Spread the money to reserve a place for your child to enter the 6th grade at a top school

On April 16, Nguyen Thi Hang, a resident of Nam Tu Liem district, went to a private school in Cau Giay district to enroll her child. The girl was announced to have passed the exam after taking the aptitude test a week before. In addition to the necessary documents, Ms. Hang must sign a commitment to pay all fees according to the school’s 6th grade enrollment notice.

Fees include: enrollment and approval fee 11 million dong, first month’s tuition 3.5 million and summer and winter uniforms and school fees, all more than 16 million dong. The school announced, parents will lose about 11 million in case of not submitting the original transcript after the specified time or withdrawing the application to another school. Those who are still enrolled, this is converted into a school development fee for four years.

In the school year 2022-2023, Hanoi has about 151,000 students applying for 6th grade. Online or direct admissions to public schools take place around July. But from the beginning of February, the race to the top schools. head has started. With the desire to secure a place in one of the best schools in the city, families often register their children for 3-5 schools. In order to retain students, many schools organize exams and announce early matriculation, along with admission requirements, including submission of documents and fees.

In addition to the first school that has just been admitted, Hang’s daughter will also attend Nguyen Tat Thanh Middle School & High School, Nam Tu Liem Secondary School and Foreign Language Secondary School. Not sure if her child can pass other schools, Ms. Hang accepts the possibility of losing 11 million dong in the enrollment fee to rest assured that she has a place for her child in case she fails the remaining three schools.

“I had to pay even though it was very high, almost equal to my whole month’s salary,” she said.

The “enrollment and approval fee” that the school has just collected from Ms. Hang is essentially a “reservation fee” or “deposit”., which is applied by many private and international schools in Hanoi, in order to limit students’ withdrawal and reduce the rate of virtual records. With private schools, this fee ranges from two million to about 20 million. For international schools, this amount is even higher, up to about 35 million VND.

To avoid the concept of “placement fee” or “deposit”, which is not found in the Education Law and related regulations, many schools refer to this as an “enrolment fee” – a valid fee. However, none of the schools clearly explained why the “enrolment and application fee” amounted to more than 10 million VND each.

However, like Ms. Hang, Ms. Dang Thi Dinh, from Thanh Xuan district, also accepts to pay the fee for her child as soon as she receives the notification of her acceptance from a private secondary school.

According to her, families often have more than one option and admission, enrollment fee payment, and application approval are “normal”. She had to because the admission deadline for this school ended before the results of the other two schools. Although it may not cost tens of millions of dong, Dinh said that it is important to “agree to buy and sell” between the school and the parents.

Having experience in applying for her children to private schools, Ms. Kieu Mai Anh from Hoang Mai district said that schools and parents both have their own purposes. According to her, schools have informed from the beginning about the money that can be lost if not attending. Therefore, parents need to learn and consider carefully.

“I think the schools have their own reasons. Parents who want to be sure of a school for their children must accept to lose their deposit if they go to another school after that”, Ms. Mai Anh shared. She had to deposit nearly 20 million dong after her son was admitted to an inter-level high school in My Dinh, Nam Tu Liem district. Many other parents even lose the deposit 2-3 times, costing up to 30-40 million dong because their children passed many schools, but only satisfied with the last school.

The understanding of Ms. Dinh and Ms. Mai Anh is also the message that schools often use to communicate to parents. They want parents to see this as a kind of civil agreement, based on the voluntary basis of both parties. School rules but not forcing, parents are provided information and free choice. But in fact, the school always chooses the time of admission when candidates do not have the results of other schools, leaving many parents in a situation where they have to accept it.

While many parents accept the “placeholder fee”, some realize the fee is ridiculous.

Going to enroll her son in grade 6 at a private school in Trung Hoa ward, Cau Giay district on April 16, Ms. Vu Mai Linh took 30 minutes in the morning to get the order number and then had to wait until the afternoon to call to work. procedure. But when she was about to pay, she left.

She is not satisfied with the messy and time-consuming way of organizing the school. And the most pressing thing is the “enrollment and approval fee” of 11 million VND. “That amount doesn’t know what to include, but 11 million and I still lose everything if I don’t study,” Linh said.

Currently, her children still have a plan to apply to Cau Giay, Nguyen Tat Thanh and Foreign Language Secondary Schools. “In case I don’t pass, I send my child to a normal public school,” Linh said.

This parent believes that schools should not compete and win students by setting unreasonable rules, hitting parents’ pockets. “You should compete with the quality of education. If the school is really good, parents and students will come,” Ms. Linh said.

Duong Tam – Minh Phuong