Keep tuition stable for the new school year

Reporter: Could you please tell us about the tuition fees that will be implemented from the upcoming new school year in Ho Chi Minh City?

- Mr. HO TAN MINH: The 17th session of the 10th term Ho Chi Minh City People's Council recently passed a Resolution regulating tuition fees and other fees, collection levels, revenue and expenditure management mechanisms for services serving and supporting educational activities of public educational institutions in the 2024-2025 school year and subsequent school years in the area.

The tuition fees for primary school level stipulated in this resolution will serve as the basis for implementing the policy of supporting tuition fees for private primary school students in areas where there are no public primary schools and private primary school students who are eligible for tuition exemption and reduction policies according to regulations.

5-year-old preschool children are exempted from tuition fees from the 2024-2025 school year (from September 1, 2024). Secondary school students are exempted from tuition fees from the 2025-2026 school year (from September 1, 2025). The tuition fee for online learning is 50% of the tuition fee of public educational institutions that have been issued. The tuition fee at public preschool and general education institutions that self-finance regular expenses is established by the unit based on economic-technical norms and cost norms, and submitted to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee for consideration and approval by the City People's Council.

Continuing education institutions and other training institutions implementing the 2018 General Education Program shall apply tuition fees equivalent to those of public general education institutions of the same level in the area.

Could you elaborate on service fees? Why is the boarding fee not mentioned in the resolution even though parents have recently proposed increasing this fee?

- The Resolution of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council recently passed also stipulates the revenues, collection levels, and revenue and expenditure management mechanisms for services serving and supporting educational activities - replacing Resolution 04 of 2023. Accordingly, the new resolution has some different contents compared to Resolution 04 of the previous school year, such as adjusting the names of revenues starting with "services..." to comply with regulations and issuing authority; adjusting the list from 26 revenues to 9 revenues...

Students of Vinh Hoi Primary School (District 4, Ho Chi Minh City) in an after-school class. Photo: PHUONG QUYNH

The fees applicable for the 2024-2025 school year are as follows: Add the cost of air conditioner rental to the fee for "air conditioner usage service for classrooms with air conditioners", increase the maximum fee from VND 50,000 to VND 110,000/student/month. Specifically, the maximum fee is VND 50,000/student/month for classes already equipped with air conditioners and a maximum of VND 110,000/student/month for classes that need to use but do not have air conditioners and must rent. The reference rental price is VND 1,320,000/machine/month, 1 class equipped with 2 machines, 45 students/class, tentatively estimated at VND 60,000/student/month. In addition, adjust "preschool education organization fee in the summer" to "after-hours care and nurturing service" (including babysitting service during holidays, excluding holidays and Tet, excluding meals), with a collection rate of 128,000 VND/student/day.

According to Decree 81/2021 of the Government, for the collection of boarding lunches and other collections not specified in the Resolution of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, educational institutions shall base on the actual situation, material conditions and needs of students to develop revenue and expenditure estimates for each content. This estimate will serve as the basis for calculating specific revenue levels, ensuring the principle of sufficient revenue and sufficient expenditure, consistent with the actual situation of the school year and the rate of increase in revenue (if any) not exceeding 15% compared to the 2023-2024 school year. Revenues and collection levels must be agreed upon by educational institutions with parents; with opinions from the People's Committees of districts, towns and the Department of Education and Training according to the management hierarchy.

Tuition fees have remained stable for many years, and in fact have decreased significantly because students enjoy other support policies. How does the HCM City Department of Education and Training evaluate the impact of this policy?

- The fact that Ho Chi Minh City regulates tuition fees as above brings positive results. That is, parents and students do not have to bear the burden of increasing tuition fees in case the city budget no longer supports; ensuring that no student due to difficult conditions cannot go to school.

Regarding the issuance of regulations on service fees, this is the basis for schools to implement public and transparent fees. The organization and implementation of fees in schools is unified; improving the effectiveness of management and supervision of management agencies. Parents and society also have a basis for comparison and participation in monitoring the organization of educational activities of schools in terms of both content and costs, avoiding overcharging and causing public outrage.

However, adjusting the tuition fee for the 2024-2025 school year back to the tuition fee issued in the 2021-2022 school year will reduce the revenue of schools, affecting the level of financial autonomy to ensure regular expenditures that the units have built and been assigned the authority for the period 2023-2025. This may lead to the need to adjust the financial autonomy plan, classification of autonomy and the level of state budget support for units due to reduced revenue; leading to a decrease in year-end savings and additional income from year-end savings, affecting the operating costs of the unit, the quality of educational activities and the income of employees.

If tuition fees are not increased, how will "extra fees" and service charges be controlled to avoid overcharging, sir?

- The Ho Chi Minh City People's Council issued a Resolution regulating the collection and collection levels, and the revenue and expenditure management mechanism for services serving and supporting educational activities in order to create a legal corridor and unify the collection levels of services serving and supporting educational activities other than tuition fees at public educational institutions in the area. This is also the basis for schools to implement the collection in accordance with regulations. However, in the implementation process, there may still be some units that have not researched carefully and have not implemented the policies and regulations correctly.

At the beginning of the school year, the People's Committees of districts, Thu Duc City and the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City will organize inspection teams to inspect revenue and expenditure management; and facilities management to promptly detect and correct the situation of "overcharging" of educational institutions. In particular, special attention will be paid to publicity and transparency so that parents and people can participate in monitoring with state management agencies; ensuring that tuition fees are commensurate with the quality of services provided to students.

Tuition fees are divided into 2 groups of subjects.

Group 1: Students at schools in Thu Duc City and districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, Go Vap, Tan Binh, Tan Phu, Binh Tan. Group 2: Students at schools in districts Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Cu Chi, Nha Be and Can Gio.

Tuition fees from the 2024-2025 school year for public preschool and general education institutions that are not self-sufficient in regular expenditures are as follows:

Source: https://nld.com.vn/giu-on-dinh-hoc-phi-nam-hoc-moi-196240804215131572.htm