Payment requests for online teaching leave parents puzzled 

Some parents protested the tuition fees that international schools demanded for the social distancing period

Vietnam Australia International School (VAS) in Ho Chi Minh City last week announced its tuition fees for the health crisis period. Fees have been waived for kindergarten level, while those for online classes of primary and secondary students will be cut by 70 per cent. No meals and student transportation due to social distancing means no charges for that period, even though VAS did attempt to charge for this previously. Now, parents only have to pay for their children’s actual time at schools.

VAS explained that the system applies the principle of collecting fees for the whole school year, and not per module or per week, with online tuition being based on the listed fee approved by parents from the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year.

“VAS follows the regulations and guidelines of the Ministry of Education and Training and Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training regarding online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic,” a VAS press release said. “VAS has sent parents the curriculum and tuition details, and directly talked with those with questions.”

However, the school’s solutions have yet to satisfy a sizable number of parents because the fees for the fourth term (May 11-July 15) are still being charged in full even though extracurricular activities have been cancelled.

“VAS discounted 70 per cent of tuition of online classes in the third term due to social distancing, but the tuition of the fourth has risen sharply, even up 40 per cent against the fees listed at the beginning of the year,” said one parent, whose two children are studying at VAS’ Sala branch.

Meanwhile, Vo Huu Loi, member of a Facebook group of VAS parents, said that he does not agree with the school’s fee calculations without asking for opinion. “The school fee issue is related to the whole system of VAS, and therefore I think there should be a meeting between the school and all parents,” said Loi.

Hundreds of parents have been seen standing in the sunshine to protest VAS policy of tuition, which includes a reservation fee of VND20 million ($870) to students of all classes in the coming 2020-2021 school year.

Tuition tangle

Along with VAS, another international school in Ho Chi Minh City dealing with protests by parents related to tuition is The American School (TAS).

According to some of the school’s parents, students started learning online at home from February due to the global health crisis.

By April 8, parents had received a notice from the school requesting payment for the 2020-2021 school year at the same tuition rate as the current school year, to be paid before May 30. In addition, the school required parents to pay a reservation fee of VND20 million ($870) before April 24.

Thus, TAS parents would have to pay VND100-200 million for their children’s three-month online learning, similar to the regular fee of normal learning at school.

“During the three months of staying at home because of the coronavirus, we still have to pay the school nearly VND2.5 million ($110) per day,” one parent explained.

Disagreeing with the tuition policy, nearly 200 parents signed a letter to send the school and received notification of a 3-15 per cent reduction for new school year tuition fees, depending on the level.

But so far, the school has yet to provide information about refunds or tuition reduction during the social distancing period.

Meanwhile in Hanoi, parents of Singapore International School (SIS) are also disagreeing with online class fees, which have been valued at 80 per cent of the normal tuition.

“In late March, SIS started online classes without a specific programme. The classes were disordered and the quality not good,” said one of the parents who gathered at the school gate to protest the fee last week. “Why does the school collect up to 80 per cent of tuition for such poor quality?”

Meanwhile, another parent whose children are in second grade said she paid VND270 million ($11,700) at the beginning of the school year for tuition of four modules, excluding meals and transport fees.

“We want SIS to pay back the tuition fees for the COVID-19 period. However, on May 8 the school announced that only 20 per cent of the tuition for the third term would be repaid if our children continue studying there. It’s unreasonable,” she said.

Newton Grammar School in Hanoi is also coping with strong protests from parents related to a mandatory reservation fee. In an announcement sent to parents earlier this month, the school required parents to pay VND5 million ($220) or VND8 million ($350), depending on the class their children attend, to ensure they can continue studying in the school over the next academic year.

“The reservation fee will be accounted for in the school development fund with 10 per cent incentive for the next academic year,” the announcement said. “After May 31, if parents do not pay the reservation fee, we will understand that parents will not let their child continue to study at the school in the coming school year and the school will select new students to take their place.”

A distressed parent on a related Facebook group wrote in response, “This is money-minded education. This school is dangerously lacking in ethics.”

Pointing out that the reservation fee is in stark contrast to the school’s motto, another parent sent a message to the form teacher of her child’s class saying, “I used to love Newton school and believe in its educational philosophy. But now it is all about just money and money. It seems that the school lacks capital and wants to get into parents’ wallets.”

Sharing with VIR, a representative of the school’s Administration Board said, “This year, due to lots of impacts from the coronavirus disease, we would like to build a plan for the new school year from early June. To parents engaging with us, we thank them with a decrease of 10 per cent for the school development fund for the next school year.”

Debate between business and education

On May 11, the Ministry of Education and Training released document No.1620/BGDDT-KHTC on collected fees in the education and training sector for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years. For non-public educational establishments, during the time students are absent from school to prevent the pandemic, schools can collect online class tuition based on agreement from parents and in the orientation of supporting and difficulty sharing between educational institutions and parents of students, along with policies of fee reduction.

Meanwhile, Le Ngoc Quang, deputy director of Hanoi Training and Education Department, said that collecting reservation fees violates regulations. “If you look up the list of fees and charges, there is no fee named reservation,” he said.

Sharing with VIR, Tran Kim Phuong, a member of the board at Everest School said that sharing difficulties with parents is the responsibility of educational facilities with a community spirit. “We did not collect fees for February or March, and discounted 60 per cent of tuition for April. Every family impacted by the disease has been financially supported,” she said.

According to Phuong, it is very necessary to know the number of students for the new school year.

“It’s related to preparation of human resources. However, results of teaching and caring for students are the elements that keep parents on our side. That’s why we do not charge a reservation fee but offer discounts for those paying tuition early,” Phuong added.

In early March, 150 non-public educational institutions sent a letter to the prime minister requesting permission to reopen due to “exhaustion of finance”.

James Worland - Head of Secondary at The International School @ParkCity Hanoi (ISPH) During the time of enforced closure, the product our staff were delivering to our students was of the highest quality. Every effort was made to ensure the home learning experience for students was as representative of a normal school day or week as possible. As a result, our fee schedule remained unchanged during the period of closure. However, with the support of the school board, we will be offering a number of financial incentives for both existing and new parents for the 2020-2021 academic year. More details will be made available on the ISPH website very soon. Like all business around the world, the COVID-19 situation has required us to reassess our projected budgets for upcoming resource orders, and now more than ever we must be financially responsible. However, the reassessment of budgets will in no way be to the detriment of the product we deliver to our students and ISPH families. We remain 100 per cent committed to maintaining our extremely high standards to ensure the highest quality product is delivered. Opening in September 2019, the school has doubled its enrolment since opening and welcomes students from all corners of the globe. ISPH currently has 125+ students and this number is increasing daily. Students were extremely excited about returning to classes on the main campus. Although our home learning programme throughout the closure was exceptionally well received, the anticipation around the return to school was high. Since re-opening on May 4 for secondary students, and May 11 for primary students, attendance has been over 98 per cent each day, which shows how happy students are to be back. There is an undeniable feeling of euphoria around the school at the moment, it is a very positive place to be.