Will the new regulation help pedagogical students no longer have to pay living expenses?

Living allowance debt of hundreds of millions of dong per student

Since enrolling in 2021, Nguyen Van Minh, a student at Saigon University, and many of his friends have registered under the training assignment of Ho Chi Minh City to be exempted from tuition fees and receive a monthly living allowance of VND 3.63 million according to Decree 116/2020/ND-CP of the Government .

However, this living allowance has been delayed for nearly 4 years since Minh started studying. "Many students choose Pedagogy because their families are not well off, so they really look forward to the living allowance. The delay in providing this allowance has caused my family to have to borrow money many times, which has greatly affected the family's living plan," Nguyen Van Minh shared.

It was not until January 2025 that more than 600 students studying Pedagogy majors at Saigon University and Ho Chi Minh City University of Education under the training assignment of Ho Chi Minh City received living allowance according to Decree 116/2020/ND-CP of the Government.

Explaining the reason for the nearly 4-year delay in payment, Mr. Ho Tan Minh, Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the 2021 class of students was the first to be "ordered" according to the Decree. Due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, procedures were stuck and not synchronized between units. Only now has the Department been able to complete the process of transferring money to the students.

It is known that more than 600 Pedagogy students have received living allowance of 127 million VND each, after 4 years of debt. This is the support amount for 35 months, 3.63 million VND per month, according to Decree 116.

According to this Decree, from 2021, Pedagogy students will receive 100% state support for tuition fees and 3.63 million VND/month for living expenses. This funding comes from the budgets of localities, ministries, and branches, through the form of "ordering" with schools.

Removing obstacles in mechanism

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, Decree 116/2020/ND-CP helps students of Pedagogy receive support for tuition fees and living expenses, associated with the responsibility of students after graduation to work for a certain period of time in the education sector, otherwise they will have to repay the support funds.

However, the implementation of Decree 116 has encountered some difficulties when localities committed to "ordering" but did not implement, leading to delays in payment of funds. Some localities are facing difficulties and do not have enough funds to support Pedagogy students who are studying;

The training of pedagogical students and the recruitment of students after graduation into the education sector are not yet synchronized; there are no detailed instructions on monitoring and reimbursement of expenses...

That reality causes thousands of Pedagogy students across the country to be owed support money, due to the "ordering" of training according to Decree 116 from localities and the allocation of funds still having many problems.

Therefore, Decree 60/2025/ND-CP amending and supplementing a number of articles of Decree 116/2020/ND-CP, which has just been issued, will adjust the regulations on the method of financial support for Pedagogy students. In particular, the State supports Pedagogy students by assigning budget estimates according to budget decentralization;

In case the locality has a need for teachers that need to be assigned or ordered, the task of teacher training will be assigned to the affiliated teacher training institution or the teacher training institution will be ordered.

The Ministry of Education and Training believes that with this regulation, training facilities for pedagogical students and pedagogical students will be provided with more timely and adequate funding, contributing to creating conditions for students to study with peace of mind and improving the quality of the teaching staff.

Decree 60/2025/ND-CP also clarifies the responsibilities of relevant parties such as the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Finance , provincial People's Committees, teacher training institutions, learners... in implementing the policy; especially clarifying the responsibility of ensuring funding to implement support policies for pedagogical students.

Decree No. 60 will overcome the situation where some localities cannot balance their budgets to implement policies to support Pedagogy students, while ensuring compliance with the provisions of the 2019 Education Law.

Decree 60/2025/ND-CP also amends and supplements regulations on the recovery of support funds. Specifically, every year, based on the training and learning results of Pedagogy students, teacher training institutions announce the list of Pedagogy students who are entitled to the policy and are still in training but have transferred to another training major.

If the student voluntarily drops out of school, does not complete the training program or is disciplined and forced to drop out, the People's Committee of the province where the student is a permanent resident or the agency that assigns the task or orders to notify the recovery of the funding that has been provided to the Pedagogy students.