Accordingly, the school is not allowed to collect outside the list, not allowed to exceed the maximum level, must publicly collect and disburse and refund parents if there is still surplus funds at the end of the school year.
Hue's regulations not only solve the problem in one locality, but also suggest a common problem for public schools across the country when students have been exempted from tuition fees but parents still have to pay many other fees.
Entering the new school year, in addition to textbooks, notebooks, school supplies and uniforms, many families also have to prepare semi-boarding meals, student care, drinking water, hygiene, test papers, air conditioning, learning software, extracurricular activities, experiences and related services.
Each separate amount may not be large, but added together it will become a significant amount of money. For low-income families or families with two or three children going to school together, expenses concentrated at the beginning of the year can become real pressure.
Therefore, tuition fee exemption is only part of the policy to reduce the burden of education. For this policy to fully come into life, the remaining fees in schools must also be strictly controlled.
First of all, each locality needs to issue a clear list, stipulating which fees are allowed to be collected, which are not, and the maximum level for each service. It is not possible to let the same type of school collect this fee in one place and collect another fee in another, making parents not know what is the regulation and what is the agreement.
Another issue is that the principle of voluntariness must also be ensured in substance. Voluntary is not about bringing a contribution level to a parent meeting, voting by the majority and then dividing it equally among each family. It is even more impossible to call it voluntary if parents find it difficult to refuse because they are worried that their children are different from their friends.
In particular, the Parents' Representative Board cannot become a place to collect fees for the school or set up mandatory funds. Needs under the school's responsibility must be resolved with appropriate funding, and should not be converted into the natural obligation of parents.
Hue's regulation on refunding surplus money is also a principle that should be applied uniformly to localities. Parents' money paid for a specific purpose does not automatically become school money. How much to collect, what to spend, and how much remains must be clearly finalized; if not used up, it must be returned.
Tuition fee exemption is a policy of great significance for millions of families. But to prevent that joy from being reduced by a long list of other contributions, the whole country needs a unified, transparent and accountable revenue and expenditure management mechanism.
What parents need is not only to know the maximum collection level, but also to be guaranteed that each amount of money is really necessary, calculated correctly, collected fully and used for the right purpose. Only then will the tuition fee exemption policy truly alleviate the burden of tuition fees for people.
