On July 16, the 17th Session of the 10th Ho Chi Minh City People's Council, term 2021-2026, passed many Resolutions related to the education sector.

Accordingly, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council has passed a Resolution regulating tuition fees for public preschool and general education from the 2024-2025 school year and subsequent years in the city.

Compared to last year, this new tuition fee is reduced by about 100,000-240,000/student/month, depending on the level of study; this level is equal to the collection level of the 2021-2022 school year.

Specifically, tuition fees are divided into 2 groups. Group 1 is for students studying at schools in Thu Duc city and districts. Group 2 is for students studying at schools in districts.

For public preschool and general education institutions that are not self-sufficient in regular expenses, tuition fees from the 2024-2025 school year for each level are as follows: Nursery 200,000 VND/student/month for group 1 and 120,000 VND for group 2.

Kindergarten 160,000 VND (group 1) and 100,000 VND (group 2). Primary school 60,000 VND (group 1) and 30,000 VND (group 2). Middle school 60,000 VND (group 1) and 30,000 VND (group 2). High school 120,000 VND (group 1) and 100,000 VND (group 2).

In particular, the tuition fee for primary school level stipulated in this Resolution is the basis for implementing the policy of supporting tuition fees for private primary school students in areas where there are no public primary schools and private primary school students who are eligible for tuition exemption and reduction policies according to regulations.

5-year-old preschool children are exempted from tuition fees from the 2024-2025 school year. Secondary school students are exempted from tuition fees from the 2025-2026 school year.

Tuition fees at public preschool and general education institutions that self-finance regular expenses are established by the unit based on economic-technical norms and cost norms, and submitted to the City People's Committee for consideration and approval by the City People's Council.

Continuing education institutions and other training institutions implementing general education programs shall apply tuition fees equivalent to those of public general education institutions of the same level in the area.

For online learning, tuition fees are 50% of the tuition fees issued by public educational institutions.

The City People's Council also passed a Resolution regulating revenues and collection levels, revenue and expenditure management mechanisms for services serving and supporting educational activities of public educational institutions in the City from the 2024-2025 school year.

This Resolution replaces Resolution 04/2023 of the City People's Council on the fees and rates applied in the previous school year. The new Resolution stipulates the list of fees for services serving and supporting educational activities in public schools, including 9 fees instead of 26 fees as before.

In addition to reducing some revenues to comply with current regulations, the list of revenues includes an additional revenue for air conditioner rental; adjusting the revenue for "Preschool childcare organization fees in the summer" to "After-hours care and nurturing services" (including babysitting services during holidays, excluding holidays and Tet, excluding meals). The names of the revenues are also adjusted to start with "Services..." to comply with regulations and issuing authorities.

The collection rates specified in this Resolution are maximum collection rates. Depending on the actual situation of the educational institution and the needs of the students, the educational institution shall agree with the parents of the students on the specific collection rate, but it shall not exceed the collection rates specified in this Resolution and shall not be 15% higher than the previous school year.

Public educational institutions shall base on the actual situation, material conditions and students' needs to develop revenue and expenditure estimates for each revenue item, as a basis for calculating specific revenue levels to ensure the principle of sufficient revenue and sufficient expenditure, consistent with the actual situation of the school year, and submit to competent authorities for approval.

Previously, in the 2023-2024 school year, for the first time, public schools in Ho Chi Minh City implemented unified collections according to Resolution 04/2023 of the City People's Council. The specific regulations on the list of collections and maximum collection levels aim to unify collections and collection levels in public schools in the area, avoiding overcharging.

Source: VNA