Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy announced the time to return money to Apax parents.

On the afternoon of March 15, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, General Director of Apax English Joint Stock Company, held a meeting with about 150 parents in Ho Chi Minh City studying at Apax Leaders Him Lam Center. Also meeting the parents was Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - CEO of Apax. The meeting took place right in the lobby of the C4 building, Him Lam, District 6.

This is the first meeting in a series of meetings planned by Apax English Joint Stock Company (Apax for short) to invite parents whose children are studying at the centers to inform them about the restructuring of the Apax Leaders System, the roadmap for reopening the centers and to answer parents' questions.

The meeting content aims to update the roadmap for reopening standard Apax Leaders Centers in each phase in the South; update information related to the operations of Apax Leaders Him Lam Center; plan to fulfill Apax's obligations to students and parents at Apax Leaders Him Lam Center.

In front of more than 150 parents, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy said that the company's top priority is to bring Apax Leaders back by negotiating with investment funds to inject capital, contribute money, reopen the centers, and operate stably as before, even better. It is expected that on March 21, Apax will gradually reopen centers in Ho Chi Minh City and other provinces.

“As the head of the company, I would like to take responsibility to parents for the difficulties and things we have not done well in the past. Parents are the benefactors of Apax because they have entrusted their children - the most valuable assets - to us to take care of and teach English. In fact, we have not done this well, but we promise to come back,” said Mr. Thuy.

For parents who want to withdraw tuition fees, Mr. Thuy said, a step-by-step roadmap will be developed. Apax will work with parents to have a payment roadmap that is suitable for Apax's financial capacity" - Mr. Thuy hopes that parents will help Apax return to the market, first the Him Lam center, the Saigon market, the South...

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy confirmed that he will refund tuition fees to parents.

Mr. Thuy added that he personally takes responsibility for resolving all problems with Apax company, but hopes parents will give the company time and opportunity to overcome difficulties.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of Apax Leaders, added that when reopening, they will keep good teachers and hire European and native teachers. The center tries to bring back the learning environment for students to pay back what the center owes parents. For parents who no longer want their children to study and require the center to pay back in cash, the center will have time and a roadmap to confirm how much fees and how many lessons parents still owe.

“With the current situation of Apax, even if we do very well, we will not be able to do it until December. I am speaking frankly, so since I joined Apax and met with parents, I have not dared to commit to anything because I have to see the actual development again before I dare to commit,” said Mr. Tuan, adding that there are 16,000 students studying at Apax in the whole South. In the immediate future, the company will reopen 9 centers in Ho Chi Minh City, 1 center in Binh Duong and 5 centers in the provinces.

Parents lose faith, want money back

Most of the more than 150 parents at the meeting with Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy and Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan asked Apax to return the remaining money that parents had paid but their children had not yet attended school. At the meeting, many parents carried banners such as: Request Apax to return tuition fees; Hope the authorities will intervene...

“I represent more than 200 parents in Ho Chi Minh City who have sent a petition to the city police to denounce Mr. Thuy. We no longer have faith in Apax, so no matter how Apax restructures or reorganizes, we cannot cooperate. The simple request now is that Apax refund the tuition fee,” said one parent.

Another parent also said that she did not believe Apax would return and that if it did, she could not wait. “Therefore, we ask Apax to return the money that parents have not used. No one would abandon customers and parents for such a long time. We have lost too much trust,” this parent said harshly.

Parents want Apax to return money

The meeting became noisy when many parents competed to speak and wanted Mr. Thuy to answer the question frankly: Will the money be returned to the parents? If so, when? What is the roadmap for paying Apax?

Some parents even shouted loudly: “Mr. Thuy, pay us back. The money is our sweat and tears. We can’t wait any longer…”.
Tuition will be paid to parents at the end of the year.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thuy is committed to taking responsibility for thoroughly resolving parents' issues based on the company's current capacity.

“The first thing we will do this month is 100% reopening the centers, and ensuring quality as we open. The second question parents have is whether they will pay tuition, I would say of course they will, but we need time to prepare.

Right now, if we do these two points at the same time 100% completely, it is very difficult. We will resolve two debts with parents, in which the first debt is the learning environment, which will be resolved immediately. The second debt will need time to re-determine the debt, then there will be a roadmap to resolve it to ensure the rights of parents" - Mr. Thuy said.

Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO of Apax, also added that Apax's goal is to create a playground for children, so that they can refund fees to parents who no longer want their children to study.

Under pressure from parents about when the money will be returned, Mr. Tuan said: "Of course the fee will be paid, but the schedule will be from November and December onwards. Right now, we cannot do two things at the same time."

According to Vietnamnet