When the tuition-free policy is placed next to the story of "requesting support for a 6 million laptop", what do you see?

In recent days, public opinion has given much praise and support to the policy of exempting tuition fees for students at all levels in 6 provinces and cities across the country. For example, in Quang Ninh province - a locality heavily affected by the recent storm No. 3 (Yagi storm), the provincial government has decided to exempt tuition fees for nearly 244,000 students at all levels from preschool to high school with a total estimated budget of about 167 billion VND. Or recently, on September 26, the People's Council of Quang Nam province officially approved a resolution to exempt tuition fees for students in the 2 school years 2024 - 2025, 2025 - 2026. This province is expected to spend about 158 ​​billion VND on this policy. Or other localities such as Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Hai Phong, Ba Ria - Vung Tau also exempt tuition fees for students.

Quang Nam province exempts tuition fees for students for the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 school years. Photo: VL

Is it true that localities with abundant budgets should waive tuition fees for students? I would say that is absolutely not true. In fact, Quang Ninh province has just experienced a historic storm, and local statistics estimate that the total damage caused by storm No. 3 was nearly 25,000 billion VND.

Similarly, in Quang Nam province, over the past year, the province's economy has gone through the most difficult period since the province's re-establishment. According to the provincial People's Committee, the tuition fee policy is of great significance in the policy of socializing education, demonstrating the support of society in education. However, the province's economy has been difficult in recent times, which means that people's spending pressure is also difficult, so the provincial leaders have agreed to approve the tuition fee exemption policy for students.

“In fact, in recent years, Quang Nam province has been adversely affected by natural disasters and the Covid-19 pandemic. In order to partially alleviate the difficulties for people in the whole province, the People's Council has issued a Resolution regulating tuition fees and tuition support for public educational institutions in Quang Nam province,” said the People's Committee of Quang Nam province. Stemming from the desire to share some of the difficulties with the people, Quang Nam province has decided to exempt tuition fees for students for 2 school years.

This shows that exempting tuition fees in localities is an effort of the government, demonstrating companionship and sharing difficulties with the people, creating a better learning environment for the career of "growing people".

Always putting “education as the top national policy”, the efforts of localities in exempting tuition fees for students at all levels strongly spread humanity and received consensus and support from the people. These policies are also lessons that teachers in schools can highlight and cite in moral lessons about humanity in the education career.

“Friendly” message from TPH teacher to parents of class 4/3. Photo: TK

However, somewhere in society there are still individuals who go against the efforts of the whole society, the most typical of which is the case of a teacher at an elementary school in Ho Chi Minh City asking parents for 6 million VND to buy a laptop.

Accordingly, the homeroom teacher of class 4/3 at Chuong Duong Primary School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) proposed to the parents' association to support 5-6 million VND to buy laptops. When a parent voted against the proposal, the teacher asked which student's parent it was and blocked the comments. After that, the teacher "sulked" and announced that she would not accept the support, she would not prepare the review outline and the parents would review the lessons for the students themselves.

After the incident was reported by the media, Chuong Duong Primary School and the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City confirmed the incident and said they would handle it seriously. The teacher involved in the incident was also suspended from teaching while the case was being handled.

Although the teacher explained that she was not "sulking" at the parents, the explanation was difficult to accept.

Because purchasing teaching equipment is the teacher's duty, if the teacher has difficulties, he/she should propose to the school for support to resolve. Besides, as soon as a parent voted against support, the teacher asked which student's parent it was, was she hitting the weak point, the psychology of the parent who was afraid that their child would be bullied?

Commenting on press agencies and social networks, all people, especially educators, expressed outrage at the teacher's behavior.

Public opinion is waiting for an answer about the outcome of the handling of the case of a teacher at Chuong Duong Primary School asking for support to buy a laptop.

Cases like the teacher "asking for support of a 6 million laptop" are isolated cases in society, but the consequences of these actions for the education sector are enormous, tarnishing the image of teachers in the eyes of parents, setting a bad example for students, and denying the efforts of the whole society for education for the sake of more comprehensive human development.

It is worth noting that the author emphasizes that if the incident had not been investigated by the media, would the school and the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City have discovered and brought the incident to justice, or would parents have had to continue to "voluntarily" respond to requests for support from teachers?

Education is the place to "grow people", but those who do the "grow people" work go against the humanistic education for the sake of learners, so whose responsibility is it?

The public is paying attention to the outcome of the handling of the case by the Ho Chi Minh City education sector, including the responsibilities of the teacher, the school and the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training. Regarding this case, in the writer’s short-sighted opinion, the public will certainly not be satisfied if the outcome is “experience”!!!

Source: https://congthuong.vn/khi-chinh-sach-mien-hoc-phi-dat-canh-cau-chuyen-xin-ho-tro-laptop-6-trieu-thay-gi-349258.html