"The amount of money I spend each month on my children is about 3 million VND, accounting for nearly half of my income. If we have the conditions to work overtime, our mother and I can still afford to spend. Otherwise, near the end of the month, the whole family lacks money and is struggling to make ends meet" - Ms. Cach shared.
Timely policy
When hearing about the tuition exemption policy, Ms. ones could not hide her joy, the savings from the two children's tuition exemption and reduction will be used to buy milk, clothes and school supplies for them.
In Hung Yen, the family of Ms. Mui Thi Tac, born in 1987, from Moc Chau district (Son La) came to Hung Yen for 2 years. Ms. Tac and her husband have 2 children, a young child in grade 5, the older child is 17 years old and has dropped out of school, also applying to work as a worker in Pho Noi A Industrial Park. Ms. Tac's husband has not yet found a job, staying at home to take care of food and water and take his young child to school.
Ms. Tac is currently a worker at Uniben Joint Stock Company (Pho Noi A Industrial Park, Hung Yen), with a total income of about 10 million VND/month. The whole family depends on her salary and the salary of her eldest son who is a worker...
"My family only dares to rent a room of more than 10 square meters, without air conditioning, the rental price is 900,000 VND/month, not including electricity, water, and sanitation fees. It is very cramped, hot in the summer, but there are no conditions, limited income, and expenses must be cut to the maximum, so it is acceptable. My child is in high school this year, I am very happy that he is exempted from tuition fees according to the new policy. Reducing the amount of money spent a few million VND each year is very meaningful to us... - Ms. Tac said.
Resolutely and quickly
In the group discussion session at the 8th session of the 15th National Assembly in November 2024 on the draft Law on Teachers, General Secretary To Lam said that the orientation of universal education must " Gradually improve", in the direction that children of school age must go to school.
"If we move forward, the State must raise, exempt tuition fees, and feed children of school age. Progress must be at that level" - the General Secretary emphasized.
Less than 4 months later, at the Politburo meeting on February 28, 2025, after listening to the Government's report on finance after streamlining the apparatus, the Politburo decided to exempt all tuition fees for students from preschool to high school in public schools nationwide from the 2025-2026 school year. This is a policy that bears the strong mark of the policy of "putting people first" and affirming that education is the top national policy.
Thus, from the concerns of General Secretary To Lam (November 2024) to the Politburo's policy decision (February 2025) and then the National Assembly passed a resolution on tuition exemption and support (June 2025) for only a few months - an incredible speed, even a speed in policy issuance.
To exercise equal rights in education, the Ministry of Education and Training has proposed and received approval from the Politburo to supplement tuition exemption and tuition support for students. Accordingly, all public preschool, primary, secondary and high school students will be exempted from tuition fees. Students of private and public schools will be compensated for tuition fees equal to the tuition fees of public schools according to the provisions of law; the tuition difference between public and private schools will be paid by students' families.
The total number of students benefiting from this policy is up to 23.2 million students. The budget is expected to spend about 30 trillion VND/year. However, many experts believe that this is not a spending, but the most profitable investment.
Speaking with Lao Dong, Associate Professor, Dr. Bui Hoai Son - Committee for Culture and Society of the 15th National Assembly - said that this is a " Strong statement: Education is a basic right, not a privilege". Delegate Pham Van Hoa highly appreciated the impact of the tuition exemption policy on poor households and workers' families.
Teacher Pham Trung Thong - a primary school teacher in Son La - shared: "People in the highlands mainly live and earn income thanks to little rice fields, little land, and better off, buffaloes and cows. After more than 20 years of working, I have witnessed many cases of students dropping out of school because their families do not have money to pay tuition. When the tuition exemption policy is implemented, many students will definitely return to school.
Mr. Nguyen Huy Hoang - Director of the Department of Education and Training of Son La province - told Lao Dong: "The policy of tuition exemption and reduction shows the Party and State's concern for the development of education, not only helping to reduce the financial burden on parents but also contributing to reducing the rate of students dropping out of school, especially in mountainous and remote provinces".
A timely humanitarian policy, as Vietnam is entering an era of rising up, comprehensively reforming the apparatus and developing high-quality human resources.
Free tuition is not only a step forward in education, but also a strategic step forward in social security, human resource development and creating a foundation for sustainable development in Vietnam.
