Quang Tri requires schools to collect correctly, fully, use for the right purpose, be public and transparent; not collect too many fees at the beginning of the year, not arbitrarily establish funds, and not force contributions under the guise of voluntariness.
Nghe An follows the direction of regulating the list of fees, requiring public schools not to arbitrarily add fees outside the list.
Ho Chi Minh City also stipulates a ceiling for 22 service fees at public schools in the 2026-2027 school year.
But no matter how strict the regulations are, they are not enough if there is no supervisory mechanism.
Overcharging can appear under a parent meeting, a donation list, a "for children" appeal, or an amount of money called "voluntary".
Voluntary must truly be voluntary, there cannot be a matter of setting a minimum level, dividing targets for each class, or creating pressure for parents to pay money.
An amount of money cannot become "voluntary" just because on paper it is called by those two words.
Quang Tri has requested that the sponsorship mobilization must be public and transparent, without stipulating an average or minimum sponsorship level. The school is responsible for mobilizing, receiving, managing and using, instead of pushing this matter to the parents' representative board.
But the responsibility of the head of the school is only half the story, the other half is to create a mechanism for parents to supervise.
Parents must know what fees the school is allowed to collect, what level, what basis, and where the money is spent.
That information needs to be made public, easy to understand, easy to access, instead of just being in administrative documents that parents do not know where to find.
More importantly, there must be an independent, convenient and responsible channel of reflection.
Parents who detect unusual collections must know who to report to, and the report must be received. Management agencies must check, and if there is incorrect collection, it must be returned.
We cannot let parents fall into a "knowing but not daring to say" situation, while the school implicitly believes that no one is complaining, meaning everything is okay.
It is also necessary to avoid another extreme, because of fear of overcharging, turning all legitimate contributions of the community into suspicious things.
Socializing education and sponsoring schools can bring good resources to students, but the prerequisite is still voluntary, transparent and for the right purpose.
Combating overcharging is not just about issuing an additional list of prohibitions, but designing a system in which revenue is made public before collection, and cash flow is controlled.
To eliminate overcharging, don't just build barriers with regulations, open the door of supervision so that all money into the school can be seen, verified and explained.
