Cannot prolong 'measured eating' solution

SUPPORT FOR MAINTAINING LEARNING

On April 4, students of AISVN International School returned to school after a period of interruption due to unpaid salaries of teachers. To do this, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City established a joint bank account between the Department of Education and Training, the school, and parents, with financial contributions from parents, when after the meeting on March 30, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut Em, Chairwoman of the School Board, proposed to support 125 billion VND to maintain operations.

Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training deploys solutions to ensure learning rights for students of AISVN International School

Mr. Tran Khac Huy, Head of the Financial Planning Department of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, said that from April 2 to the afternoon of April 15, parents contributed about 30.5 billion VND in support. Currently, the salary payments for January and February, and the advance payment for March calculated based on actual working days of foreign teachers and Vietnamese teachers and staff, along with operating costs such as electricity, shuttle bus, etc. have been made. Mr. Huy said that after completing the above payments, the balance of the parents' support account will be about 3 billion VND.

Faced with the fact that the amount of money parents contribute cannot prolong the learning of all students, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training requires schools to develop online teaching plans and send an open letter to all parents calling for their cooperation, consensus and contribution to support the school's educational activities, so that students' learning in the last months of the 2023-2024 school year is not interrupted.

The issue of maintaining learning for educational purposes is the responsibility of the state; The issue of investment and borrowing between schools and parents is an investment and business relationship, which will be resolved as a normal business and civil relationship, outside the responsibility of educational management.

Lawyer Nguyen Thanh Huan

In the current situation, the Board of Directors of AISVN International School has requested and received approval from the International Baccalaureate (IB) organization as well as consultation from the Department of Education and Training to plan to end the 2023-2024 school year about 1 month earlier to ensure stability. Therefore, students from Discovery to Grade 11 will complete their study program on April 26; Grade 12 students will continue to attend school to take the IB exam as planned until May 17.

With the parents' contribution, foreign teachers have received their full February salary and an advance for March, based on actual working days. However, last week, a teacher sent an email to the parents of the students in his class and announced that he would not continue teaching because "the situation has not improved and seems unstable due to some payments not having enough money".

SCHOOL MAY BE SUSPENDED OR DISSOLVED

Teachers at AISVN International School went on strike in the middle of the school year. Therefore, all attention was immediately focused on solving the "study problem" of students. A temporary solution was to ask parents to contribute 125 billion VND to maintain teaching and learning until the end of the school year. However, according to experts, this contribution is not a mandatory obligation of parents. This is a "meal-and-drink" solution, calling for voluntary cooperation to solve the urgent situation. To solve the problem at its root, it is necessary to follow the provisions of the law.

According to lawyer Nguyen Thanh Huan, Director of Law Firm 11, when there is not enough funding to maintain teaching and learning, according to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 49 and Article 50 of the Law on Education, the school will be suspended from educational activities. The period of suspension of educational activities is for the school to handle and remedy the causes. If the suspension period expires and the causes are not remedied, the school will be dissolved according to the provisions of Point b, Clause 2, Article 51 of this Law.

Due to lack of funds to extend teaching and learning, except for grade 12, students in other grades will complete the program on April 26.

NEED TO DIFFERENTIATE 2 ISSUES

Thus, according to lawyer Huan, at this time the responsibility of the state management agency is focused on the educational goal, not on resolving the financial relationship between the school and parents. The decision to dissolve must include measures to ensure the rights and interests of teachers, educational administrators, students, and employees in the school.

In its advisory and support role for the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, the Department of Education and Training has connected 7 international schools and the public school system to be ready to receive all students of AISVN International School. Thus, the most important issue of solving the place for students to study has been resolved. There are many options for parents so that their children's education is not interrupted, suitable for many needs and conditions. The rights of teachers and employees will be resolved as the regime of employees at companies and enterprises according to the Labor Law, the Social Insurance Law, and the Bankruptcy Law.

Thus, the legal corridor clearly separates the two issues. "The issue of maintaining learning for educational purposes is the responsibility of the state; The issue of investment and borrowing between schools and parents is an investment and business relationship, which will be resolved as a normal business and civil relationship, outside the responsibility of educational management", the Director of Law Firm 11 cited.

According to lawyer Nguyen Thanh Huan, restructuring, converting loans into shares, funding to restore operations, bankrupting the enterprise or other solutions are matters of negotiation between the school and parents, beyond the responsibility of the education management agency. If negotiations fail, the parties will have legal solutions to protect their rights. It is possible to file a lawsuit in court or report the dispute if there are sufficient signs of a crime.

Comprehensive inspection of American International Education Joint Stock Company and AISVN International School

In addition to assigning the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training to quickly implement solutions to ensure the learning rights of students and prevent their learning from being interrupted, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee assigned the Department of Education and Training to suspend enrollment in the 2024-2025 school year for AISVN International School based on regulations until the investor has resolved all financial and personnel issues and stabilized the organization of educational activities. Suspend the operation of AISVN International School if it fails to resolve financial and personnel issues according to regulations.

The City Government assigned the City Inspectorate to conduct a comprehensive inspection of American International Education Joint Stock Company and AISVN International School to clearly and fully identify related issues and take measures to handle them according to regulations.

The Department of Education and Training supports operations, not replacing the operating investor.

On April 14, in a letter sent to teachers of AISVN International School, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training stated that in March, when it learned of the incident, the Department of Education and Training "organized the first meeting with teachers to confirm that we came to support teachers and ensure the best conditions for students to return to school. An account was set up to mobilize parents' contributions and the Department of Education and Training only supervised the payment of necessary amounts so that teachers and staff of AISVN School could operate until the end of the school year".

At the same time, the Department of Education and Training affirmed: "We supervise, not the account owner. Our task is to supervise the school's salary payment to the right subjects and the right amount."

In addition, the Department of Education and Training wants to clarify: "Here, we are looking for a solution to help the school return to normal operations to finish the school year without affecting the students' learning process, but we are not replacing the investor in running the school. We monitor and require the investor to do things to ensure conditions for teachers and staff."

For that reason, the Department of Education and Training affirmed that "the account contributed by parents is to help maintain students' learning until the end of the school year, this account is not used to pay off the debt on behalf of the AISVN school owner".

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