Ho Chi Minh City: Schools agree to publicly disclose revenue and expenditure activities to parents

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training recommends that public educational institutions not change their names or generate any revenues outside of the prescribed categories.

Opening ceremony of the new school year 2023-2024 at Pham Ngoc Thach Primary School (Ho Chi Minh City). (Photo: Hong Dat/VNA)

Currently, in addition to tuition fees, schools are allowed to collect additional service fees to support educational activities.

Last July, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council issued Resolution 13/2024/NQ-HDND stipulating the collection items, collection levels, and collection management mechanisms for services serving and supporting educational activities of public educational institutions in the 2024-2025 school year, replacing Resolution 04/2023/NQ-HDND applied in the previous school year.

This new resolution only stipulates 9 service fees in schools instead of 26 as before, instead schools build the fee level according to the agreement with parents.

Specifically, the 9 revenue items as prescribed in Resolution 13 include: Services for organizing, managing and cleaning boarding schools; breakfast services; after-hours care and nurturing (including caretaking services before and after regular school hours, excluding meals); after-hours care and nurturing services (including caretaking services during holidays, excluding holidays, Tet, and meals); caregiving staff services; initial student health check-ups; air-conditioning services for air-conditioned classrooms; utility services applying information technology and digital transformation; picking up and dropping off children and students by car.

Notably, the boarding meal fee is no longer included in the list of fees with a ceiling, but will be negotiated between the school and parents based on actual conditions.

According to the old regulations, inner-city schools are allowed to collect a maximum of 35,000 VND/meal for boarding students, and a maximum of 32,000 VND/meal for suburban schools, applicable to all levels.

During the implementation process, many schools in the central area "complained" that this fee was no longer suitable for the actual living conditions and costs as well as the needs of parents and requested the city to resolve this issue.

Mr. Cao Duc Khoa, Principal of Huynh Khuong Ninh Secondary School, District 1, said that allowing schools to negotiate and agree with parents on the level of boarding meal fees for students is completely appropriate.

The agreed fee with the principle of no more than 15% increase compared to last year, the school will be more convenient in providing meals for students. Because the meal fee of each school depends on the cost of living in each area, the needs according to the age of the students.

Last school year, the school charged the maximum fee of 35,000 VND/meal, but to ensure the quality of the main meal, the school had to cut the snack. The school is currently developing a revenue and expenditure budget to send to the Department of Education and Training and the District People's Committee. After approval, the school will hold a meeting with parents to agree on the fees for the school year.

Similarly, Mr. Pham Thai Ho, Principal of Truong Cong Dinh Secondary School, Binh Thanh District, also said that removing the ceiling on boarding meals would be more suitable for the needs of parents and students as well as actual conditions. Last year, the school collected 34,000 VND/meal. Regarding the collection level this year, the school is waiting for instructions from the District People's Committee.

The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training recommends that public educational institutions not change their names or generate any revenues outside of the prescribed categories.

For 9 service fees to support educational activities in the list of Resolution 13, schools agree with parents on specific fees, but they must not be higher than the prescribed ceiling and must not be higher than 15% of the previous school year's fees.

Regarding other educational activities, the City Department of Education and Training has listed 17 revenues, such as fees for organizing 2 sessions/day, organizing additional teaching of Foreign Languages, Information Technology, life skills education and school programs organized by class according to the City's Project...

The Department requires that from the beginning of the school year, public educational institutions, based on the actual situation, conditions and needs of students, proactively develop revenue and expenditure estimates, ensuring the principles of full collection, full expenditure and proper use of revenues; publicly disclose the revenue and expenditure plan for each revenue item to parents before implementation. The rate of increase in revenue for the new school year must not exceed 15% compared to the previous school year.

Schools and public educational institutions directly decide on educational activities in the school program, but must consult the school council on activities, grade levels, content framework, methods, forms of organization, implementation plans as well as coordinating organizations and units. Schools provide specific information about the school program implementation plan to parents so that they can choose voluntarily.

Previously, in the 2023-2024 school year, for the first time, public schools in Ho Chi Minh City implemented unified collections according to Resolution 04 of the City People's Council, with 26 collections with maximum collection levels prescribed for each collection./.

Thap Cham High School - where violations in financial management of revenue and expenditure occurred. (Photo: Nguyen Thanh/VNA)

The Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ninh Thuan requested that Thap Cham High School organize a review, disciplinary action, criticism, and experience sharing for the school's Vice Principals, accountants, and treasurers.

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