What did the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City recommend to remove 'obstacles' for school canteens and kitchens?

Students at a school canteen in Ho Chi Minh City in previous school years.

Difficulty in determining rental prices

Specifically, in Official Dispatch No. 3574/GDĐT-KHTC of the Department of Education and Training sent to the Department of Finance (signed on October 3, 2019), the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City said that it has deployed to all affiliated units the Project on using public assets for business purposes, leasing, joint ventures, and associations according to Decree 151/2017/ND-CP dated December 26, 2017 of the Government (referred to as the Project), for the Department to consider and synthesize opinions to send to the Department of Finance for consultation and submission to the City People's Committee for approval according to regulations.

"Especially for units in the education and training sector, it is necessary to organize activities to serve students in the canteen to ensure food safety and hygiene, vehicle parking activities to ensure traffic safety and order in schools, and after-school sports services to create funds for maintenance of sports facilities while the budget and human resources for these activities are not sufficient.

In addition, the education sector has a large number of units, so the preparation of the Project requires a long time to review, evaluate and submit to the City People's Committee for approval, which greatly affects the regular operations of the units. Canteen and vehicle parking activities for students are annual activities and are prepared before the new school year begins and have been operating stably for many years now," the document stated.

The above document also mentioned the difficulties and problems of the units in establishing and implementing the Project. Notably, it is the determination of rental prices for services at educational institutions and the implementation of the Project; calculation to determine the land rent payable.

Canteen of a school in District 3, Ho Chi Minh City in previous school years

"According to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 57 of the Law on Management and Use of Public Assets and Clauses 3 and 4, Article 46 of Decree No. 151/2017/ND-CP, public service units must determine rental prices in accordance with actual rental prices on the market and conduct asset rental auctions (rental prices are adjusted to increase according to market fluctuations and must not be lower than the auction price). Therefore, if based on the above regulations, the rental price will have a high value, greatly affecting the payment level of students participating in these types of services", the official dispatch of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City in 2019 clearly stated.

How have schools maintained their canteens and kitchens over the past time?

In 2021, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City issued Official Dispatch No. 2575 to the Department of Finance regarding the reporting on the exploitation, management and use of public assets at public service units (official dispatch signed on September 24, 2021).

Accordingly, the Department of Education and Training reported: Pursuant to Notice No. 634/TB-VP dated September 13, 2019 of the Office of the City People's Committee announcing the conclusion of the City People's Committee on resolving a number of recommendations of the Department of Education and Training in implementing Inspection Conclusion No. 08/KLTTT-3 of the City Inspectorate, in Section 2 it is stated: "Accepting the policy that public service units in the education and training sector continue to maintain parking lots, canteens, swimming pools, and gymnasiums to serve the learning and training needs of teachers and students, however, it is necessary to conduct public and transparent bidding, ensure fire prevention and fighting safety, food safety and hygiene and properly fulfill financial obligations according to current regulations".

This Official Dispatch 2575 also stated: "The Department of Education and Training has sent Official Dispatch No. 57/GDĐT-KHTC dated January 7, 2020 to its affiliated units, guiding the use of public assets, emphasizing a number of contents on the preparation of a Project on the use of public assets for business purposes, leasing, joint ventures, and associations according to Decree No. 151/2017/ND-CP and organizing a review of lease contracts at the unit, in case of expiration, organizing an auction of the lease, the contract term is 1 year (from 2020 while waiting for approval of the Project); urging units to seriously implement the updating, management, depreciation calculation, and monitoring of fixed assets according to current regulations".

Elementary school students during lunchtime at a school with a canteen, school year 2023-2024. Canteens and canteens are necessary in schools, serving the students themselves.

What did the Department of Education and Training propose and recommend?

In the report of the Department of Education and Training in 2021, it shows that from January 1, 2018 (the effective date of Decree 151/2017/ND-CP), to September 2021, the total number of public service units under the Department of Education and Training that have established Projects is 117 (out of a total of 128 public units under the Department).

All 117 projects have been appraised by the Department, but none of them have met the content requirements according to the guidelines, so none of them have been immediately agreed upon to report to the competent authority for consideration and approval. All 117 projects need to complete the financial plan.

Common problems are problems in determining rental prices; problems in calculating and determining land rent payable. In addition, there are problems in providing complete legal documents as required by the Project.

In Official Dispatch No. 2575 of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City sent to the Department of Finance in 2021, the Department of Education and Training proposed and recommended a number of points:

• Regarding cases (conditions) of using public assets for business purposes, leasing, joint ventures, and associations: According to current regulations;
  
• Regarding the authority to approve the Project on using public assets for business purposes, leasing, joint ventures, and associations: Maintain the same authority as current regulations.
  
• Regarding procedures: Maintain the same authority as current regulations;
  
• Regarding partner selection, partner change, joint venture and association forms: Applicable to units permitted in writing by the Ministry of Education and Training or the City People's Committee;
  
• Regarding land rental determination and payment: Request for exemption from land rental.
  

According to the plan, this week (early August 2024), the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee will have a working session with the Departments of Finance, Education and Training, Natural Resources and Environment and related units, listening to reports related to the approval of the Project on using public assets in the city, difficulties, problems and solutions.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/so-gd-dt-tphcm-tung-kien-nghi-gi-de-go-vuong-cho-can-tin-bep-an-truong-hoc-185240729123601305.htm