Saigon Star School temporarily suspends operations, parents demand tuition refund but are not given

Seeing that the school may no longer be able to operate, parents who have paid tuition fees for many years want to get their money back from Saigon Star International School.

Saigon Star International School, the morning of December 13, the last day of school for students - Photo: TRONG NHAN

Billions of dollars spent on international school tuition are at risk of being lost.

As Tuoi Tre Online reported in the article "International school forced to close, parents shocked" (posted on December 12), Saigon Star International School will be forced to close its operating land this December. The date of enforcement announced by the authorities is December 26.

According to the school's email notice sent to parents, students will be off from school from tomorrow (December 14) and will not return to school until February 12, 2025, at the new campus at 577 National Highway 13, Hiep Binh Phuoc Ward, Thu Duc City.

However, according to many parents, moving to a new facility in such a short time is not feasible. One, there are still many legal procedures. Two, the area at 577 National Highway 13 where the school said it would move to currently has… nothing.

Therefore, many parents decided to transfer their children to another school in the middle of the 2024-2025 school year and wanted to get back the tuition packages they had paid to the school.

Ms. G. said that in June and October 2024, she signed two agreements with Saigon Star International School to use the tuition commitment program for her two children at the school.

For a child born in 2021, if you pay the tuition fee for your child for 4 years from 2024 to 2028, you will receive a 50% discount on the total tuition fee. The actual amount paid to the school is 564.5 million VND.

For a child born in 2017, if you pay tuition for your child for 5 years from 2024 to 2029, you will receive a 50% discount on the total tuition. The actual amount paid to the school is 1.06 billion VND.

Faced with the news that the school's land would be forcibly acquired, Ms. G. said she had transferred her child to another international school because she did not believe the school could open a new facility in time and welcome students back on February 12, 2025 as announced, and had to prioritize her children's education.

In addition, Ms. G. said that she had emailed the school many times, hoping to receive the remaining amount after deducting tuition fees for the 2024-2025 school year. However, the school has not responded to her since mid-November. She went to the school to meet the school's leadership and the school owner but could not meet anyone.

"I don't know if I can get my money back," said Ms. G. "I feel like I was cheated because before signing the agreement to pay long-term tuition, my family did not receive any information related to the dispute or the problems Saigon Star is facing."

Part of the statistics of parents about cases that have paid tuition in packages at Saigon Star - Photo: TRONG NHAN captured

Ms. G. is not the only one who is struggling to get back the tuition fees she has paid. According to the statistics compiled by the Saigon Star School parents group, there are about 40 updated cases that have paid tuition fees in packages. The lowest package is for 1 year, worth about 150 million VND and the highest is about 1.8 billion VND, for the period from August 2022 to June 2034.

For example, Ms. V., whose child is studying in grade 2 at Saigon Star International School, said she has paid 1.1 billion VND in tuition fees to the school, covering tuition from June 2022 to June 2029.

According to the agreement, if you drop out of school early, the school will refund your tuition after deducting the actual tuition fee calculated at the listed price. She calculated that after the 2024-2025 school year, in theory, she will be refunded about 800 million VND.

"I have a feeling that the school has no intention of returning this money. We contacted the school but were unsuccessful. We went directly to the school but no one received us. We have written a letter to the authorities reporting the incident," said Ms. V.

Support parents to transfer schools

Mr. Ho Tan Minh - Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City - said that the department has sent a document to the Department of Education of Thu Duc City regarding instructions on transferring and accepting students of Saigon Star School. Thu Duc City has informed parents.

Because the school's students are preschool and elementary school students, it will not be difficult for other schools to accept them.

According to Mr. Minh, the school currently has no goodwill to cooperate with the relevant parties. Therefore, parents need to transfer schools soon and find a place for their children to study.

Yesterday (December 12), a group of parents from Saigon Star School had a meeting with the Inspector of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City.

According to the working minutes, regarding the authorities creating conditions for the school to operate at Highway 13, the representative of the Department Inspectorate said that the legal representative of the school must comply with the legal regulations on licensing of educational activities, submit the application for licensing of educational activities to the authorities, inspect, and consider licensing according to the law.

Regarding any dispute between parents and the school regarding the parents' rights in paying tuition fees, the representative of the Department Inspectorate recommends that parents file a lawsuit at a competent People's Court to ensure their rights according to the law.

Saigon Star International School is currently located in Thanh My Loi ward, Thu Duc city (HCMC) - Photo: TRONG NHAN

Proposal to check for signs of concealment of information and appropriation of money

According to the Thu Duc City Civil Judgment Enforcement Office, Saigon Star Company and Saigon Star International School deliberately concealed information about the forced execution of the judgment to return the premises in order to continue collecting money from parents.

Typically, on November 25, 2024, the enforcement officer of the branch made a record of the presentation of Mr. NTT - residing in Thu Duc City, a parent with a child studying at the school - information that the school collects tuition packages, including semester packages, school year packages, 5-year packages, 10-year packages.

On November 28, 2024, this office sent an official dispatch to the Thu Duc City Civil Judgment Enforcement Steering Committee, Thu Duc City People's Procuracy, and Thu Duc City Police Department requesting direction to support enforcement of judgments and check information on the school's tuition collection.

If there are signs of intentional concealment of information about the enforcement of the judgment in order to appropriate parents' money when there is no longer a place to operate, it will be handled according to the provisions of law.

No news

On December 12 and 13, the reporter tried many times to contact Ms. Vo Thi Phuong Thao - the school's owner, legal representative and general director - but could not get in touch.

According to many parents, Ms. Thao is currently in the US and has delegated the management of the school to her younger brother, Mr. Vo Nhat Minh. When contacted via the phone number that parents confirmed belonged to Mr. Minh, the other end of the line said he was just a… driver.

We went directly to the school on the morning of 13-12-2024 but there was no one to receive us. The security guard said that the office was empty today.

It is known that today is the last day of study for students at this facility before the break from December 14, 2024 to February 12, 2025 as announced.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/truong-saigon-star-tam-dung-hoat-dong-phu-huynh-doi-lai-hoc-phi-nhung-khong-duoc-20241213150714403.htm