Don't overcharge in the new school year

A new school year has begun. Along with the joy of students is the constant worry of many parents about the fees collected at the beginning of the school year. Everyone hopes that their child’s school will do the right thing, without overcharging or any other form of overcharging in education.

Recently, we have heard a lot about schools collecting unreasonable fees at the beginning of the new school year. Hai Duong is no exception. Remember, at the beginning of the 2023-2024 school year, in Hai Duong, there were 2 schools (in Thanh Mien and Chi Linh) involved in a scandal about the collection of fees at the beginning of the year. Specifically, the school in Thanh Mien listed the fees paid by students at the beginning of the school year up to 8.7 million VND. At that time, the Department of Education and Training of Hai Duong investigated the incident and discovered that this school had 6 fees that were not in the regulations and 3 fees that exceeded the regulations. Similarly, in the 16 fees collected from students at the beginning of the new school year of a school in Chi Linh, there were also many fees that were not in the list of fees collected according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training and the Resolution of the People's Council of Hai Duong regulating revenue and expenditure in education.

I personally have a child of school age. A few years ago, when my child was in preschool, at the parent-teacher meeting at the beginning of the new school year, the teacher shared that during the summer break, the school received funds from above to repair classrooms, which did not include repairing the yard and gate. However, after finishing, the yard and gate were old, so the school decided to repair them. This is for the students, so the school wants parents to share the costs. To reduce the burden on parents, the school divides the amount of money to be paid depending on the grade level. New students will have to pay more, and students who only have one year left of school will have to pay less.

From my observation, at that time many parents were quite confused because when the school did something, they were not allowed to participate in approving it, and when it was too late, they asked parents to donate. Because many parents objected, the meeting had to stop. The head teacher went out for a while, then came back and announced that the school would not collect any more. So our parents successfully protested an unreasonable collection of the school. Unfortunately, by the second semester of that school year, after a long campaign by the Parents' Representative Committee, most parents agreed and agreed to contribute a large amount of money compared to the families of workers.

From the above story, I want to talk about the role of the Parents' Representative Board in the story of overcharging. Because in the first days of this school year, social networks have been buzzing about the topic of not letting rich people be the Head of the Parents' Representative Board. Because people with economic conditions do not have the same views on spending money as those with average or low incomes. In a class, there are often families with different income levels. People with conditions, when representing parents, will easily compromise with teachers and schools about the fees that arise or have the appearance of overcharging in the name of "all for our children".

On this issue, many people have conflicting opinions. The members of the Parents' Representative Board are first of all dedicated people, willing to "eat at home and take care of the whole family". They are the bridge between parents and the school, like a trade union in a unit or enterprise that always harmonizes the interests of all parties. Therefore, in my opinion, whether the rich or the poor are in the Parents' Representative Board is not a problem. The main problem is that these people must stand on the common position, viewpoint and circumstances of all parents and most importantly, the regulations in education to have clear and public operating regulations, avoiding the case of "helping" teachers and schools to collect excessive fees.

Before entering the new school year 2024-2025, the People's Committee of Hai Duong province directed the Department of Education and Training and the People's Committees at the district level to coordinate in implementing a number of contents to prepare for the school year 2024-2025, in which it is necessary to strengthen the responsibility of state management to properly implement regulations on financial revenue and expenditure management, and publicize revenue and expenditure items right from the beginning of the school year...