No Cash to Avoid Overcharging: Is It Possible?

All kinds of overcharging

The 2023-2024 school year has just begun, but parents of grade 1 students at Xuan Hoa Primary School (Phuc Yen City, Vinh Phuc) are very upset because every year, grade 1 students have to pay for new air conditioners while air conditioners are already available from previous grades. The minutes of agreement on air conditioner installation signed between the parent-teacher association and teachers stated that parents agreed to donate 12 air conditioners to the school. The contribution amount is also equal to 500,000 VND/student.

In addition, first grade students must pay an additional fee for supplementary books higher than the listed price on the books and 50,000 VND for decorations for the opening ceremony. Immediately after parents complained, the school held a meeting with all teachers and returned the extra money to parents.

In August 2023, many parents with children studying at a primary school in Thanh Tri (Hanoi) reported that "parents who want to install air conditioners for their children must commit to donating them to the school, otherwise they cannot install them".

At the beginning of this school year, parents of Thanh Mien 3 High School (Hai Duong) received notices of fees totaling VND8,715,000/student. Many of these fees, according to parents, were unreasonable or inappropriate. Immediately after parents complained and the press got involved, Thanh Mien 3 High School announced adjustments to the fees at the beginning of the year. Accordingly, the parking fee was reduced from VND300,000/student to VND100,000 for bicycles and VND200,000 for electric vehicles and electric motorbikes. Drinking water was reduced from VND100,000 to VND70,000. Electronic contact books were reduced from VND150,000 to VND100,000. General inspections were reduced from VND200,000 to VND100,000. The VND150,000 TV fee was eliminated. The socialized amount of 300,000 VND is included in the voluntary revenue, not equalized, to do some school projects.

Thus, it can be seen that many items have been adjusted by Thanh Mien 3 High School in the direction of eliminating or significantly reducing compared to the initial announcement. In particular, the public tuition fee is collected based on the actual number of hours each student studies instead of collecting the whole year without knowing which subject, how many hours and all students are the same, which is more than 2 million VND.

Previously, in July 2023, dozens of parents of Van Luong Primary School, Tan Son District (Phu Tho Province) gathered at the school gate because they were upset that the school collected 90,000 VND for electronic contact books per year, but parents had never used this service. Also at this school, in the previous school year, there were many unreasonable fees that made parents upset, such as 90,000 VND for security, 100,000 VND for educational activities, 100,000 VND for competitions, 450,000 VND for facilities... Even more upset, some parents later got their money back with a total amount of 40 million VND while other parents did not.

Reduce the burden at the beginning of the school year

The burden at the beginning of the school year for each family is very large. Many parents pointed out on the notice board of Thanh Mien 3 High School that there are many items that the school collects for the whole semester, even the whole year, causing the amount to increase significantly. Even in the 2023-2024 school year, the People's Committee of Hai Duong province has not yet decided on tuition fees, but the school has planned to collect the whole semester (4 months). Similarly, the school also collects more than 2 million VND in extra tuition 17 weeks in advance. The uniform fee is up to 1,464,000 VND for the entire combo of 8 items instead of letting parents voluntarily register to buy the missing uniforms. Although the school explains that this uniform combo is used for all 3 school years, each year the students grow older, buying a series this year, and next year it doesn't fit anymore and having to buy a new series is too costly.

The way schools collect lump sums is making parents “disgusted”, so the first wish of parents is to collect money for each month of study. The collection must be transparent, specifically what the expenses are for. For example, what will the socialized money be used for? What are the expected revenue and expenditure details, and whether or not the Department has granted permission before collecting money from parents.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Viet Nga - Deputy Head of the National Assembly Delegation of Hai Duong province said that although the list of fees allowed to be collected in schools has been clearly regulated, which fees are allowed to be collected and what is the maximum amount, every school year there is still overcharging.

The reason is that management is not strict and not strict; secondly, parents themselves do not clearly understand the list of fees that are allowed and not allowed to be collected, so when the school launches the campaign, parents just contribute without knowing which fees they do not have to pay. Therefore, it is necessary to increase propaganda to parents and the people about fees collected in schools. In particular, the responsibility must be assigned to the head of the school. If there is an overcharging phenomenon in the school, the principal must be subject to appropriate disciplinary action.

Diversify forms of tuition collection

One of the solutions to combat overcharging pointed out by the Ministry of Education and Training is that in the coming time, all school revenues will not be in cash. In fact, this is not a new approach, many localities have been and are implementing it.

Specifically, at a recent Government press conference, regarding this issue, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son said: To avoid overcharging at the beginning of the school year, for the general education sector, the Ministry of Education and Training has issued full documents and circulars. The important thing is that localities and general schools must strengthen inspection and examination to avoid overcharging in all forms. Along with that, try to build a roadmap, towards all school fees being non-cash, thereby contributing to overcoming overcharging.

However, recently, paying tuition fees via the app has been very confusing and has had many problems. Ms. Nguyen Phuong Thanh (Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City) reported that the school called on parents to pay fees in a non-cash way but only offered one way: downloading the app of a unit and then paying via that app. Although there is no fee, parents have to declare a lot of personal information to be able to use the app while the issue of personal information security is not clearly committed, causing many parents to worry.

Similarly, many other schools make payments for tuition and fees through bank accounts. Parents will have to use their personal bank accounts, which must also be with the same bank, to make the payments. Parents who do not have an account will have to register for a bank account through the school or open one themselves.

Although most parents agree with the collection of tuition and surcharges without using cash, how to make it convenient and avoid monopoly is the desire of all parents. Because if parents already have another bank account, creating another account just to pay tuition will be wasteful. Or only being able to pay via the app instead of transferring directly to the school is also an unnecessary hassle for many parents.

Diversifying payment channels so that parents have more options and convenience in paying fees is the desire of all parents. This method also helps to be transparent, not creating advantages for any bank or payment intermediary to make it difficult for parents. Schools can encourage parents to use apps for payment but need to choose reputable units with a commitment to ensuring safety and information security, paying attention to data ownership and privacy.

Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam - Chairman of the Education Council, co-founder of Dinh Tien Hoang High School (Hanoi):

Must be convenient for both school and parents

Not only in schools, cashless payments have become popular in many areas of social life. This solution has been pointed out by the Ministry of Education and Training and many provinces and cities have been applying it. This is a solution supported by many people, helping to increase transparency, reduce effort and reduce overcharging. Parents no longer have to go to school to pay directly. Schools also reduce costs on paper invoices and save human resources.

I know that not only big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City but also many localities are promoting this implementation to realize the Government's Project "Developing non-cash payments in Vietnam in the period of 2021-2025". Like Quang Ngai, from the 2023-2024 school year, schools in the province will apply payment methods via bank accounts.

However, to facilitate and not cause difficulties or frustration for parents, it is necessary to avoid monopolizing only one app or one bank for payment. Many options must be provided for parents to choose the most suitable option for their family. In the initial implementation phase, the school needs to organize a guidance counter at the school for parents and still deploy an open solution where the finance department collects money directly from parents so that parents can gradually get used to it.