What does the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training say about the recent controversial revenues and supports?

Images of school fee information

On the afternoon of October 10, at a regular press conference organized by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to provide information on Ho Chi Minh City's socio-economic issues in the past week, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training responded in writing to a number of issues related to revenue and expenditure, and calls for support occurring at Le Thanh Ton High School, Huynh Tan Phat Middle School (District 7), Chuong Duong Primary School (District 1)... causing frustration among parents.

Review the responsibilities of individuals who have not performed well.

According to the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, the above mentioned call for contributions are the operating expenses of the class's parent representative board, which were collected in violation of regulations. The classes took advantage of the name of the parent representative board to collect fees outside the regulations in Circular No. 55/2011/TT-BGDDT dated November 22, 2011 of the Ministry of Education and Training.

The Department of Education and Training has requested educational institutions to seriously implement the official dispatches on the guidance of the Ministry, the City People's Committee and the Department of Education and Training on the collection and use of tuition fees and other revenues, implementing the tuition exemption and reduction regime and supporting learning costs from the 2024-2025 school year of public educational and training institutions; official dispatches on strengthening the management of revenues in the field of education and training, mobilizing funding for education and operating expenses of the Parents' Representative Board for the 2024-2025 school year.

The Department of Education and Training informed that these documents were issued at the beginning of the school year, and educational institutions must develop estimates of revenues according to the industry's professional guidelines. Accordingly, all revenues must be fully and publicly announced in writing to parents, students, and pupils.

In which, note some of the following contents: The operating budget of the parent-teacher association is managed and used by the parent-teacher association and only serves the direct activities of the parent-teacher association. These funds are not used for the following purposes: "Protecting school facilities, ensuring school security, supervising students' vehicles, cleaning classrooms, cleaning schools, rewarding school administrators, teachers, and staff, purchasing machinery, equipment, and teaching aids for schools, classes, or for school administrators, teachers, and staff, supporting management work, organizing teaching and learning and educational activities, repairing, upgrading, and constructing new school facilities" (point b, clause 4, Article 10 of Circular 55).

The Department also requires the principal to agree with the head of the school's parent representative board to decide on the plan for using the board's funds and only use them after the entire school representative board has agreed. Do not allow any unreasonable or illegal revenue to arise. All revenue arising in the unit must be decided by the school head according to the instructions of the competent authorities as stated above. Do not allow any revenue to arise in the classes (class fund). The principal must be the one who clearly understands and guides the board of representatives to comply with the regulations and be responsible for any unreasonable or illegal revenue in the classes.

Also in the response document provided at the press conference this afternoon, the Department of Education and Training also requested that the Departments of Education and Training advise the People's Committees of districts/cities to review the responsibilities of individuals who have not performed their school management roles well, have not properly implemented the fundraising process, and regulations on revenue and expenditure of the Parent Representative Board's operating fund, leading to incidents that have caused public outrage.

Revenue and expenditure monitoring solution

Here, the press agencies asked the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training what measures it has taken to thoroughly implement and prevent illegal fund collection, causing negative public opinion? At the same time, is there any plan to strengthen supervision from management agencies over fund collection at schools this school year?

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training informed that the department has issued a document requiring all revenues to be fully and publicly announced in writing to parents, students, and pupils; the school's finance department collects money, issues receipts, and invoices for each pupil, and does not assign teachers to directly collect and spend money, and at the same time fully implement financial management regimes according to regulations. All revenues must be guaranteed to be paid without cash.

Based on the official dispatches guiding the revenue and expenditure at the beginning of the school year and the activities of the Parents' Representative Committee, the Departments of Education and Training advise the People's Committees of districts/counties to direct relevant departments to coordinate in inspecting, supervising, and establishing inspection teams on the revenue and expenditure situation at the beginning of the school year at affiliated educational institutions according to decentralization; promptly correct the situation of over-collection or collection of illegal fees. In case educational institutions violate the regulations on revenue and expenditure at the beginning of the school year, it is recommended to strictly handle them depending on the level of violation according to decentralization.

The Department of Education and Training established an inspection team to inspect revenue and expenditure activities at the beginning of the school year to rectify the situation of over-collection or illegal collection of fees, including all contents of the Parents' Representative Board fund and fundraising for educational institutions in the area.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/so-gd-dt-tphcm-noi-gi-ve-cac-khoan-thu-ho-tro-gay-buc-xuc-thoi-gian-qua-185241010165312735.htm