When the tuition refund deadline comes, some Apax Leaders parents have it, some don't, some are upset.

Have parents received money?

Exactly 2 months after finalizing the tuition refund plan, Apax Leaders is expected to make the first payment from June 9 to parents in Ho Chi Minh City in group 1. Specifically, these are cases that have confirmed tuition balance, have a refund plan, and are overdue according to previous commitments signed with Apax Leaders representatives.

For this group, Apax Leaders will refund tuition fees in 3 installments via bank accounts, respectively 20% in the first installment and 40% in the next 2 installments. Parents who only need to be refunded less than 5 million in tuition fees will have all of them paid in the first installment.

Parents surrounded Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Apax Leaders, as he read out the tuition refund roadmap.

Confirming with Thanh Nien Newspaper reporter, Mr. HTH (residing in Thu Duc City), representative of the parents' association whose children study at Apax Vo Van Ngan and Apax Le Van Viet (both located in Thu Duc City) need to be refunded a total of about 700 million VND in tuition fees, said that 2/34 members of the association were paid by Apax Leaders as committed as of noon on June 9.

In December 2022, Mr. H.'s parents' association sent a complaint to Thanh Nien Newspaper about Apax Leaders facilities "violating the contract and showing signs of fraud", revolving around 12 contents such as not having books, documents, not checking student results, avoiding teaching obligations, etc. The company's leaders previously acknowledged the mistakes reported by parents and promised to refund tuition fees, but eventually cut off contact.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Tuan (residing in Phu Xuan Ward, Nha Be District), a member of another parents' association, also said that as of late June 9, there were about 20 cases where Apax Leaders had paid 20% of the outstanding tuition fees. "These are parents who have filled out the information in the Apax Leaders form. The company proactively sent this form to each specific parent," Mr. Tuan informed.

Apax Leaders' office in Ho Chi Minh City supports parents' tuition refund requests on April 22.

In some parent groups with nearly a thousand members on social networks, many people also expressed their joy and sent screenshots of the transfer notification from Apax Leaders. However, there were also many parents who said they were in group 1 but had not received the money even though it was the end of the day, and in some cases, the company did not inform them about the tuition refund even though they had received a phone call from the staff promising it beforehand.

Frustrated by being asked for sensitive information

Sharing more about the unreasonable points in the process of Apax Leaders working with parents to refund tuition fees, Mr. Huu Tuan pointed out that the company asked parents to take and send photos of their citizen identification and birth certificate to complete the application, which he said was "inappropriate and easy to get information for bad purposes".

"Apax Leaders also did not publicly announce the list of parents who received tuition refunds, making parents confused about which group they belong to. There may even be a 'blue team' appearing to appease public opinion," said Mr. Tuan.

According to Mr. Tuan, to "please" parents, Apax Leaders should publicize the list of those who are refunded tuition fees along with information about the specific center so that parents can check and compare. In addition, the unit also needs to limit requiring parents to provide personal information online. This can be solved by receiving it directly at the office and parents only need to show their ID card on the spot," Mr. Tuan shared.

Some parents are upset that Apax Leaders requires personal information such as citizen identification card and birth certificate during the tuition refund process, even though these documents were not required when registering for enrollment.

Sharing the same opinion, Ms. Truc, whose child used to study at Apax Nguyen Thi Thap (District 7), was also upset when Apax Leaders at the end of May asked her to submit a photo of her citizen ID and birth certificate to "get money".

"After receiving the message, I asked the company how they would keep this sensitive information confidential, and why they asked for the above two documents when they only needed the child's name when paying. However, they did not answer until today," Ms. Truc wondered.

According to the parent who is waiting for a refund of more than 36 million VND in tuition fees, citizen identification information is extremely important and the authorities have repeatedly warned against sharing related images widely. Therefore, the only information that parents need to provide is their bank account, and Apax Leaders also needs to commit to keeping this information confidential, Ms. Truc acknowledged.

"We have had our money held without interest and our child has missed out on schooling for a long time. At this time, Apax Leaders' obligation is to pay the debt, not to make demands on us," the female parent stated.

Apax Leaders' message to Ms. Truc and the female parent's response to concerns about personal information security

Ms. Truc added: "I am willing to visit the office in Ho Chi Minh City to show Apax Leaders my citizen ID or my child's birth certificate for confirmation. But I cannot ask to take a photo and send it via Zalo like this."

The controversy between Apax Leaders and parents in Ho Chi Minh City began in November 2022, when many parents accused the centers of not ensuring quality and closing without permission, then exploded in early February 2023 because Apax Leaders repeatedly broke their promise to refund tuition fees and then cut off contact. It was not until early April that the company officially finalized a payment schedule with parents.

Previously, the Office of the Ministry of Public Security's Investigation Police Agency in Ho Chi Minh City and the Economic Police Department, Ho Chi Minh City Police received hundreds of complaints from parents against Apax Leaders. On the service information page of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, 40/41 Apax Leaders facilities have also been suspended and have not yet been re-licensed.

Besides group 1, who else will get their tuition refunded and when?

According to Apax Leaders, in addition to group 1, group 2 will be the remaining parents, including confirmed, with or without a roadmap, and unconfirmed. These cases are divided into 5 payment installments, each time 20% is transferred to a bank account. Of which, there are 3 installments in 2023 on October 9, November 20, and December 20, respectively, and 2 installments in 2024 on March 20 and April 20.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/den-hen-hoan-hoc-phi-phu-huynh-apax-leaders-nguoi-co-nguoi-khong-nguoi-buc-xuc-185230609225443502.htm