Vietnam - Business getting tough for private schools

Private schools are “stealing” each other’s students in a head-on confrontation in Ho Chi Minh City.

Many send staffs to others’ campuses to lure students.

A Tuoi Tre reporter for instance has recently been approached by an enrollment consultant of K.M. School at Nguyen Khuyen High School.

“Nguyen Khuyen has stopped receiving applications,” the consultant said. ”K.M. adopts an operating model similar to this school so you’d better switch to ours.”

Another consultant who said she came from Q.V.S.G. School put forward a voucher worth VND1 million as an incentive for enrollment.

A third even suggested a management board member of Nguyen Khuyen to direct any student this school rejects to “our school.”

The competition grows tougher when former employees of a school induce students to move to their new workplaces. H.H. School is an example.

Some top executives left this school for another one in the same area.

They then asked many students to switch school and H.H. lost nearly 75 percent of its enrollees.

T.P. was another victim.

Half of its students quit it one year after dozens of teachers and employees moved to another school.

A few private schools have had no choice but close down given the rise of high-quality international schools in the city.

Phuong Nam Elementary School in Tan Binh District for example was shut down in early August after 13 years of operation because of a dramatic slump in enrollments and fierce competition from foreign-invested schools.

Many others now seem unable to withstand the competition and are simply trying their best just to maintain the current number of students.

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