According to Decree 282/2025/ND-CP, the act of not educating family members who are children will be fined from 10 to 20 million VND, and if family members are forced to study too much will be fined from 5 to 10 million VND.
Regarding the above issue, lawyer Nguyen Vo Khai - Mai Kim Thach Law Office (Ho Chi Minh City Bar Association) - said that both regulations demonstrate the State's progressive spirit in protecting children. However, to apply it in practice, there needs to be more specific instructions.
"The problem lies in what is forced over-the-counter learning and what is uneducated? Without clear qualitative criteria, it is easy to lead to emotional punishment, causing controversy between parents and authorities," said lawyer Khai.
According to Lawyer Nguyen Vo Khai, in the context of Vietnamese education still being deeply affected by the concept of "good study is good children", many parents think that letting their children take extra classes, take exams or register for many talent classes is a sign of interest. However, if that causes children to stress, physical and mental health damage, it can be considered "excessive erudition". On the contrary, parents who let their children develop freely, do not interfere deeply in their studies, and are sometimes seen as lacking educational responsibility. This overlap makes regulations, even though they have positive meanings, still at risk of falling into paradox when applied in practice.
Lawyer Khai emphasized that the goal of both provisions is to ensure children's rights, including the right to study, rest and play. These two rights are not contradictory but complement each other, the problem is to find a reasonable balance.
The law does not prohibit parents from orienting their children's learning, but they need to respect their children's abilities, interests and needs. It is also impossible to completely loosen, because that is the role of education being abandoned. The core is to consider the best interests of children in each specific case, said lawyer Khai.
To avoid misunderstanding, lawyer Nguyen Vo Khai suggested that the management agency should issue a circular with detailed guidance, clearly defining the specific manifestations of the act of "excessive learning forced" as well as the criteria for "not educating".
From two seemingly contradictory regulations in Decree 282/2025/ND-CP, according to lawyer Khai, the bigger problem is how to help parents understand and practice their children's education correctly. Because if there is a lack of direction, all sanctions can easily become a form.
ridership is not a matter of forcedness, nor is it a matter of giving up. Each child is a separate individual, and the responsibility of parents is to accompany, not to impose, emphasized lawyer Nguyen Vo Khai.
Lawyer Khai said that Decree 282/2025/ND-CP opens up a new perspective in child protection policies, but also poses significant challenges in the implementation process. Both the extreme of forced learning and non-teaching, the solution still lies in balance, understanding and respect for childrens rights. That which no decree can replace with the love and recognition of parents, lawyer Nguyen Vo Khai shared.
