The frustrations
Sharing with Lao Dong Newspaper reporters, some parents whose children study at Hai Thuong Primary School (Nghi Son Town, Thanh Hoa Province) said that after the school held a parent meeting and announced the fees at the beginning of the school year, the parents felt very upset about some fees and the school's schedule arrangement.
Of the nearly 20 fees announced, parents said that the school's fee for extra classes and extra sessions (15,000 VND/session/student) was not in accordance with regulations. In addition, when teaching extra sessions, the school combined and organized extra English and life skills classes and collected 10,000 VND/session/student, which was unreasonable and overlapping.
“According to the timetable, students have 5 periods in the morning on weekdays, and 4 additional periods on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday afternoons (including Math, Vietnamese, English, and Life Skills). This means students have to study 9 periods a day, overloading young elementary school children. Meanwhile, on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, the school leaves the timetable empty,” said a parent whose child is in first grade.
According to this parent, after parents reacted to the fees and timetable, the school adjusted the timetable and did not organize extra English and life skills classes (for grades 1 and 2) in the afternoons, the children only studied in the morning, with 5 periods.
“They say this and that are voluntary and a service, but in the end everyone has to pay. For many years, parents have been very upset, but most people do not dare to speak up for fear of affecting their children's studies,” one parent shared.
What does the Department of Education and Training say?
Regarding the above incident, speaking with Lao Dong, a representative of the Department of Education and Training of Nghi Son Town, Thanh Hoa Province said that regarding the collection of fees at the beginning of the new school year, the town has provided instructions and approved them in accordance with regulations, and schools must follow them. If any school does something wrong, it must take responsibility.
As for the English and life skills fees, they are service fees, so schools that have the conditions and receive high consensus from parents will coordinate with centers (licensed by the Department of Education and Training) to implement them right at the school, with the maximum fee according to regulations.
“This is the need of the industry and the school to improve life skills for children. When the school cooperates with centers to teach life skills, the amount of money collected is not much, only serving the teachers, the remaining 20% is allocated to the school to supplement facilities and management” - representative of the leader of the Department of Education and Training of Nghi Son Town informed.
Also according to the representative of the Department of Education and Training of Nghi Son Town, for teaching life skills, it is implemented in 2 forms: first is to organize specialized activities, the center will send people and facilities to implement; second is the center will transfer software to school teachers to directly teach in class.
“Teaching English and life skills has been implemented in the area for many years, however, recently due to revenue and expenditure issues, the Department has temporarily suspended the teaching of life skills. After that, the leaders of Nghi Son town met with schools and centers, asked for opinions from all parties and deemed it necessary, so the town allowed the continued implementation” - said a representative of the leader of the Department of Education and Training of Nghi Son town.
Previously, Lao Dong newspaper published a series of articles reflecting on the fact that, after the parent meeting, parents with children studying at Hai Thuong Primary School, Nghi Son Town expressed their anger and "fear" when informed about the fees at the beginning of the school year.
After Lao Dong newspaper reported, Nghi Son town People's Committee directed the education sector and police to investigate and clarify.
Through verification and inspection, the representative of the Nghi Son Town Department of Education and Training said that some contents at this school were not implemented correctly, such as the socialized money was not given an average level, and the extra fee that a teacher announced was collected was not in accordance with regulations.
Thereby, the Department of Education and Training of Nghi Son Town requested the Principal of Hai Thuong Primary School to seriously learn from experience when implementing the content to teachers and parents.
