Initial news
In October 2025, the representative office of Lao Dong Newspaper in the Northwest received short, reserved messages: "We are preschool teachers, and are required to return overtime pay to the school...". The senders were teachers at An Binh Kindergarten, Dong Cuong commune, Lao Cai province.
Teachers shared that from November 2022 to present, all the monthly overtime pay received from the bank must be transferred to the school through the cashier's personal account number.
On average, for nearly 3 years, each teacher had to transfer about 30 million VND while only the principal informed through meetings that this amount was for the school to... pay off debts.
For many days after that, the reporter had contacts with many teachers and consolidated documents through transfer statements, internal messages, and instructions from the Principal.
Evidence shows that in reality, teachers have to transfer overtime pay to schools.
Teaching teachers how to deal with
At the meeting with Lao Dong Newspaper reporters on the morning of October 21, Ms. Doan Thi Le Xuan - Principal of An Binh Kindergarten affirmed: "Every month, teachers are still paid for extra teaching hours (Saturday and Sunday) and are not transferred to the school".
At noon of the same day, Ms. Doan Thi Le Xuan held an urgent meeting with the Board of Directors, accountants, treasurers and teachers of the school to find a "resistance" solution.
"I have repeatedly mentioned that I have to give in cash, now the school needs the consensus of the untrue teachers and explained: The purpose of transferring money to the cashier is to get cash. With transfers that stated "paying for overtime", people say that compensation is for children's tuition.
I have put too much effort into begging for the school. much more than the money the teachers transferred. The previous record book also agreed to transfer the overtime to pay off the debt. Now the teachers are not united, helping is the Board of Directors disbanding" - Principal of An Binh Kindergarten said at the closed meeting.
On the evening of October 21, Ms. Doan Thi Xuan continued to convene a meeting with teachers to find a way to legalize documents. In the following days, the Principal of An Binh Kindergarten presented many documents and statements for teachers to sign stating that he had returned the monthly overtime pay...
All in
On Friday, October 24, 2025, Lao Dong Newspaper published an article: A teacher at a kindergarten in Lao Cai reported that he had to pay for extra teaching hours. The article quickly received the attention of teachers, parents, authorities and readers nationwide.
Many parents with children studying at An Binh Kindergarten continue to petition for unreasonable fees that the Board of Directors has directed homeroom teachers to collect over the years.
For example, at the beginning of the year, parents had to pay 500,000 VND/child to buy boarding school supplies. Although students still use old blankets and toys, the school spends very little to buy them, but every year they still have to pay more.
Not to mention that charity groups occasionally donate toys and school supplies to the list to report to parents who are schools for shopping...
After Lao Dong Newspaper published the article, the Chairman of Lao Cai Provincial People's Committee issued a document assigning the Department of Education and Training to preside over and coordinate with Dong Cuong Commune People's Committee to organize an inspection and verification of the reflection.
The professional units of Lao Cai Provincial Police quickly took action, working both Saturday and Sunday to soon bring the incident to light.
The Department of Education and Training of Lao Cai province also established an inspection team, coordinating with the People's Committee of Dong Cuong commune to clarify the revenues and expenditures at An Binh Kindergarten.
Not only did they declare the truth to the authorities, 20 teachers of An Binh Kindergarten also made a statement from the bank stating that they had to pay for extra teaching hours to send to Lao Cai Provincial Police to serve the investigation.
Four days later, on October 28, the Investigation Police Agency of Lao Cai Provincial Police issued a decision to prosecute the case, prosecute the accused and execute an arrest warrant to temporarily detain Doan Thi Le Xuan (born in 1984, Principal of An Binh Kindergarten) and Nguyen Ngoc Ha (born in 1984, Accountant of An Binh Kindergarten) for the crime of "Abusing position and power while performing official duties" for investigation and handling.
The investigation determined that from 2022 to 2025, Doan Thi Le Xuan discussed and agreed with Nguyen Ngoc Ha to complete the fake overtime documents and documents, not reflecting the actual situation, thereby withdrawing the difference to spend and use in violation of regulations, causing a total loss to the State budget of over 580 million VND.
With the strong influence of the article, many readers frankly pointed out the reality of schools collecting overtime pay from teachers or not paying enough according to the existential list in many educational institutions.
Currently, the authorities of Lao Cai province are reviewing and inspecting schools in the area to promptly detect and strictly handle violations.
