On August 25, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training (GDĐT) sent a document to the People's Committee of Hoa Hung ward on reporting the current situation and handling directions for PennSchool Primary and Secondary School.
This move was made after the Department received information reflecting that PennSchool facility on Ba Thang Hai street, Hoa Hung ward, suddenly closed on the day students came to school.
According to the Department of Education and Training, based on Clause 1, Article 8 of Decree 142/2025/ND-CP of the Government, the authority to establish or allow the establishment, allow educational activities, suspend educational activities, merge, split, dissolve primary schools belongs to the Chairman of the Commune-level People's Committee.
Similarly, according to Clause 1, Article 10 of Decree 142/2025/ND-CP, for secondary schools and general schools with multiple levels of education with the highest level of education being secondary school, the authority to establish, allow educational activities, suspend educational activities, merge, split, separate, and dissolve also belongs to the Chairman of the commune-level People's Committee.
From the above regulations, the Department of Education and Training determined that the competent authority to allow the establishment, allowing educational activities and performing state management functions for PennSchool Primary and Secondary School at No. 10 Ba Thang Hai Street is the People's Committee of Hoa Hung Ward.
Therefore, the Department requests Hoa Hung Ward People's Committee to urgently send a report on the current situation and handling direction for PennSchool Primary and Secondary School according to its authority.
On August 24, many parents brought their children to PennSchool facility on Ba Thang Hai street to return to school according to the school's announcement but were surprised to discover that the facility had stopped operating.
According to the previous announcement, on the day of enrollment, students will participate in familiarization activities, year-end activities and lunch. However, when parents brought their children to school, a banner appeared at the school gate announcing the revocation of the Lao student dormitory of the Branch of the Academy of Public Administration and Management in Ho Chi Minh City - where PennSchool is using as a campus.
The banner content stated that the building was revoked from July 1st because the two sides had signed a contract termination record and the extension period for relocation to June 30th had ended.
Talking to Lao Dong on the evening of August 24, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Trung, Head of the Culture - Society Department of Hoa Hung ward, said that the locality has grasped the information reflected by parents and requested the school to report. According to the ward leader, the school has not reported the incident to the locality before the facility stopped operating.
Currently, PennSchool facility on Ba Thang Hai street has more than 400 students. The school's suspension on the opening day of school makes many parents worried about their children's studies and plans to continue studying in the new school year.
PennSchool was established in 2020, implementing the American education program in Ho Chi Minh City for students from elementary school to 12th grade and has facilities on Ba Thang Hai and Tran Binh Trong streets.
