On September 10, the Hanoi People's Court opened an appellate trial for the case of abusing positions and powers while performing official duties related to Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh - former Principal of Ba Dinh Secondary School and former accountant Pham Thi Minh Nguyet. The case is expected to be tried in 2 days.
The case revolves around Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh collecting extra tutoring fees higher than the ceiling level in Decision No. 22/2013/QD-UBND of the Hanoi People's Committee.
Decision No. 22/2013/QD-UBND stipulates the collection level as follows:
| Number of students/class | Maximum collection level for 1 student/period |
|---|---|
| From 40 students/class upwards | 6,000 VND |
| From 30 to under 40 students/class | 7,000 VND |
| From 20 to under 30 students/class | 9,000 VND |
| From 10 to under 20 students/class | 13,000 VND |
| From 1 to under 10 students/class | 26,000 VND |
According to the indictment, although there were regulations, Ms. Binh still directed accountant Pham Thi Minh Nguyet and homeroom teachers of grades 7, 8, and 9 to collect extra classes and tutoring fees at a common level of 15,000 VND/time/student.
The total amount the school collected from 24 classes was 2.1 billion VND and the first-instance court said that the collected amount was higher than regulations by nearly 1.1 billion VND. Of the total 2.1 billion VND collected, 70% was spent on teachers directly teaching, and 30% was brought back to the school.
To legitimize the collection of higher fees as mentioned above, Ms. Binh directed accountant Pham Thi Minh Nguyet to prepare documents, divide the 30% money collected from tutoring submitted by the homeroom teacher of one tutoring class in half, divided into 2 groups of classes to establish 2 accounting books systems.
Decision No. 22/2013/QD-UBND and Guidance Document No. 5898/HD-SGD&ĐT are one of the legal grounds for the court to indict Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh.
However, these documents were later concluded by competent state agencies to be illegal and repealed.
At noon on September 10, after the morning working session ended, Ms. Nguyen Thi Binh burst into tears when stepping out of the courtroom. Ms. Binh thanked the representative of the Department of Legal Document Inspection under the Ministry of Justice for publicly stating in court that Decision No. 22/2013/QD-UBND of the Hanoi People's Committee - a document being used to accuse her - was illegal from the time it was issued.
According to Ms. Binh, this assessment reinforces the school's determination that her agreement with parents on the collection level according to Circular 17 of the Ministry of Education and Training is in accordance with regulations.
The former principal said he dedicated his whole life to the cause of education, for students, so he is sad when his honor is affected.
She maintained her appeal from the time she was prosecuted until now, affirming that she only performed the task of principal and did not intentionally do anything illegal.
