Seeing a private school in Hanoi announce the fees for students, Ms. Ha was ready to deposit 15 million VND to reserve a spot, in case her child failed the 10th grade public school entrance exam, she would have a backup plan.
Currently, some private schools in Hanoi have announced enrollment as well as tuition fees for grades 6 and 10 in 2025, including different admission methods depending on the goals and programs of each school to select suitable students.
In many schools, if accepted, to confirm enrollment, students must pay a “deposit” fee, which is called by many different names such as registration fee, reservation fee, enrollment fee, etc. These fees are usually paid by parents only once when registering for enrollment to reserve a place for their children, and are non-refundable if they do not enroll. If the student enrolls, the fee will be deducted from other income during the school year.
Having a child preparing to take the 10th grade entrance exam in Hanoi, Ms. Ha (Cau Giay district) wanted to have a backup plan so she "aimed" at Olympia Inter-level High School.
The female parent said that after careful research, she found that this school was very suitable for her child's family. Regarding the school's 10th grade fees, she found that the annual tuition fee was 220 million VND, the development fee was 18 million VND, and the food fee was 28.5 million VND. In addition, there was a deposit fee of 15 million VND, which was part of the tuition fee for the next school year for students currently studying at the school and must be paid before April 1, 2025. This fee is also mandatory for new students at the time the school accepts enrollment for the next school year.
"I understand that this is a 'deposit' to reserve a place at school for my child, and is an agreement between parents and the school, to attach responsibility between the two parties. Without this fee, parents would register indiscriminately, the rate of fake candidates would be high, and the school would have difficulty determining how many students would definitely attend. My family wanted my child to have a reserve place, to ease the psychological burden if he failed the public school entrance exam, so we accepted it," said Ms. Ha.
In the same situation, Ms. Huong Trang (Nam Tu Liem District) is also urgently looking for a private school for her child. The mother said she was interested in Luong The Vinh Secondary and High School and after researching, she learned that the deposit fee for this school is 15 million VND, similar to many other schools. The female parent wants to find a school with a "moderate" deposit so that if her child does not study, she will not have any... regrets.
In addition to the above two schools, this year, Archimedes High School maintains a deposit fee of 23 million VND; Wellspring International Bilingual High School charges 25 million VND; Newton Secondary and High School charges 12 million VND... As in previous years, the admissions department of the schools often advises parents to consider carefully, because when registering their children for admission, it means agreeing to the deposit and accepting the school's non-refundable regulations.
In fact, although the deposit is not small, many parents accept it because they want to ensure their children have a place in grade 10 as a backup in case they fail to get into a public school. The decision to spend this amount of money is each family's choice, depending on their conditions and circumstances as well as their child's future orientation.
Regarding this, the leader of a private secondary school in Hanoi said that paying a deposit to a private school to "prevent failing" grade 10 for their children is a normal mentality of parents, especially when the "race" to enter grade 10 at public schools in Hanoi's inner city is "hot" every year.
However, according to him, parents should not be too stressed about "depositing" on many schools, which will be very costly, and should only focus on schools that are suitable for their children's abilities as well as their future goals.
At the 2024-2025 School Year Admissions Guidance Conference, Director of the Hanoi Department of Education and Training Tran The Cuong said that there is a phenomenon of reserving seats in some private schools, and some schools have set very high fees. Private schools explained that this is "to ensure stability in the admission process, to avoid the situation of submitting applications today and withdrawing tomorrow, causing disruption to the school's admissions...".
However, the head of the Hanoi education sector expressed disagreement and said: “The educational environment and pedagogical environment need to ensure humanity. We would like to reiterate and recommend that this should not be done. We know that the reservation fee is an agreement between parents and school owners, but from an educational and pedagogical perspective, it is not good. Therefore, I suggest that schools learn from this experience.”
This school year, Hanoi has about 127,000 junior high school graduates, down nearly 6,000 compared to last year. The total quota for grade 10 admission in public schools is 79,000. Thus, the passing rate is over 62%, a slight increase compared to 60-61% in previous years.
2025 is also the year the first generation of students following the new general education program (2018 program) will take the graduation exam and Hanoi will choose English as the third subject for the 10th grade entrance exam like many other localities.
Foreign Language Specialized High School announces the structure of the 10th grade exam in 2025
2025 Foreign Language Specialized High School Grade 10 Exam Schedule
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/phu-huynh-ha-noi-chi-ca-chuc-trieu-dat-coc-suat-vao-lop-10-truong-tu-2378741.html
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