and Training worked directly with the Ho Chi Minh City Police (PA03).
At the same time, the Department of Education and Training also regularly updates the situation to ensure continuous information, ensure security and order in the city and transfer all documents related to Apax Leaders English Center to the investigation agency (PC03).
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