As children enter different levels of school, from elementary to high school, for 12 years many parents suffer from a "syndrome" that they rarely talk about: Fear of attending parent-teacher meetings, especially at the beginning of the school year.
The pain of overcharging
Because the focus of these meetings is nothing more than the revenue other than tuition fees. The issue of "school funds, class funds" becomes a hotly discussed topic, even endlessly debated, instead of the children's education.
Before the new school year, local authorities and education leaders always direct to rectify the situation of overcharging in schools, requiring the disclosure of collected fees.
Yet controversy over fees still occurs in the educational environment.
Public opinion was stirred up recently when a teacher at Chuong Duong Primary School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) mobilized funds from the parents' representative committee to buy himself a laptop.
When some parents disagreed, the teacher announced that she would not prepare review outlines for the students.
The People's Committee of Thu Duc City has just requested an elementary school to immediately stop calling on parents to support the payment of the August allowance for the nanny. This collection is completely against the regulations.
In Hanoi, an upset parent said that since the beginning of the school year, parents of first graders at an elementary school have had to take turns cleaning the classroom every day. Before that, the parents were told by the teacher to pay money to hire someone to clean the classroom. Otherwise, the parents had to come to school at 5 p.m. to clean the classroom instead of their children.
In addition, the parents' committee also called for donations of facilities to the school. In the first semester, the first graders donated 10 air conditioners, estimated to be worth more than 10 million VND/set. In the second semester, the whole school donated an artificial turf field, estimated to be worth more than 100,000 VND/student...
Teaching and learning are important but sometimes parents pay little attention, giving way to unnecessary "worries".
Mandatory... voluntary
According to Circular No. 55/2011/TT-BGDDT of the Ministry of Education and Training, which has been in place for 13 years, it stipulates the fees that parent-teacher associations are not allowed to collect.
For example, it is not allowed to collect fees for protecting facilities; purchasing machinery, equipment, and teaching aids for schools, classrooms, or for school administrators, teachers, and staff; supporting management, organizing teaching and learning activities, and repairing, upgrading, and constructing new school facilities...
However, many of the items listed above are converted to "consensus", "voluntary"... contributions from parents through the form of signing according to a "pre-determined" list, through the minutes of the parent meeting at the beginning of the year.
It is called "consensus" but wanting to have different opinions is not allowed, because there is another principle which is "follow the majority".
Many parents are "dizzy" with all the expenses at the beginning of the year, sometimes up to several million VND, beyond their ability.
Anyone who has a child going to school understands: Fund contributions are "voluntary" but "must be done", because if you don't participate, will you be considered a "special parent" and will your child's education be affected?
Overcharging at schools is a long-standing problem that shows no signs of abating.
It directly creates additional economic burdens for many poor families, and causes parents to lose faith in some teachers and schools.
Instead of focusing on improving the quality of teaching and learning, some schools focus too much on mobilizing "contributions" from parents.
Fighting overcharging in schools requires drastic measures with effective monitoring mechanisms and strict sanctions.
If this is determined to be a problem that needs to be eliminated, more deterrent measures are needed.
Only then will there be no more "syndrome" of fear of attending parent-teacher meetings, because of the situation of overcharging school and class funds!
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/so-di-hop-phu-huynh-vi-lam-thu-quy-truong-quy-lop-20240929155727934.htm
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