From confusion because of unknown funding sources...
On September 25, 2020, the Government issued Decree No. 116/2020/ND-CP on supporting the cost of training pedagogical students. Accordingly, each student eligible for priority education under this decree will be supported with all tuition and living expenses of 3.63 million VND/month.
As soon as the decree took effect, in 2021, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province issued many documents and directed implementation. Accordingly, the total number of students admitted according to the 2021 decree is 1,412, of which Hong Duc University is 1,128, and the University of Culture - Sports - Tourism is 284 students. The total budget needed for the first semester of 2021 is 24.3 billion VND.
In 2022, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province also issued a decision to assign tasks to the two schools. Accordingly, the assigned target is 1,533 targets. The necessary implementation budget for the second semester of the 2021-2022 school year is nearly 36.5 billion VND, plus the required budget for the first semester of 2022 with 1,533 new students is nearly 50.8 billion VND. Thus, the total funding demand in 2022 is 87.2 billion VND.
In 2023, the Provincial People's Committee estimated that the enrollment task for 2022 was 1,533 targets. Accordingly, the accumulated budget for the whole year of 2021 and 2022 has not been allocated and the first semester of 2023 will reach nearly 166.5 billion VND.
Up to this point, Thanh Hoa has still implemented the assignment of enrollment tasks according to the criteria of Decree 116, still enrolling, but concerns about funding sources have begun to exist.
Thanh Hoa has sent many documents to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Training, affirming: The number of students receiving support policies according to the provisions of Decree 116 of the Government in the province is very large, the provincial budget is still unable to balance resources to ensure, and at the same time proposed to allocate compensatory funding for 2021, 2022 and allocate funding for 2023.
However, by 2023, the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa province has not yet received a response on where this funding source is from. Therefore, despite planning to enroll students in 2023 with 1,533 targets, waiting until July 29, 2023, the deadline according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training on the admission deadline, Thanh Hoa province still did not receive a clear answer from the source.
Therefore, the Department of Finance and the Department of Education and Training of Thanh Hoa had to advise the Provincial People's Committee to implement a temporary plan, which is to issue a decision assigning tasks to 2 universities to recruit pedagogical students according to Decree 116 but only with 200 targets instead of 1,533 as planned, and at the same time issue a notice for candidates to "turn around" to register for other pedagogical schools.
As a result, thousands of students studying in priority areas under Decree 116 are still waiting for funding; The two training institutions are also in a confusing situation of "difficult to talk" about to students and parents, affecting the school's enrollment plan and training program; the Provincial People's Committee and related departments are also confused because of the large amount of funding compared to the provincial budget.
To temporarily resolve funding for the number of students who have enrolled and are training, on October 9, 2023, Thanh Hoa spent 104 billion VND from the budget reserve. However, that figure of more than a hundred billion is only temporary, the amount to ensure is about 600 billion. Taking the provincial budget reserve to spend according to the above decision is inappropriate, spending for the past. Because in reality, from the beginning, the authorities of Thanh Hoa province thought that the implementation source was from the central budget.
Therefore, Thanh Hoa continues to send documents to central ministries and branches and affirms that the above amount is a burden to the provincial budget.
... to remove difficulties for localities and training facilities
The issuance of Decree 60 has removed difficulties for Thanh Hoa as well as many other localities and pedagogical training institutions.
Speaking with Lao Dong, Mr. Dau Thanh Tung - Vice Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee said that in the past, the implementation of Decree 116 had problems in both ministries and localities, so the Ministry of Education and Training had drafted a revised decree to submit to the Government for promulgation accordingly.
Decree No. 60 has added a regulation that the budget for implementing policies in this Decree is balanced in the annual state budget expenditure estimate according to the current management decentralization. The central budget supports local budgets in implementing policies according to the principle of targeted support from the central budget for local budgets in implementing social security policies issued by competent authorities for each period. This regulation overcomes the situation where some localities cannot balance their budgets to implement support policies for pedagogical students, while ensuring compliance with the provisions of the 2019 Education Law.
With this regulation, pedagogical student training institutions and pedagogical students will be provided with more timely and complete funding, contributing to creating conditions for pedagogical students to study with peace of mind, improving the quality of the teaching staff.
Decree 60 has also added a number of contents to specifically stipulate the responsibilities of agencies and units to ensure feasibility in implementing the full recovery of tuition support and living expenses for pedagogical students subject to tuition and living expenses compensation according to regulations.
