Hanoi plans to stop supporting tuition fees

Hanoi expects the high school fees to be the same as last year, but the support policy is stopped, so the actual amount paid by parents at some levels will nearly double.

According to the Draft Resolution on tuition fees for the 2023-2024 school year of Hanoi announced on May 15, the tuition fee for students in urban areas is 300,000 VND per month; rural areas 100,000-200,000 VND, ethnic minority areas 50,000-100,000 VND.

This level is equal to the tuition fee bracket applied by Hanoi in 2022. Compared with the fee of 19,000-217,000 VND in 2021, the tuition fees for some grades have nearly doubled.

However, at that time, assessing that people's lives were still difficult after two years of being affected by Covid-19, Hanoi spent about VND 1,133 billion to compensate the difference and support 50% of tuition fees. . Therefore, the actual amount paid by parents for the school year 2022-2023 does not increase compared to before.

With Hanoi planning to keep the tuition fee frame and not continue the support policy (except for primary school), in the next school year, parents will have to pay more.

In the inner city, preschool and junior high school students have to pay nearly double the tuition fee, from 155,000 VND to 300,000 VND a month. In mountainous communes, high school students pay 100,000 VND a month, more than four times higher than the old rate; Pre-school and junior high schools have an increase of about two times, from 19,000-24,000 VND to 50,000-100,000 VND.

The estimated tuition fee (unit: VND/student/month) for all levels of study in Hanoi from 2023-2024 is as follows:

On the same day, Hanoi also announced a draft of the tuition ceiling for high-quality public schools, unchanged from last year.

Based on the school's and local school's ceiling and conditions, schools set their own specific tuition rates. Currently, Hanoi has about 20 high-quality schools from preschool to high school. These schools have their own regulations on facilities, teachers, class sizes of 30-35 students and must ensure regular expenses (salaries, allowances, repair of facilities... ).

The ceiling fee for high-quality schools is as follows (unit: VND/student/month):

If studying online, schools collect 75% of the tuition fee according to the issued rate. If you study face-to-face and online in the same month, any form of study for more than 14 days will be charged the same fee.

Two draft resolutions have been consulted since May 15, and are expected to be submitted to the Hanoi People's Council in July.

Hanoi preschool children are brought to school by their mothers after nearly a year at home because of Covid-19, April 2022. Photo: Giang Huy

The roadmap to increase tuition fees at all levels has been set out since 2021, according to Decree 81 of the Government. Accordingly, at the preschool and high school level, the tuition fee in urban areas ranges from 300,000-650,000 VND; rural areas 100,000-330,000 VND; mountainous areas and ethnic minorities from 50,000 to 220,000 VND per month. Compared to the previous level (in 2015), the above levels increased 2-5 times.

After stopping the application of the new tuition framework due to the impact of Covid-19, localities are considering increasing again from next school year.

On May 10, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha asked the Ministry of Education and Training to carefully evaluate the impact to have a tuition fee policy in line with the people's ability to contribute and pay; adopt policies to support disadvantaged and disadvantaged groups so as not to affect their opportunities to access education.

State budget investment in education will not decrease, but not equalize and spread. With the promotion of autonomy and socialization in favorable areas, the state budget focuses on students who are under the policy, disadvantaged and disadvantaged groups.