Parents of 1,400 students at American International School AISVN continue to call for help

According to parents, since 2012, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut Em (born in 1963, residing in District 3) has been the legal representative (Chairwoman of the School Board) of the American International School System AISVN (including American International Primary, Secondary and High Schools; under the American International Education Joint Stock Company AIS, located at 220 Nguyen Van Tao, Long Thoi Commune, Nha Be District, Ho Chi Minh City) and has signed many payment contracts with parents such as: Capital contribution contracts, Refundable tuition contracts, Non-refundable tuition contracts, Full-course tuition contracts... for the purpose of recruiting students and mobilizing capital from parents.

The scandal of American International School AISVN has lasted for many years, and CAND Newspaper has reported many articles.

By 2022, AISVN School began to fall into a serious financial imbalance. Ms. Ut Em, as Chairwoman of the School Council, not only did not handle the difficulties but also organized recruitment, widely advertised and mobilized more than 200 billion VND from new parents (joining the school from the 2023-2024 school year) with a commitment to provide full training until grade 12 for students.

From September 23 to October 14, 2023, AISVN School publicly announced its financial difficulties and convened a parent meeting to discuss a plan to overcome them by mobilizing parents to contribute additional funds. Many parents, for the sake of their children's education, continued to contribute many times to the school following Ms. Ut Em's call.

By January 2024, the school’s financial situation continued to be seriously unbalanced, leading to an increasing number of teachers and staff quitting their jobs. More than 1,400 students from 3 to 18 years old at AISVN School had to endure going to school every day without knowing whether they would be able to learn or not because teachers had not been paid since January 2024 and therefore did not come to teach.

“At 10:00 p.m. on March 17, 2024, Ms. Ut Em informed us that the school would be closed to students on March 18, 2024 without any valid reason,” the parents stated in the petition.

Many parents recently met together to sign an urgent petition to the authorities.

Faced with the extremely serious situation, the interdisciplinary working group including the Department of Education and Training; Ho Chi Minh City Police and representatives of Nha Be District People's Committee in coordination with the AISVN School Council held a meeting with parents on March 30, 2024 to resolve difficulties to restore learning. More than 31 billion VND was again mobilized from parents to maintain their children's learning.

However, the school unexpectedly ended the 2023-2024 school year on April 26, 2024. On June 28, 2024, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training issued a decision to suspend AISVN School for 12 months from July 1, 2024 due to insufficient financial and human resources to maintain teaching and learning.

Up to now, parents have had to run around asking to transfer their children to another school. Many parents who no longer have the finances and cannot afford to transfer their children have had to let their children stay home from school for the entire year, seriously affecting their children's rights.

Parents asked why AISVN School had to stop operating due to lack of funds after collecting nearly 3,500 billion VND?

“All our efforts to find and contact Ms. Ut Em have been in vain,” the parents expressed their indignation.

"The school collected nearly 3,500 billion VND from us and then stopped operating due to lack of funds. So where is the money we received all this time?", a parent asked.

In the urgent petition, the parents requested that the relevant agencies have a plan to allow AISVN School to resume operations after the suspension period has expired. At the same time, they required AISVN School, Ms. Ut Em and related organizations and individuals to be responsible for properly implementing the contract with the parents, continuing to organize teaching and training to ensure the students' learning until they graduate from high school as committed in the contract.

In particular, the parents also requested that the authorities investigate and clarify the behavior showing signs of the crime of Abuse of trust and property appropriation against Ms. Ut Em and related individuals and organizations.

The Ho Chi Minh City Police Department of Administrative Management of Social Order has issued an official dispatch (dated January 10, 2025) requesting AISVN School to submit its seal for retrieval, the time for submitting the seal is from the date of receipt of the notice until 5:00 p.m. on January 21, 2025. However, in a document dated February 19, 2025, Ms. Ut Em still used this seal to stamp and sign.

Source: https://cand.com.vn/giao-duc/phu-huynh-1-400-hoc-sinh-truong-quoc-te-my-aisvn-tiep-tuc-cau-cuu--i762859/