Vietnam - Parents complain about fee burden at new school year

According to information from some schools in Hanoi, parents didn’t question new school fees such for teaching and learning equipment or boarding study and tuition fees for full teaching days.

However, many parents said that they had been forced to contribute to different fees. A mother whose child is studying at Ngoc Ha Primary School said besides a fee of VND60,000 (USD2.85) for daily drinking water, she had to pay VND473,000 (USD22.5) for an air conditioner and projector.

She said it was not a considerable amount as separate different fees, but, when they were added together, she has to pay nearly VND1.4 million (USD66.6) for around 10 different fees, excluding fees for food, boarding care and uniform. “Such a fee is not small for a public school. Many families which have two children would have to spend one of the parent’s monthly wages on the fees, excluding fees for extra learning classes and gifts for teachers on some special festivals such as the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival,” she added.

Parents from some other schools in Hanoi are also concerned about the fees that were due next month. Teachers said that the fees would be spent on projectors which are estimated to cost around VND20 million (USD952.3) and some other interactive learning equipment at classes of roughly VND40-50 million (USD1,904-2,380) in total.

One of the biggest fees at the beginning of the new school year is the parent fund. This is an amount collected by parents themselves. In reality, at a number of secondary schools such as Giang Vo, Trung Tu and Ly Thuong Kiet, the fee is restricted at not more than VND300,000 per student per term by the school management board, however, in some schools, the figure can climb to millions of VND.

Mrs. Hoang Anh whose child is learning at the Hanoi Experimental School said this term she would spend VND1 million (USD47.6) in a payment to the parent fund. The fee has risen to VND1.1 million for a grade 7-student at the Vietnam-Algeria Secondary School, raising parents’ total fees to VND2 million at the new-school year.

A mother with her child studying at Trung Tu Secondary School said the regulated level of VND300,000 (USD14.28) per semester would be not enough in the current situation where prices have risen. To avoid collecting arrears in the second semester, the parental fund management board decided to collect VND500,000 (USD23.8).

According to the Ministry of Education and Training’s regulations, the parents’ fund mainly serves student learning, but in fact, it is used to pay visiting teachers during holidays and Tet.

Many parents also complained that under the Hanoi Department of Education and Training’s regulations, all fees must be transparent through documents sent to them. Particularly, voluntary fees must be announced one week earlier to collect parental opinions. However, after the meetings, parents had not received any document. So they only knew the total they would have to pay, but still remained in the dark as to where the fees would.

DTriNews

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