One of the issues that has caused public outrage in recent times is that students are forced to attend extra classes outside of school organized by teachers, even though they do not want to. To address this issue, Circular 29/2024 has just been issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, clearly stating the cases where teachers are not allowed to teach or organize extra classes.

Teachers are prohibited from collecting extra money from students studying in class.

Extra teaching and learning outside of school is extra teaching and learning activities not organized and implemented by general education institutions, continuing education institutions, or other educational institutions.

Article 4 of Circular 29/2024 stipulates cases where extra teaching and extra teaching are not allowed, including:

• Do not organize extra classes for primary school students, except in the following cases: art training, physical education, and life skills training.
• Teachers who are teaching at schools are not allowed to teach extra classes outside of school for money from students they are assigned to teach by the school.
• Teachers in public schools are not allowed to participate in the management and operation of extra-curricular teaching, but can participate in extra-curricular teaching.

Thus, the content of the new Circular completely prohibits teachers from collecting extra tuition from students currently studying in class and from tutoring primary school students. Previously, the old Circular only stated that teachers were allowed to tutor regular students outside of school, if they had the principal's consent.

When drafting the new Circular regulating extra teaching and learning, the Ministry of Education and Training determined to only prohibit negative phenomena, not the real and legitimate needs of both teachers and learners.

Collect and manage tuition fees

Regarding the collection and management of tuition fees, Article 7 of Circular 29/2024 stipulates that funding for organizing extra teaching and learning in schools must use the state budget and other legal funding sources according to the provisions of law.

At the same time, the level of tuition for extra-curricular study outside of school is agreed upon between parents, students and the tutoring facility. The collection, management and use of tuition fees shall comply with the provisions of the law on finance, assets, accounting, taxes and other relevant regulations.

Thus, compared to the old regulations, the new Circular does not require schools to collect extra tuition fees from students and the cost of organizing extra classes is taken from the budget.

At the same time, extra tutoring activities in schools are only for three groups: those who have not achieved satisfactory results in any subject in the previous semester; those selected to foster excellent students; and final year students who voluntarily register to review for the 10th grade exam and graduation exam. Funding for extra tutoring is taken from the budget.

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