Near the day of paying the tuition fees, Ms. Do Hong Hanh - a garment worker in the suburbs of Hanoi - struggled to calculate the expenses. Additional tuition for foreign languages, experience fees, learning equipment fees, English learning fees... combined with nearly half of the couple's income each month. "The tuition fee is exempted, but why is going to school getting more expensive?" - she sighed.
Ms. Hanh's worries are also the worries of millions of parents, especially workers and laborers, as education costs are increasing, far exceeding the savings of many families.
Survey data from the Statistics Office shows that the level of spending on education and training of each family is increasing. The average expenditure per person going to school in 2024 has exceeded 9.5 million VND, an increase of 36.3% compared to 2022. This figure reflects a paradox: Tuition fees are exempted or reduced, but the total education costs that people have to spend are not reduced.
This fact was frankly pointed out by General Secretary To Lam at the meeting with voters of 11 wards of Hanoi after the 10th Session of the 15th National Assembly.
He emphasized: "When you bring in foreigners and collect money, the State exempts 1-2 million but the children have to pay a few more. We cannot turn schools into places for services".
The General Secretary's speech is not only a reminder, but a clear warning about the risk of commercializing public education, distorting social security goals.
For families of workers and laborers, having to bear a series of additional fees in addition to tuition fees is truly a heavy pressure. Many fees are labeled "voluntary" but are mandatory, leaving parents without options.
This goes against the humane spirit of the tuition exemption policy, while creating inequality right at the school gate - where fair learning opportunities should have been guaranteed for all children.
To make the tuition exemption policy truly effective, it is necessary to strongly shift from the thinking of "free tuition" to the thinking of "reducing school costs". Not only tuition fees, but all expenses directly related to students' studies - from textbooks, uniforms, affiliated programs, experiential learning, equipment, sponsorship - need to be strictly reviewed and controlled.
The school already has a regular curriculum, if it implements additional external affiliated programs, it must prove its outstanding advantages and practical benefits for students. Otherwise, those programs should not be implemented in the public education environment.
The message " cannot turn schools into places for services" of General Secretary To Lam is a political order and also a moral order. The education sector, local authorities and the entire political system need to quickly take action to review and rectify to properly restore the social security of public education.
Only when schools are returned to their true role as places to nurture knowledge and personality, not as places to provide services, will the right to fair learning of each child be truly guaranteed.
