The Ho Chi Minh City People's Council passed a resolution on a special policy to support tuition fees for preschool children and high school students in the 2023-2024 school year at the People's Council meeting held on December 8. Accordingly, Ho Chi Minh City will support the difference in tuition fees between the tuition fees applied according to Resolution No. 16 issued in 2022 compared to the tuition fees applied according to Resolution No. 28 issued in 2021 of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council for preschool and high school students. In particular, 100% of the tuition fees applied according to Resolution No. 16 will be supported for secondary school students.

Primary and secondary school students are exempt from tuition fees.

Specifically, the support levels are as follows:

• For preschool level, the tuition support level is 100,000 VND/student/month for nursery classes, 140,000 VND/student/month for kindergarten classes.
• For secondary school students and continuing education students at secondary level, the tuition support level is 300,000 VND/student/month for students in group 1 in Thu Duc City and students in districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, Go Vap, Tan Binh, Tan Phu, Binh Tan. Tuition support is 70,000 VND/student/month for students in group 2 in 5 suburban districts including Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Cu Chi, Nha Be, Can Gio.
• For high school students and continuing education students at high school level, the tuition support level is 180,000 VND/student/month for students in Thu Duc City and students in districts 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, Binh Thanh, Phu Nhuan, Go Vap, Tan Binh, Tan Phu, Binh Tan; support is 100,000 VND/student/month for 5 suburban districts.

With the above support level, based on the tuition fee level applied according to Resolution No. 16 issued in 2022, parents with children studying in kindergartens and high schools in Ho Chi Minh City pay tuition fees with the following specific amounts :

• Kindergarten class: Tuition fee is 200,000 VND/student/month for students in group 1 and 120,000 VND/month for students in group 2.
• Kindergarten: Tuition fee is 160,000 VND/student/month for students in group 1 and 100,000 VND/month for students in group 2.
• High School Level: Tuition fee is 120,000 VND/student/month for students in group 1 and 100,000 VND/month for students in group 2.
• High school continuing education system: Tuition fee is 120,000 VND/student/month for students in group 1 and 100,000 VND/month for students in group 2.

Thus, in the 2023-2024 school year, primary school students are exempted from tuition fees according to the State's universalization policy (as before); in addition, secondary school students are supported by Ho Chi Minh City with tuition fees equal to the tuition fees payable, so parents do not have to pay tuition fees. The remaining preschool children and high school students pay tuition fees equal to the tuition fees of the 2021-2022 school year. This is also the tuition fee level applied by Ho Chi Minh City from the 2019-2020 school year.

Secondary schools refund tuition fees temporarily collected from parents

Previously, while implementing the process of developing a tuition support policy to submit to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council for approval, on October 25, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issued an official dispatch allowing schools to temporarily collect tuition fees for the first semester of the 2023-2024 school year at the same level as the 2021-2022 school year. In particular, the tuition fee applied to secondary school students in group 1 is 60,000 VND/month and group 2 is 30,000 VND/month.

Thus, after the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council approved the policy of supporting tuition fees at the same level as for secondary school students, according to the principals of secondary schools, the schools will refund this amount to parents.

Ms. Nguyen Doan Trang, Principal of Nguyen Du Secondary School (District 1), said that on October 25, Ho Chi Minh City only allowed schools to temporarily collect tuition fees, so when the tuition collection period for November was over, the school just announced the collection of tuition fees for September, October and November at 60,000 VND/month. And parents are still in the process of paying for their children.

Therefore, after the People's Council passed a resolution on tuition support policies for preschool children and high school students, the City People's Committee and the Department of Education and Training issued instructions, schools will refund the collected tuition fees according to regulations.