Parents of students at The American School (TAS) in HCM City protest in front of the school on May 11 about tuition fees payable during the closure period. — Photo dantri.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — Deputy Minister of Education and Training Phạm Ngọc Thưởng has issued instructions regarding tuition fees for the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years.

In a dispatch sent to provinces and cities last week, he said collection of tuition fees by schools, educational institutions and localities must ensure openness, transparency and collection agreements on the basis of actual teaching work, especially during the COVID-19 closure.

For public educational institutions, during the closure due to COVID-19, if a school did not deploy online learning, it was not allowed to collect fees. Schools were only allowed to charge tuition fees if they had organised online classes or classes to make up for the days missed.

Tuition fees must comply with decisions made by local people's councils to ensure payments were only made for the amount of time children had spent in school, but not exceed the provisions of the Government's Decree 86/2015/ND-CP.

Preschool will be based on a monthly basis, while primary and secondary education are nine months and university education is ten months/per year.

City and provincial people's councils will decide the fees for online lessons according to the State management in line with Article 99, Education Law 2019.

The management and use of online classes fees must comply with the Ministry’s Circular No 16/2018/ TT on regulations for funding in the education sector and relevant regulations to encourage businesses and individuals at home and abroad to aid the sector.

For non-State education institutions (private and international schools), during the closure for COVID-19, if a school did not organise online courses, there should be no collection of tuition or other fees. If fees were collected, they should be reimbursed for the following school year.

If they had organised online learning, the fees would depend on the curriculum completion rate.

Tuition fees for distance education during the coronavirus outbreak must be decided by parents and schools and not exceed total tuition for the academic year.

Schools should also have policies to reduce fees based on students' living conditions.

In addition, the deputy minister also instructed relevant departments and agencies to inspect and supervise the disclosure of information about prices of materials and educational equipment to ensure transparency in accordance with the Law on Pricing.

He asked localities to prioritise resources and allocate budgets for education, ensuring regular spending (salaries, allowances, teaching and learning activities) for educational institutions to comply with Government regulations.

The ministry would strictly deal with heads of educational institutions and State management agencies in localities where incorrect fees were collected. — VNS