Impasse over worth of online tuition

Private schools like Amslink should discuss tuition fees with parents, Photo: Le Toan

Parents in Hanoi last week were shocked to receive school announcements about collecting tuition fee for online classes during the COVID-19 crisis. Specifically, Everest School in late March informed that it will charge VND650,000 ($28) a week for primary school and VND700,000 ($30) for secondary school students.

Many parents expressed dissatisfaction with the fees, claiming they are too steep, while the quality of education is by no means guaranteed.

Reacting to the protests of parents, the school adjusted the fees a week later to VND400,000-450,000 ($17-20) for primary and VND520,000 ($23) for secondary school students.

If a class is too large and parents request dividing it into two groups, they will have to pay an additional fee of VND120,000 ($5) every week.

Everest School representative Nghiem Nhat Anh said the charge is only 40 per cent of normal fees, which is about VND4.2 million ($180) per month. “We have balanced the fee after receiving feedback from parents, and this is the most affordable amount that Everest can propose.”

However, parents are still reluctant to accept the proposal. Mother of a student at Everest, said that the fee should be a result of public and transparent discussion to show minimal respect to parents.

“Moreover, Everest should have followed the local authorities’ regulations. We cannot accept charges made through a process that was against the regulations,” she added.

“The school is also a firm, and students are the customers. We should discuss and find common ground, instead of the school unilaterally pressuring us like this,” she urged.

However, on the school’s side, Anh confirmed that private schools operate as businesses and can set the price of its products and services, and customers can choose any business they wish. “In no business transaction does the customer set the price,” she said.

Several private schools and English centres are facing similar standoffs. Amslink English Center, for instance, started online teaching in March but has yet to come to an agreement over tuition fees with parents.

In a talk with VIR, Thanh Long, the father of a Pre Starter B student at Amslink, said that the company asked him to pay VND220,000 ($10) per online lesson while direct study cost VND365,000 ($16). However, as he is unconvinced that online classes bring quality commensurate with the fee, he has not let his son join any of the classes yet. So far, only 30 per cent of students agreed to pay to study online at Amslink.

Based on Decree No.86/2015/ND-CP issued by the government in 2015 spelling out the framework for collecting tuition fees by public education institutions and fee exemptions and reductions from the academic year 2015-2016 to 2020-2021, public schools are not allowed to charge fees for the months off due to epidemics, nor can they charge for classes held to make up for the disruption. However, private schools are allowed to charge tuition based on separate agreements with parents.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), online classes during the pandemic are extracurricular, so it is necessary to factor in the curriculum and the missed workload to calculate the appropriate charges to cover the schools’ services. More importantly, schools have to work with parents before introducing fees.

Hence, the unilateral introduction of fees by private schools is contrary to the ministry’s regulations as the charges are not a result of open negotiations or communication and were not preceded by approval by parents.

According to Vu Thu Huong, a lecturer at Hanoi National University of Education, like most forms of teaching, online teaching requires teachers to prepare teaching materials, turn up for classes, as well as monitor and evaluate students’ performance. Therefore, charging fees is entirely justified.

However, the MoET should issue specific guidelines for the introduction of such fees to prevent confusion on the part of schools as well as anxiety among parents.

Le Viet Khuyen, former deputy head of the Higher Education Department under the MoET, said the quality of online classes is a worry for local education because the model presupposes a certain level of economic wealth and material facilities for learners. Moreover, online teaching is very new to Vietnam, so technical difficulties and poor quality of education are unavoidable. “Not all students have computers and smartphones to study online,” Khuyen added. “It easily causes disparity between the rich and poor.”

Echoing the same view, Bui Xuan Phai, lecturer at the Hanoi University of Law said that holding online classes from the university is also a lot of trouble, mainly due to the unstable internet systems. Thereby, he was of the opinion that the method is insufficient to impart knowledge to learners. “The solutions of the MoET are far from enough to solve the problems to create a truly conducive educational environment for all,” said Phai.