Parents shocked by fees at a mountain school

Recently, on social networks, a list of tuition fees at the beginning of the year at Phan Chu Trinh Primary School, Chu Prong Commune, Gia Lai Province appeared, attracting public attention.

According to parents, this school year, the school has collected many fees that are not regulated and higher than the average for each student/school year. The fees include: English tuition 360,000 VND, teaching and learning support fund 100,000 VND; cleaning public restrooms, school yard 180,000 VND; writing practice notebooks 60,000 VND. In particular, boarding students also have to pay many fees that have been divided into small amounts such as input fees, cleaning materials, security, meals...

Phụ huynh — Parents were shocked when the total amount of contributions was nearly 5 million VND.

"I went to the parent-teacher meeting and was shocked to see the total amount of money I had to pay for a year was nearly 5 million VND. For a farming family with a low income and two children going to school, this is a large amount of money," said one parent.

Speaking to a reporter from Nguoi Lao Dong Newspaper , Ms. Phan Thi Nga, Principal of Phan Chu Trinh Primary School, said that for the 2025-2026 school year, the school organized an early parent meeting, from the end of August 2025, to get opinions and prepare well for boarding students.

At the time of the meeting, the school announced the collection of fees for the school year according to the old regulations. The fees mentioned above are only estimates, the school will then consider to complete the collection so that it is reasonable and in accordance with regulations. However, after that, there were changes, many fees were exempted by the state for students.

Of which, the English tuition fee is 360,000 VND/student/school year, Ms. Nga explained that because the school lacked teachers, parents voluntarily contributed to support the teachers to teach extra classes. However, after that, there was a regulation that students were exempted from paying, so the collection was stopped. For some parents who have paid, the school is asking for their opinions, if not, it will return it to the parents.

In addition, parents have paid an "input fee" of 500,000 VND (for boarding students) but still have to pay other fees such as: detergent fee of 135,000 VND/student/year; cleaning fee of 200,000 VND/student/year... Ms. Nga said that these are fees to take care of students, which have been announced and agreed upon by parents. Some fees are a little higher than those of neighboring schools, but parents have agreed to the quality of service for their children.

In particular, parents complained that the school's announcement to collect "afternoon" fees of 900,000 VND/year/student was unreasonable. The school principal said that according to the new regulations, students leave school around 3:00 p.m. and parents go to work so they cannot pick up their children in time. Therefore, parents suggested paying 900,000 VND/year to have the teacher look after their children until 5:00 p.m. However, the school stopped collecting this fee from parents.

Absolutely do not collect in violation of regulations.

Mr. Pham Ngoc Toan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Chu Prong Commune, said that from the beginning of the school year, he had a meeting with schools and carefully directed them about the fees. Any fees that were unclear would need to wait for regulations to be applied. In response to the above reflection, Mr. Toan said he would direct professional staff to work with schools to clarify and absolutely not allow fees to be collected in violation of regulations.

Source: https://nld.com.vn/phu-huynh-choang-vang-voi-cac-khoan-thu-o-mot-truong-hoc-mien-nui-196250926143516189.htm