Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut Em - chairwoman of the AISVN International School Board - apologized to parents and presented a plan to call for contributions at the meeting on the afternoon of March 30 - Photo: DAO THU
At a meeting with parents on the afternoon of March 30, American International Primary, Secondary and High School Vietnam (AISVN) called on parents to contribute 125 billion VND to operate stably until the end of the 2023-2024 school year.
AISVN School called for parents' contributions in October 2023.
On the evening of March 30, AISVN International School sent an email to all parents, asking for their opinions on whether they agreed or not to contribute money to operate the school.
The survey includes 3 contents: agree to contribute funds to maintain school operations until the end of the 2023-2024 school year; disagree to contribute funds, have a need to transfer to another educational institution; other opinions.
The school requires parents to complete the survey only once for all children currently enrolled. At the same time, the school's accounting department will send each family specific information about the amount to be paid by email. The department will provide account information for parents to contribute today, March 31.
Some parents said they agreed with the above solution, but asked for a clear understanding of the school's financial situation. "We heard that the school owes more than VND3,000 billion, is that right? All financial issues must be clear so that parents can contribute," said one parent.
Many parents recalled the incident in September 2023, after parents spoke up to demand debt from the school, Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut Em (owner of AISVN school) called on parents to contribute additional annual fees for the 2023-2024 school year.
A parent with two children studying at the school was upset: "Most of us have invested billions of dong in the school for our children until grade 12. In October 2023, Ms. Ut Em called on parents to contribute nearly 70 billion dong to maintain the school's operations.
At that time, parents, including those who had invested billions of dong in the school, continued to pay money to maintain their children's education. Now the school is calling for money to maintain operations. What all parents are concerned about is how the school will operate after this donation, and whether they will continue to call for money."
How does AISVN International School spend money and what causes financial difficulties?
Ms. Nguyen Thi Ut Em said that on October 2, 2023, the school opened an account for parents to monitor the school's revenue and expenditure activities up to now.
According to the school's accounting department's revenue and expenditure report, as of October 31, 2023, the school's total revenue was more than 32.8 billion VND, minus expenses, the remaining fund balance was more than 196 million VND. As of November 8, 2023, the school's total revenue was more than 3.3 billion VND, but the total expenditure was more than 13.7 billion VND. As of March 22, 2024, the school's total revenue was more than 16.2 billion VND, but the total expenditure increased to more than 60.9 billion VND.
Accumulated from October 2, 2023 to March 23, 2024, the school's total revenue is more than 52.4 billion VND, while total expenditure is up to more than 107 billion VND. Therefore, the debt is more than 54 billion VND.
Income and expenditure report of AISVN International School
According to AIS American International Education Joint Stock Company (investor of AISVN School), recently the company has encountered difficulties in management and operations due to financial difficulties, losses, and shortages of money.
The main reason is that the company has invested a large amount of money in building facilities and purchasing equipment for the school from the investor's capital and capital mobilized from parents.
Every year, the school regularly spends money to upgrade facilities and pay for the International Baccalaureate (IB) program, while the school has not collected these fees from parents for many years.
Every year the school spends a large amount of money on operating a free long-term bus route to pick up and drop off students.
With an expected capacity of about 4,000 students, the school has only recruited nearly half of that number.
In 2022 and 2023, interest rates on loan contracts and bond mobilization interest rates increased, leading to a sharp increase in the company's financial costs, combined with the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, making the situation even more difficult due to a sharp decrease in revenue, while almost all costs remained unchanged (results shown through tax inspection results).
In addition, the company has absolutely no other investment activities other than education. Due to unexpected difficulties, the company has temporarily lost liquidity in the short term, leading to late payment of teachers' salaries and late refunds to parents of students with investment cooperation contracts.
"Currently, parents contributing money is the most feasible option"
At the meeting yesterday afternoon, representatives of the departments and agencies said that the school's negotiation process with an investor has not yet reached a specific result. Therefore, the option of contributing money is the most feasible option at present.
Ms. Em said that the contributions of parents in the past and present will be returned to parents in many forms such as shares, loans, and savings interest from the State Bank.
Regarding the short-term plan, the expected short-term financial amount from April to June 2024 is 125 billion VND. The interdisciplinary team and parents will review these receivables to save more costs.
Parents who have not paid IB and/or facilities fees are required to pay in full to ensure fairness. A new bank account will be opened by the department to collect these contributions and this account will be subject to the supervision of the department and parent representatives in the collection and disbursement of funds.
How much more will the school collect from parents in 3 months?
The amount of money the school needs to collect for each grade for 3 months: discovery grade (3, 4 years old) and 5-year-old primary school preparatory grade (KP&KG): 9.5 million VND/month, total 28.5 million VND.
Grades 1-5: 14.5 million VND/month, total 43.5 million VND. Grades 6-8: 20.5 million VND/month, total 61.5 million VND.
Grades 9-12: 25.5 million VND/month, total 76.5 million VND.
Long-term plan, parents who have participated in capital contribution contracts with the school will have the contract value converted into shares of the school. Continue to negotiate with investors under the supervision of the department to carry out restructuring. An official information channel will be established to update accurate information on the negotiation process.
Ms. Em has the obligation to commit to parents in specific documents about the roadmap for implementing the long-term plan. In case parents do not agree to contribute funds, they can choose other solutions such as transferring to another international school or transferring to a public school.
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