Policy benefits for boarding students, ethnic minority boarding students, and university preparatory students

This Decree stipulates policies for nursery children, students and trainees in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, communes with special difficulties in coastal and island areas and educational institutions with nursery children and students enjoying policies, including: subjects of application, conditions, principles, policy levels, policy approval procedures, rice allocation and funding for policy implementation for nursery children, students of general education institutions, students of preparatory colleges, students of continuing education institutions in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, communes with special difficulties in coastal and island areas.

Applicable objects

The Decree stipulates the subjects of application including:

1. Children in kindergartens, students and trainees include:

a) Children in boarding kindergartens study at preschools;

b) Boarding students studying at general education institutions;

c) Boarding students study regular education programs at junior high and high school levels;

d) Ethnic boarding students studying at general education institutions assigned by competent authorities to carry out the task of educating ethnic boarding students, Viet Bac High School for Ethnic Minorities, Friendship School 80, Friendship School T78;

d) Pre-university students study at the pre-university school, Viet Bac Mountainous High School.

2. Educational establishments with nursery children and students who are entitled to the policy include:

a) Public preschools organize meals and naps for children in boarding kindergartens;

b) Boarding schools for ethnic minorities and general education institutions that organize meals and accommodation for boarding students;

c) Boarding schools for ethnic minorities, general education institutions assigned by competent authorities to carry out the task of educating ethnic minority boarding students, university preparatory schools, Friendship School 80, Friendship School T78, and Viet Bac Highland High School are entitled to the policies in this Decree for ethnic minority boarding and university preparatory students.

Conditions and benefits for children in boarding kindergartens

The Decree stipulates that children in boarding kindergartens must meet one of the following conditions:

- Children of kindergartens residing in communes and villages with special difficulties who are studying at public preschools in communes in regions III, II, I, communes with special difficulties in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, communes with special difficulties in coastal and island areas;

- Ethnic minority children residing in communes in regions II and I in ethnic minority and mountainous areas who are studying at public preschools in communes in regions III, II, I, communes with extremely disadvantaged villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, extremely disadvantaged communes in coastal and island areas, and in one of the following cases:

+ Children from poor households according to multidimensional poverty standards as prescribed by the Government;

+ Children without a source of support as prescribed in Clause 1, Article 5 of Decree No. 20/2021/ND-CP dated March 15, 2021 of the Government stipulating social assistance policies for social protection beneficiaries;

+ Children who are children of martyrs, children of People's Armed Forces Heroes, children of war invalids, children of people enjoying policies like war invalids, children of sick soldiers, children of other policy subjects according to the provisions of the Ordinance on Preferential Treatment of People with Revolutionary Contributions (if any);

+ Children with disabilities learn integrated.

Regarding the level of benefits, the Decree stipulates that children in boarding kindergartens will receive lunch support: Each child in kindergarten will receive support of 360,000 VND per month and will receive it for no more than 9 months/school year.

Conditions for enjoying boarding student policy

According to Decree 66/2025/ND-CP, boarding students must meet one of the following conditions:

- Primary school students and secondary school students studying at general education institutions (or school locations) in communes in regions III, II, I, communes with extremely disadvantaged villages in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, communes with extremely disadvantaged areas in coastal and island areas, whose houses are 4 km or more from school for primary school students and 7 km or more for secondary school students, or whose terrain is difficult, with difficult transportation, having to cross the sea, lakes, rivers, streams, passes, high mountains, landslides, rocks, and falling into one of the following cases:

+ You and your father, mother or guardian permanently reside in a particularly difficult commune or village;

+ Ethnic minorities belonging to poor households according to multidimensional poverty standards as prescribed by the Government, who themselves and their parents or guardians are permanent residents in communes in Region II, Region I of ethnic minority and mountainous areas.

- High school students studying at a general education institution, whose house is 10 km or more away from school or whose terrain is difficult, and whose transportation is difficult, and who must cross the sea, lake, river, stream, mountain pass, or landslide area, and who are in one of the following cases:

+ Ethnic minorities whose parents or guardians reside in particularly difficult communes or villages;

+ Kinh ethnic people belonging to poor households according to multidimensional poverty standards as prescribed by the Government, and themselves and their parents or guardians permanently residing in particularly difficult communes or villages;

Conditions for enjoying boarding student policy

Decree 66/2025/ND-CP clearly states: Boarding students studying at a continuing education facility who themselves and their parents or guardians permanently reside in a particularly disadvantaged commune or village, and whose houses are 7 km or more away from the place of study for students studying a continuing education program at the junior high school level, 10 km or more for students studying a continuing education program at the high school level; or whose terrain is difficult and traffic is difficult, requiring them to cross the sea, lakes, rivers, streams, passes, high mountains, or landslides or rockslides in one of the following cases:

+ Is an ethnic minority;

+ Kinh ethnic group belonging to a poor household according to multidimensional poverty standards as prescribed by the Government.

Policy benefits for boarding students and boarding students

Boarding students are supported with food, housing, and rice.

Specifically, regarding food expenses, each student is supported with 936,000 VND per month and is entitled to no more than 9 months/school year.

Regarding housing, each boarding student must provide their own accommodation because the school cannot arrange accommodation in the school, or first and second grade students, or disabled students who need to provide their own accommodation near the school for their relatives to take care of will receive support of 360,000 VND per month and will receive it for no more than 9 months per school year.

In addition, each student is supported with 15 kg of rice per month and is entitled to receive it for no more than 9 months/school year.

As for first grade boarding students who are ethnic minorities and learn Vietnamese before entering the first grade program, they will enjoy an additional 1 month of the above policies.

Policy benefits for ethnic boarding students and university preparatory students

The Decree stipulates that ethnic minority boarding students and university preparatory students are entitled to policy scholarships, rewards, personal and school supplies, travel expenses, and rice support.

Policy scholarships: Stipulated in Article 9 of Decree No. 84/2020/ND-CP dated July 17, 2020 of the Government detailing a number of articles of the Law on Education.

Rewards: During the school year, students who achieve the title of "Excellent Student" are awarded 800,000 VND/student; students who achieve the title of "Good Student" are awarded 600,000 VND/student.

Personal items and school supplies: Ethnic boarding students at each level and university preparatory students are provided with one-time in-kind items: Blankets, mosquito nets and other personal items at a cost of VND 1,080,000/student;

Each school year, students are provided with 02 sets of uniforms and school supplies including: notebooks, paper, pens and other school supplies at a cost of 1,080,000 VND/student;

Transportation fee: Ethnic boarding students are provided with transportation fee twice during the Lunar New Year and summer vacation (both round trip) according to the normal fare of public transport (in case there is no public transport in the area, it will be calculated based on the distance and normal fare of public transport in other similar areas of the province). Pre-university students and ethnic boarding students in their final year are only provided with transportation fee once during the Lunar New Year (both round trip).

Rice support: Each student is supported with 15 kg of rice per month and is entitled to no more than 9 months/school year.

Policy benefits for educational institutions

Preschool education facilities with boarding children enjoy the following policies:

- Financial support to buy paper, comics, crayons, pencils, toys and other learning materials and supplies; blankets, mosquito nets and personal items for children in boarding kindergartens with a budget of 1,350,000 VND/child/school year;

- Supported with electricity and water for the study and daily activities of children in boarding kindergartens with the rate of 5KW of electricity/month/child and ^1m3 of water/month/child according to the local price regulations and for no more than 9 months/school year. In places where there are no conditions to provide electricity and water services or there is a power or water outage, the school can use the funds to buy lighting equipment and clean water for children;

- Funding support for midday management for nursery children: Each group of 15 children from 3 to 12 months old, including at least 4 children from semi-boarding nursery schools, is entitled to 1 quota; each group of 20 children from 13 to 24 months old, including at least 6 children from semi-boarding nursery schools, is entitled to 1 quota; each group of 25 children from 25 to 36 months old, including at least children from semi-boarding nursery schools, is entitled to 1 quota of 700,000 VND/month/group of nursery children and is entitled to no more than 9 months/school year. The balance of 50% or more compared to the number of nursery children and the number of semi-boarding nursery children of each group is counted as 1 quota.

Boarding schools for ethnic minorities enjoy the following policies:

- Invest in facilities and equipment according to Government regulations on investment and operation conditions in the education sector;

- Financial support for purchasing, supplementing, and repairing physical education and sports equipment, musical instruments, televisions, and other items serving cultural, artistic, physical education, and sports activities for boarding students with a support level of 180,000 VND/boarding student/school year;

- Financial support to organize annual health check-ups for boarding students, set up a medicine cabinet for students, buy common medicines with enough medicine to meet the requirements of disease prevention and handling of first aid cases with a support level of 180,000 VND/boarding student/school year;

- Supported with electricity and water for the study and living of boarding students living at school with the rate of 15KW of electricity/month/boarding student and 3m3 ^of water/month/boarding student according to the local price regulations and for no more than 9 months/school year. In places where there are no conditions to provide electricity and water services or there is a power or water outage, the school can use the funds to buy lighting equipment and clean water for students;

- Financial support for managing boarding students outside of class hours is as follows: every 45 boarding students will receive 01 support rate of 2,050,000 VND/month, the remaining 20 boarding students or more will be counted as 01 rate. In case there are less than 45 boarding students, 01 rate will be counted. The support period is not more than 9 months/school year.

Boarding schools for ethnic minorities and university preparatory schools enjoy the following policies:

- Financial support for cooking services for boarding students to eat and stay at school is as follows: every 45 boarding students will receive 01 support rate of 4,738,500 VND/month, the remaining 20 boarding students or more will be counted as 01 rate. In case there are less than 45 boarding students, 01 rate will be counted. The support period is not more than 9 months/school year;

Be supported with policies specified in points b, c, d, clause 2 of this Article; Be supported with investment in facilities and equipment for studying, accommodation and daily activities for students as prescribed in point a, clause 2 of this Article, depending on the number of boarding students and available funding; Be supported with electricity, water and student management costs as prescribed in points d, e, clause 2 of this Article.

- Invest in facilities and equipment according to the provisions of the Government's Decree on investment and operation conditions in the field of education;

- Funded to organize special educational activities, culture, arts, sports and purchase and supplement tools and equipment for student activities with a support level equal to 5% of the student scholarship fund;

- Funding is provided to organize annual health check-ups for students, set up a common medicine cabinet for the dormitory, purchase common medicines with a quantity of medicine meeting the requirements for disease prevention and handling of initial first aid cases at the rate of 270,000 VND/student/school year; purchase health insurance for students according to regulations;

- Funded to organize Lunar New Year and traditional New Year (if any) for students staying at school and not returning home at a rate of 180,000 VND/student/time staying at school;

- Funding for purchasing, supplementing, and repairing dining and kitchen utensils is 180,000 VND/student/school year;

- Funding is provided to purchase textbooks so that each student can borrow a set of textbooks for each class. Each year, the school is allowed to purchase additional textbooks not exceeding 10% of the textbooks in the school library;

- Financial support for making student cards and personal badges, admission work at the beginning of the school year, graduation exams, and final exams at a rate of 180,000 VND/student/school year;

- Supported with electricity and water bills for students' study and living with a standard rate of 25KW of electricity/month/student and ^4m3 of water/month/student according to local regulations and for no more than 9 months/school year;

- Financial support for cooking services for students as follows: every 45 students will receive 01 support rate of 4,738,500 VND/month, the remaining from 20 students or more will be calculated as 01 rate. The support period and benefits are not more than 9 months/school year;

- Financial support for student management outside of class hours is as follows: every 45 students will receive 01 support rate of 2,050,000 VND/month, the remaining 20 students or more will be counted as 01 rate. The support period and benefits are not more than 9 months/school year;

This Decree takes effect from May 1, 2025 and replaces Decree No. 116/2016/ND-CP dated July 18, 2016 on policies to support students and general schools in extremely disadvantaged communes and villages and Joint Circular No. 109/2009/TTLT/BTC-BGDDT dated May 29, 2009 of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Education and Training on guiding a number of financial regimes for students of ethnic minority boarding schools and ethnic minority preparatory schools.

The policies stipulated in Decree No. 116/2016/ND-CP and Joint Circular No. 109/2009/TTLT/BTC-BGDDT shall be implemented until the end of 2024. The policies stipulated in Decree 66/2025/ND-CP shall be implemented from 2025.

Source: https://phunuvietnam.vn/muc-huong-chinh-sach-doi-voi-hoc-sinh-ban-tru-dan-toc-noi-tru-du-bi-dai-hoc-20250314224847211.htm