Fighting overcharging in schools, seen from Resolution 08

Basis for monitoring and combating overcharging

On December 8, 2022, the People's Council of Hai Duong province issued Resolution No. 08/2022/NQ-HDND stipulating the list of collection levels and service fees for serving and supporting educational activities at kindergartens, general education schools and public educational and training institutions.

Before this resolution, schools collected some fees for services to support educational activities, which caused many limitations and shortcomings, making parents upset.

After nearly 1 year of implementing Resolution No. 08/2022/NQ-HDND, it has had an important effect, gradually bringing revenue and expenditure at public schools into a more disciplined and stricter manner than before.

After a period of implementing the resolution, many parents and schools responded with positive impacts. Students' rights are guaranteed, and revenue and expenditure are more transparent and public than before. Implementing Resolution No. 08/2022/NQ-HDND, many revenue items are lower than the collection levels of previous years that some schools still collect. Most of the 13 revenue items have specific collection levels, the maximum collection level is assessed as suitable for students, parents and schools. Most of the revenue items and collection levels are specified in detail, limiting qualitative regulations such as "approximate", or regulating ceiling levels that are too high, which can easily lead to overcharging. Only the collection of electricity for air conditioning directly serving students' needs does not specify a collection level or ceiling, but is collected based on the actual amount of electricity used.

With specific revenue and reasonable collection levels, Resolution No. 08/2022/NQ-HDND coming into effect is assessed to have many positive impacts. This is a good sign of a resolution that has been methodically developed, surveyed in practice, and carefully assessed for impact before being submitted and approved by the Provincial People's Council delegates. Thanks to Resolution No. 08/2022/NQ-HDND, revenue and expenditure in public schools in the province have gradually become more orderly, public, and transparent. Schools have a detailed basis for implementation, and parents also have a basis to monitor whether the school's revenue and expenditure are correct and report when there are signs of violations.

Demands from practice need to be revised

However, after a period of implementing Resolution No. 08/2022/NQ-HDND, some limitations have also been revealed that need to be frankly acknowledged and amended and supplemented to suit reality. Many public schools in the province are reporting difficulties because this resolution has not yet stipulated some necessary fees and has unreasonable fees.

Specifically, Resolution No. 08/2022/NQ-HDND does not have separate regulations on the fee for introducing English to preschoolers and grade 1 and grade 2 children by licensed organizations at schools. Currently, the resolution stipulates a general fee for teaching 2 sessions/day in primary school and introducing English to preschoolers of 5,000 VND/student/period. Introducing English to preschoolers has been included in the education program by the Ministry of Education and Training. In fact, all public preschools in Hai Duong province do not currently have English teachers. To ensure the program and meet the needs of students, schools must cooperate with English teaching facilities and if the fee is 5,000 VND/student/period, it will not be enough to implement.

Resolution No. 08/2022/NQ-HDND has not yet regulated the fee for experiential activities. Meanwhile, this is a compulsory activity from grade 1 to grade 12 according to the new general education program in 2018, which includes out-of-school experiential activities. In addition, the resolution has not yet regulated the fee for study materials for exams and tests at general education institutions (exam papers, scratch paper, photocopies of exam questions, etc.), making it difficult for some public education institutions to ensure and balance their regular expenditure sources...

Regarding difficulties in implementing Resolution No. 08/2022/NQ-HDND, the Department of Education and Training has issued a document proposing to adjust and supplement a number of revenue items and collection levels.

A major resolution affecting many subjects such as Resolution No. 08/2022/NQ-HDND when put into practice is inevitable to have certain shortcomings. These shortcomings need to be clearly pointed out, promptly reflected and accepted to improve and remove obstacles for those affected by the policy. Unregulated fees need to be supplemented so that public schools have a basis to organize activities to serve students' learning. At the same time, unreasonable and inappropriate fees in the regulations need to be considered and amended to suit reality.