On August 1, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City sent a document to the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Council and the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee proposing to remove difficulties in establishing a project to use public assets for leasing and association at public service units in the education and training sector.

According to statistics from the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, the total number of affiliated public service units is 128. Of these, the number of units using public assets for leasing and association purposes is 117.

The units have established a Project to use public assets for leasing and association purposes, focusing on 3 proposed groups: using facilities as canteens and parking lots; using facilities as gymnasiums and sports fields; and using facilities for training association (for training schools with association functions).

From 2019 to present, the Department of Education and Training has coordinated with the Department of Finance to appraise 82 Projects on using public assets for leasing and association purposes of affiliated schools.

As a result, the projects have not met the requirements and need to be revised and supplemented with legal documents and drawings; the rental price, financial plan, revenue calculation method, revenue allocation, basis and method of land rental calculation are re-determined; leasing vacant land and then letting the lessee invest in construction and exploitation is not appropriate; the number of auctions during the project implementation period has not been proposed; the items, scale, investment value, treatment plan, and architectural works invested by the lessee have not been detailed...

For the district block and Thu Duc City, the total number of affiliated public service units is 1,296 units. Of which, most units use public assets for the purpose of renting canteens and parking lots to serve students and teachers.

During the implementation process, the school has to pay taxes on canteen and parking lot rental activities.

In addition, the number of units that organize and operate auxiliary activities themselves is 746 units, mainly kindergartens that organize semi-boarding kitchens to serve children's daily meals.

However, due to many difficulties and obstacles in the process of developing the Project on using public assets for leasing and association purposes, many localities have stopped activities in this form since 2020 (Tan Phu district), 2022 (Phu Nhuan district) with a total of 236 units.

To support educational activities for students, Tan Phu district has 2/47 units testing the model of units organizing canteens and parking lots for students (from January 2023 to May 2023), however, these activities are not feasible due to lack of personnel to operate. In addition, Tan Phu district Tax Department believes that schools do not have the function of doing business. Therefore, the units have stopped organizing and implementing.

Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City Nguyen Van Hieu said that organizing services such as canteens and parking lots is an urgent need for students, however, up to now many schools no longer maintain canteens and parking lots for students, causing difficulties for schools and society.

From that reality, the Department of Education and Training recommends that the Department of Finance provide specific instructions so that units have a basis for implementation.

In case the units organizing the canteen and parking lot do not have enough human resources, expertise and experience, the educational institution may be allowed to hire the unit to organize the operation according to the provisions of the law on auction.

In addition, the Department of Finance needs to have a document guiding the decentralization of management and use of public assets for leasing activities such as canteens, parking lots, sports activities, etc.

In order to promptly support schools, the Department of Education and Training proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee approve the policy for public service units to continue maintaining parking lots, canteens, swimming pools, gymnasiums, sports fields, and classrooms to serve the learning and training needs of teachers and students during and after school hours from the 2024-2025 school year to avoid wasting existing facilities, while also having funds for regular maintenance and repair of school facilities.

In particular, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee researched and directed relevant departments and branches to advise on policies to exempt land rent for the use of public assets for leasing and association purposes.

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