Regarding the parents' reflection that the Parents' Representative Board (BDDPH) of Nguyen Van Cu Primary School (Quy Nhon Nam ward, Gia Lai) mobilized donations against regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), on January 15, the School Board of Directors and BDDPH had a working session with representatives of Lao Dong Newspaper to inform about the results of verifying the reflected content.
Refund for parents' support
At the working session, BDDPH affirmed that the sponsorship mobilization for roofing and cleaning was carried out on a voluntary basis, stemming from the wishes of parents with the desire to create a clean and airy learning environment for students.
According to the explanation of the BDDPH, the school's toilets are currently degraded, not hygienic, have a foul odor, affecting students' lives; students moving through rows of classrooms are often wet when it rains. From this reality, parents have proposed to the BDDPH to sponsor roofing and cleaning.
The school currently has 9 toilets serving about 2,200 students. The cleaning cost is 51 million VND/month to pay for 9 workers. According to BDDPH, this spending level is not too high compared to the workload. The selection of the cleaning unit, TH. Ng. Co., Ltd., was objectively voted by parents, with the lowest bidding price among the 3 participating units.
BDDPH believes that the donation mobilization does not stipulate a specific contribution level, does not divide equally among parents, and whoever donates how much depends on their ability. The beneficiaries of this sponsorship are students, not BDDPH or the school.
However, through verification, the BDDPH determined that the 2x class leader implemented the mobilization not in accordance with the spirit of voluntariness when the support level was evenly divided among parents. Therefore, the BDDPH agreed to return the entire amount of money that this class supported.
The total amount of money parents of class 2x donated is 7,098,000 VND/41 parents. In which, 1 parent voluntarily donated 400,000 VND, 1 parent donated 100,000 VND; the remaining amount of 6,598,000 VND is divided equally among 39 parents, an average of about 169,000 VND/parent. Due to this class's mobilization not being in accordance with the spirit of voluntariness, BDDPH decided to return the entire amount mobilized to parents of the class", BDDPH informed.
BDDPH affirmed that the policy of mobilization, the collection and spending of sponsorship funds are all public and transparent, without self-interest, the mobilized funds are not used for BDDPH's activities and believes that the sponsorship is in accordance with Circular No. 16/2018/TT-BGDDT dated August 3, 2018 of the Minister of Education and Training (Circular 16).
We want to continue sponsoring and commit to implementing regulations correctly, so as not to let the situation as parents reflect occur," BDDPH expressed its opinion.
Request BDDPH to explain to parents
At the working session, Ms. Mac Hoan To Quyen - Principal of Nguyen Van Cu Elementary School - said that when BDDPH proposed the policy of mobilizing sponsorship, the school clearly stated that it would only agree to accept if the mobilization and sponsorship are carried out in accordance with the provisions of Circular 16.
Because the BDDPH is too eager to sponsor these 2 items, even putting pressure, the school agreed to accept them. Based on the sponsorship request of the Head of the BDDPH, the school made a submission to ask for opinions from the People's Committee of Quy Nhon Nam ward. However, the ward did not approve the policy, but only requested that the sponsorship of the BDDPH and the school's sponsorship reception must be in accordance with regulations," Ms. Quyen informed.
Ms. Quyen said that after parents' feedback, the school coordinated with the BDDPH to check the list of support for 52 classes, determining that class 2x did not mobilize in accordance with the spirit of voluntariness, and the remaining 51 classes all supported in the spirit of voluntariness.
Through working, the BDDPH proposed to return the support funds to this class. Currently, the school has requested the BDDPH to clarify the reflected content, have specific answers to parents and report to the school to have a basis for summarizing and reporting to superiors," Ms. Quyen said and said that the school still requests to stop receiving sponsorships to clarify the case.
As Lao Dong Newspaper has reported, from the beginning of the 2025-2026 school year, BDDPH has mobilized parents to donate money to build roofs and clean up with a total estimated cost of 624 million VND for 52 classes, each class 12 million VND.
To date, BDDPH has collected more than 457 million VND, spent more than 312 million VND on roofing and cleaning, leaving more than 144 million VND. In the second semester, BDDPH continued to mobilize parents to donate more than 110 million VND to maintain cleaning activities...
