The policy of exempting tuition fees for students from kindergarten to high school in public humanities reflects the commitment of the Party and State to improving the quality of education.
Starting from the 2025-2026 school year, all tuition fees will be exempted for public students from kindergarten to high school nationwide. This important decision was made by the Politburo at the meeting on February 28, when reviewing and evaluating the initial results of the implementation of Resolution 18 of the Central Committee on continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined and operate effectively and efficiently.
Ensuring equity in education
The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) said that there are currently 10 provinces/cities that exempt preschool and general education fees for the 2024-2025 school year, namely Vinh Phuc, Quang Ninh, Hai Phong, Yen Bai, Quang Nam, Khanh Hoa, Da Nang, Ba Ria - Vung Tau, Binh Duong, and Long An. However, many students and families in other localities still have to pay tuition fees.
To demonstrate the superiority of the regime and the policy of ensuring fairness in access to education, "leaving no one behind", the Ministry of Education and Training has proposed that the Politburo and the Government Party Committee consider a policy of exempting tuition fees for students from preschool to general education.
According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the Government has issued regulations on tuition exemption for students. Specifically, from September 1, 2025, the State will exempt tuition fees for all public students from 5-year-old kindergarten to secondary school (grade 9). In addition, the Government has also issued a policy of reducing 50% - 70% of tuition fees, supporting study costs for many poor students, students in difficult circumstances, students under social policy, ethnic minority students (studying in public and private schools).
Public school students nationwide will be exempted from tuition fees from the 2025-2026 school year. Photo: THAO NGUYEN
In addition to the subjects exempted from tuition fees according to the current regulations mentioned above, the Ministry of Education and Training also proposed and received approval from the Politburo to exempt tuition fees for preschool students from 3 months to 4 years old and general education students. Accordingly, all preschool students, primary school students, secondary school students and public high school students will be exempted from tuition fees. Students of private schools will be compensated for tuition fees equal to the tuition fees of public schools according to the provisions of law; the difference in tuition fees between public and private schools will be paid by the student's family.
30,000 billion VND free tuition
Based on reports from 46 provinces/cities directly under the central government and recent documents and reports, the Ministry of Education and Training based on the minimum tuition fee according to current regulations to estimate the state budget funding needed to implement tuition exemption for all public students from kindergarten to high school.
Currently, the country has 23.2 million students (not including students studying at vocational education and continuing education centers), including: 3.1 million preschool students under 5 years old; 1.7 million preschool students 5 years old; 8.9 million primary school students; 6.5 million secondary school students and 3 million high school students.
Accordingly, the state budget needs to be paid is about 30,000 billion VND (if deducting the local budgets of provinces/cities that have implemented tuition exemption, the central budget must implement less than this amount). In fact, the budget level that needs to be guaranteed will depend on the specific tuition level of each province/city directly under the central government under the authority of the provincial People's Council to decide on the basis of the Government's regulations on the floor and ceiling tuition levels.
The Ministry of Education and Training assessed that tuition fees affect most families and are a matter of public concern every time a new school year begins. Expanding the scope of tuition exemptions affects the balance of the state budget. In addition, exemption of tuition fees for high school students (grades 10 to 12) may affect the orientation of student streams after junior high school in choosing to study in high school or choosing vocational training. However, if the tuition exemption policy is implemented for all preschool to high school students nationwide, this will contribute significantly to improving the quality of education, receiving high consensus from society, in line with the superiority of the regime; the Party and State's policies on education and in line with the general trend of developed countries.
Great!
Ms. Phan Hoai Giang, a parent whose child is studying at Phan Dinh Phung High School (Hanoi), said the decision to exempt tuition fees for public school students is "wonderful". "The amount of money may not be large for those who can afford it, but for the majority of workers or the poor, the tuition exemption policy is very meaningful," Ms. Giang commented.
Meanwhile, the principal of a secondary school in Cau Giay District, Hanoi, said that this is really good news for parents nationwide as well as for private schools. According to this principal, previously, the tuition exemption policy was implemented by some localities but only in the scope of public schools, there was no policy for private schools. In fact, due to the lack of public schools, many parents had to send their children to private schools with higher tuition fees and contributions than public schools.
"The regulation that students of private schools are subsidized tuition fees equal to those of public schools will also help families reduce some of the financial burden of having to pay high tuition fees," the principal said.
Dr. of Education NGUYEN HOANG CHUONG:
School returns in the true sense
The news that the Politburo agreed with the proposal of the Ministry of Education and Training to exempt tuition fees from kindergarten to high school in public schools from the next school year really delighted the people.
For the first time in the past 20 years, there has been a policy of free tuition for all levels of education. This is a very humane policy to spread positive things throughout society, demonstrating the Party and State's understanding and sharing of difficulties with the people.
With this tuition-free policy, schools are gradually returning to their true meaning with the saying "Learning first" - students come to school to be educated, to learn, not to be objects to collect money; at the same time, creating more positive energy for teachers.
With such a humane policy from the Party and the State, how will each teacher change? Circular 29/2024 of the Ministry of Education and Training on extra teaching and learning stipulates that teachers are not allowed to collect money from the students they teach, and teachers are, to a certain extent, returned to their natural calling as teachers.
From those beautiful, positive things, energy will spread to every other corner of life, spread to other professions.
Exempting tuition fees means that the state budget will shoulder the burden, which means that the contribution to schools has been greatly reduced. When tuition fees are exempted, if the school wants to organize more educational activities, it should only balance how to make the revenue cover the expenses, not use students as the subject to pay this or that.
As a social security and education promotion solution of great significance, in my opinion, the policy of free tuition contributes to creating good things in schools. And each school, through specific solutions, needs to spread these values.
Ms. NGUYEN THI NHAT HANG, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Binh Duong province:
Empowering migrant workers
Previously, when there was information that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council passed a resolution to exempt tuition fees for students from kindergarten to high school from September 2025, the leaders of Binh Duong province directed the Department of Education and Training to study this method.
The Politburo's decision to issue the above decision is very humane, especially for a densely populated locality like Binh Duong (nearly 3 million people), where migrant workers account for about 70%.
The lives of workers and laborers are still difficult. Therefore, exempting students from tuition fees will help them reduce some of their expenses, help them stay in Binh Duong and motivate their children to go to school and study better.
D.Trinh - Ng.Thao recorded
Source: https://nld.com.vn/mien-hoc-phi-cho-hoc-sinh-cong-lap-196250228225158723.htm
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