HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội’s education and training department has launched hotline number 01695122753 to receive feedback and complaints about collection and expenditure of tuition fees and other school fees.

Head of the department’s planning and finance division Nguyễn Viết Cẩn said there would be a 33 per cent increase in tuition fees in the 2016-17 school year, while other school charges such as funds for the upgrade of school facilities would remain unchanged.

In the 2015-16 academic year, public schools in Hà Nội collected almost VNĐ290 billion (US$13 million), accounting for just 6.7 per cent of the total budget for the education sector. Almost VNĐ4 trillion (US$180 million) for the education sector was subsidised by the government.

Early this month, Vice Director of the city’s education department Lê Ngọc Quang announced a 33 per cent hike in public school tuition fees.

The increase was expected to help improve teaching and learning as well as curb the phenomenon of excess fees at schools, he said.

For example, the tuition fees in public kindergartens to high schools is VNĐ80,000 ($3.6) per student per month in urban areas, VNĐ40,000 in rural areas and VNĐ10,000 in mountainous areas.

The tuition fees are imposed by the municipal People’s Council. By 2020-21 school year, the tuition fees are expected to increase to touch VNĐ300,000 ($13) in urban areas, VNĐ120,000 in rural areas and VNĐ30,000 in mountainous areas.

For years, parents, particularly those in urban areas, have complained at the beginning of a new school year about the several fees that schools legally or illegally impose.

The extra fees include so-called “voluntary financial contribution” for the upgrade of school infrastructure and “parent fund” to give teachers gifts on special occasions or to reward good students.

The extra payment sometimes adds up to a few million Vietnamese đồng, equal to the monthly salary of low-income earners. — VNS