HanoiOn the evening of May 20, returning home after nearly four hours of cleaning and renting, Ms. Sen, 43, was startled when her daughter in grade 6 announced that “tuition fees are about to double”.
After a year of not increasing tuition fees because Covid-19 has severely affected people’s lives, two days ago, the Hanoi People’s Council announced the draft public preschool and high school tuition fees for the period 2022-2026.
Hanoi applies the floor level in the tuition fee frame of Decree 81/2021. This level – double compared to 2021, and increased by 20-40% each year thereafter, still creating a burden for parents like Sen.
Ms. Sen lives in Ha Dong district with her husband and two daughters in grades 6 and 10. She works as an hourly cleaner at households, and her husband works as a freelancer. Her two children pay school fees at the rate of region 1 – the highest payment – because the household registration is located in the inner city.
Next school year, she has to pay each child 300,000 VND monthly, 1.4-2 times the current rate. In the next three years, the tuition fees for middle school and high school in region 1 increased to 410,000, 530,000 and 650,000 dong, respectively. “Four times the current payment rate”, Sen exclaimed after comparing 650,000 and 155,000 VND, saying that this is not a small amount.
Her and her husband’s income is not stable. The maximum monthly income is 14 million dong, but in some months it is only half. The cost of studying for two children is 5-6 million VND per month, including part-boarding, learning materials and extra lessons. In the context of food, gas prices and children’s school fees all increased, but “the couple’s money earned only less, not more”, Ms. Sen received more online sales to cover.
Father and son in front of a high school graduation exam score in 2021. Photo: Tung Dinh
Not only families with precarious incomes in the inner city, the pressure of tuition fees also worries suburban parents.
Ms. Nhan, who lives in Phuc Tho district, may have to pay a total of 300,000 VND per month in tuition for her two children in grades 7 and 10 for the next school year – the same rate applies to Region 3, which includes communes in 18 districts and suburban towns. Hanoi. As a near-poor family, she is entitled to a 50% reduction in tuition fees, to 150,000 VND. The amount after this reduction is still 1.5-2 times higher than the current closing level. “This is not a large amount of money compared to a lot of things to spend in a month, but it also makes me work a little harder,” Nhan said.
A single mother raising two children, working in a garment company with a salary ranging from 5-6 million VND a month. She squeezes every penny to cover her expenses in the context of rising prices. Every year, apart from the holidays, the beginning of the school year is always a difficult time financially for her, because many things have to be spent on her children.
Not familiar with decrees or policies, but Ms. Nhan thinks the increase in tuition fees is predictable because everything increases. “This year, many people’s incomes are still affected by Covid-19, including me. If the new tuition fees are delayed for 1-2 years before applying, I think it will be more reasonable,” she said.
The principal of a secondary school shared the difficulty and pressure that low-income families face when tuition fees rise. However, she believes that these families have been supported by the state with policies on tuition exemption and reduction, so the burden is somewhat lighter. For parents with a good average income or higher, she said the increase should not cause many difficulties, because “the level of spending on extra lessons for their children is much higher than the tuition fee”.
From a management perspective, She assessed that the increase in tuition fees is necessary, in the right way to increase the quality of teaching in schools, and to help students have a better learning environment. 60% of tuition fees will be used for school activities, from professional to minor repairs related to facilities; 40% set aside salary fund for teachers.
Students from Viet Duc High School, Ba Dinh district, returned to school on the morning of December 4. Image: Giang Huy
Explaining the increase in tuition fees, Ms. Dao Hai Yen, Deputy Head of the Financial Planning Department, Department of Education and Training, said the draft was developed according to the Government’s new tuition fee framework in Decree 81/2021.
In this framework, the floor (lowest) and ceiling (highest) of tuition fees at each level are specified in three areas: urban, rural, ethnic minority and mountainous areas. period 2022-2025. On the basis of the Government’s framework, the People’s Councils of the provinces and cities will decide the specific tuition rates for each school in each locality.
In the first year of implementation, Hanoi intends to apply the lowest level in the tuition fee bracket set by the Government for all regions and levels of education, and then increase it further in the following years.
Ms. Yen explained that the Government’s regulations allow localities to increase the tuition fee frame each year, up to 7.5%. That is, by 2025, the monthly tuition fee ceiling could be 670,000 VND (for preschool) and 806,000 VND (middle and high school) in urban areas. By 2026, a new Decree on tuition fees will be issued, the tuition framework will again have a different ceiling and floor.
“Because Hanoi has applied the lowest possible tuition rate in 2022, if the following years increase too little, Hanoi’s tuition fee will be much lower than the ceiling set by the Government, until it has to be applied. The new frame is in 2026, parents may be shocked”, Ms. Yen explained and mentioned the situation that is happening in Ho Chi Minh City when the new and current tuition rates are different. 5 times the highest.
Ms. Yen further explained that “it is said to increase rapidly, but the tuition fee in 2025 that Hanoi is expected to apply is only equal to the ceiling of 2022 according to the Government’s framework”.
In one survey on VnExpress, as of the morning of May 22, about the expected tuition fee of Hanoi, 80% of readers said that this increase is too high; 11% consider it reasonable, but should delay the application time; only 9% consider this to be an appropriate rate.
In the minority of 9%, Ms. Lien agrees to increase tuition fees but expects the quality of education and facilities to improve.
With a total income of nearly 40 million VND, Ms. Lien and her husband, who live in Dong Da district, confirmed that the 8th grade daughter’s tuition fee increased from 155,000 VND to 300,000 VND per month “not a problem”. Still, the mother is concerned with where the money will be spent.
“From the new tuition fee, I hope that the damaged or missing items and tools will be repaired or purchased by the school,” said Ms. Lien and said that the most useful way to convince parents of the effectiveness of the policy of increasing tuition fees is to show parents that their children can experience a better educational environment.
Thanh Hang – Duong Tam
at Blogtuan.info – Source: vnexpress.net – Read the original article here
