Parents say the school's bicycle parking fee of 4,000 VND/day is too high.

Bicycles are parked at school but students have to pay 2,000 VND/ride and 4,000 VND/day if they go home at noon and go to school in the morning.

Students of Tan Nhat Secondary School in physical education class - Photo: MY DUNG

Some parents of Tan Nhut Secondary School (Tan Nhut Commune, Ho Chi Minh City) were very upset and reported to Tuoi Tre newspaper about the bicycle parking fee collected from students at this school.

"I don't understand why students ride bicycles to school. The school has security guards, but each time they enter and exit, they have to pay 2,000 VND. If they leave school at noon and re-enter in the afternoon, they will have to pay another 2,000 VND, for a total of 4,000 VND per day.

If the children have to go in and out of school, they are charged 2,000 VND for parking each time. We parents try very hard, but this is overcharging. The children's bicycle parking fee can sometimes be more than 100,000 VND/month," an angry parent told Tuoi Tre .

According to parents, they are upset that their children have to pay for bicycle parking at school because "this fee is very unreasonable". According to them, the school has a fence, a gate, security guards and this is a public school, so it is unreasonable for the school to collect money from students to park their bicycles when they come to school.

Responding to Tuoi Tre , Ms. Nguyen Thi Ngoc Bich - Principal of Tan Nhut Secondary School - explained:

The school auctioned the school cafeteria and parking lot according to Decree 186 as public property. This year, a company won the bid for both the cafeteria and parking lot. As for the parking lot, after the auction, the winning company handed it over to the security guard because the number of students parking their vehicles was not much, this year there were only 120 students using bicycles or electric bicycles. They collected 2,000 VND per bicycle or electric bicycle.

The school has 4 security guards, 2 guards per shift. These guards are also contracted by the school to an outside company, they are not directly under the school staff because according to current regulations, the school is no longer allowed to directly contract with these guards.

"Previously, the old principal did not allow students to park their bikes in school. The school had been looking after students' bikes for several years. We wanted to organize bike parking for students because when students ride their bikes, they can park their bikes in school so that they can go to school and then take their bikes home, without turning into any shops or restaurants, which can easily lead to bad social evils.

On the other hand, vehicles such as electric bicycles are also valuable assets, so if they are lost, the students will not know how to calculate, or how the school will calculate. Therefore, the school organized an auction of the entire parking lot to look after the students' vehicles.

Last school year, there were about 80 electric bicycles left at school. Last school year, there were 100 bicycles and electric bicycles. This year, there are 120 bicycles and electric bicycles. Currently, students are charged 2,000 VND per bicycle and I think this price is normal because the person keeping the bicycles must ensure that if they are not careful and there is a loss, they must compensate the students for the damage," Ms. Bich said.

However, through a survey by Tuoi Tre reporters, many secondary schools in Ho Chi Minh City currently do not charge parking fees for students when they come to school. According to them, because the number of students is not large and the school can manage it together with the vehicles of staff and workers.

MY DUNG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/phu-huynh-noi-truong-thu-phi-giu-xe-dap-cua-hoc-sinh-4-000-dong-ngay-la-qua-cao-20251002151325033.htm