'Hot' collections at the beginning of the school year

T BUDGET MORE THAN 310 MILLION; SPEND 225.5 MILLION TO REPAIR 1 CLASSROOM

The story that caused a stir in the parent community recently took place in class 1/2 of Hong Ha Primary School, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City.

According to this income and expenditure table of the parent fund for grade 1, at the beginning of the school year, the total income of the parent fund was up to 313.3 million VND and the expenditure was more than 260.328 million VND. This class has 32 students, each parent contributed 10 million VND to the fund.

Class 1/2, Hong Ha Primary School, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City. Parents of this class spent 225.5 million VND on classroom repairs.

In the expenditure sections, the most notable are the expenditure sections related to classroom repairs. Such as the advance payment to the contractor to repair the classroom of 150 million VND on August 13, 2023; payment for classroom repairs of 50 million VND on August 19, 2023; payment for painting tables and chairs (3.5 million VND) + tiling the side of the classroom (2 million) is 5.5 million VND; payment for the remaining cost of building the classroom to the construction contractor of 20 million VND... Thus, in total, the amount of money the PH fund spent on repairing the classroom is 225.5 million VND.

Yesterday afternoon (September 27), Ms. Bui Thi Hai Yen, Principal of Hong Ha Primary School, Binh Thanh District, officially spoke to the press about the reflection of revenue and expenditure. Ms. Yen said that the school had checked, verified, and confirmed that the repair fees for the first-year classrooms of class 1/2 were collected according to the agreement and voluntary of parents. The school worked with the homeroom teacher and parents to stop the collection and expenditure of class 1/2. "As for the expenditure for the nanny, the school asked the parents' representative committee to stop the expenditure and the nanny returned the money received to the parents. After this incident, the school will have a meeting to draw lessons and rectify the revenue and expenditure situation of class 1/2 as well as other classes in the school," Ms. Yen said.

Until the evening of September 27, Thanh Nien reporters continuously contacted the Head and Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City to discuss the above issue but could not contact them and they did not answer the phone.

Income and expenditure table of the first class fund for the 2023 - 2024 school year of Hong Ha Primary School, Binh Thanh District, Ho Chi Minh City

PARENTS SHOCKED

The revenue and expenditure of the first-year class fund of class 1/2 of Hong Ha Primary School, Binh Thanh District, has shocked the parent community, as shown through hundreds of comments from Thanh Nien Newspaper readers sent to the editorial office.

Reader Trung Ha wrote: "225.5 million VND, this is the money for repairing the classroom after paying the contractor. Remember, it's only repairing one classroom that the school used for the previous school year. It's terrible." Or reader Pham Duy Viet spoke up: "The class fund for each student contributes 10 million VND, if it's voluntary, it means it's not mandatory, or if more than 50% of parents vote in favor, it's mandatory. If by chance a parent doesn't pay, will the homeroom teacher call out their name and "commend" them?"

Nghi Chan wondered: "At the beginning of the year, PH already paid the "facilities" fee, but they also collected "classroom repair" and "classroom construction" fees from the contractor? Where did the facilities money go?"

K EVERYWHERE IS CALLING ABOUT INCOME AND EXPENDITURE

On September 27, Thanh Nien reporters also continuously received emails and phone calls from parents reporting on income and expenditure at the beginning of the school year.

A group of parents whose children study at Long Binh Primary School, Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City, reported: "From the beginning of the school year, the school did not check the facilities in advance, but waited for the students to start school, then the homeroom teacher called for socialization. The amounts we had to contribute were: supporting the board, buying sliding boards, drawing boards, buying chairs for the flag salute, decorating the classroom at the beginning of the year, fans, lights..."

Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training: Strictly prohibiting the use of the name of the parent-teacher association

Mr. Le Hoai Nam, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the Department of Education and Training has instructed education departments and schools on the collection and use of tuition fees and service fees to support educational activities... for the 2023-2024 school year.

Accordingly, educational institutions must fully and publicly notify parents, students, and pupils of the collection fees in writing, clearly stating the content of the collection fees according to regulations. And extend the collection time; do not collect multiple fees at the same time...

Regarding the operating expenses of the parents' representative committee, the Department's leaders emphasized that it is strictly forbidden to take advantage of the name of the parents' representative committee to collect fees other than those prescribed in Circular No. 55 of the Ministry of Education and Training.

The Department also notes to educational units that the operating budget of the parent-teacher association is managed and used by the parent-teacher association and only serves the direct activities of the parent-teacher association.

Do not use the funds of the parents' representative committee for the following purposes: "Protecting school facilities, ensuring school security, supervising students' vehicles, cleaning classrooms, cleaning the school, rewarding school administrators, teachers, and staff, purchasing machinery, equipment, and teaching aids for schools, classes, or for school administrators, teachers, and staff, supporting management work, organizing teaching and educational activities, repairing, upgrading, and constructing new school facilities" (point b, clause 4, article 10 of Circular 55).

In addition, the Department also requested that the principal and head of the educational unit agree with the head of the school's parent representative board to decide on the plan for using the school's parent representative board's funds; and only use them after the entire representative board has agreed.

Bich Thanh

A parent whose child studies at NH Primary School, Thu Duc City, also reported to Thanh Nien reporter: "Every year, the school calls on parents to contribute, including: money for repairing classrooms (repaired every year); electricity; projector money (paid every year); performance money; money for printing certificates and buying gifts to reward students; study encouragement money; money to pay to the school's parent association...".

Faced with this situation, yesterday, September 27, the Department of Education and Training of Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City issued Official Letter No. 1649 on guidelines for mobilizing, managing, and using operating funds of the parent-teacher association according to Circular No. 55/2011/TT-BGDDT. This official letter is sent to all principals, kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools in the district. This is a very timely move by the district in the face of the situation where schools in many localities across the country have been reported to have collected and spent many amounts of money, making parents cry.

What does the Ministry of Education and Training prescribe?

Circular No. 55/2011/TT-BGDDT clearly stipulates that the mobilization and establishment of a fund for the activities of the parent representative committee must comply with Point a, Point b, Clause 1, Article 10 of Circular 55/2011/TT-BGDDT as follows:

The operating expenses of the class parents' committee come from the voluntary support of parents and other legal sources of funding for the class parents' committee.

Notification message from the parent representative committee that NH Primary School, Thu Duc City, Ho Chi Minh City received at the beginning of this school year

The operating budget of the school's parent-teacher association is taken from the operating budget of the class parent-teacher associations according to the recommendation of the plenary meeting of the class parent-teacher association heads at the beginning of the school year and other legal funding sources for the school's parent-teacher association.

Regarding the collection principles and other related regulations, follow Clause 3 and Clause 4, Article 10 of Circular 55: "The collection and expenditure of funds by the parents' representative board must ensure the principles of publicity and democracy: After spending, the final settlement of funds must be publicly reported at the meetings of all parents of the class and the meetings of the parents' representative board of the school. There is no regulation on the average level of support funds for parents of students".

The parents' committee is not allowed to collect donations from students or their families that are not voluntary; donations that do not directly serve the activities of the parents' committee.

In addition, the Ministry of Education and Training emphasized that educational institutions do not receive funding to pay for the following expenses: teaching fees; expenses directly related to managers, teachers, lecturers and staff, security and protection activities; fees for looking after students' vehicles; fees for maintaining classroom and school hygiene; rewards for managers, teachers and staff; and costs to support the management of educational institutions.

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