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Part 2

The Central Party Secretariat, the Prime Minister, and the Provincial Party Standing Committee have also issued directives and decisions, including Decision No. 1306 dated June 20, 2005, prohibiting the misuse of public funds, soliciting donations, and using funds for improper purposes. They also stipulate disciplinary action against organizations, agencies, units, and localities that violate or intentionally misuse public funds, causing waste and extravagance during celebrations of traditional anniversaries and founding anniversaries of the sector. The content also addresses disciplinary action against Party members who violate ethical conduct and lifestyle. Section 2 stipulates disciplinary action in the form of a warning or dismissal (if applicable) for Party members who commit the following violations: “using state or collective funds, assets, or resources, or funds donated by the people, or requesting contributions from subordinates, organizations, or individuals for personal or collective use, or using funds for improper purposes.”

1- Establishing an internal fund violates financial management principles.

However, the principal of Quynh Luu 2 High School, either not accepting this policy or wanting to show off his achievements, mobilized financial resources by all means, including personally going to the South to solicit contributions from successful former students, in order to organize a lavish celebration of the school's 40th anniversary. According to the explanation dated August 29, 2007, by Ms. Phan Thi Que, the former accountant of the school, the total amount collected from contributions was 211,500,000 VND and 400 USD. Of particular concern is that Mr. Nguyen Van Minh, as the account holder, directed the creation of separate accounting records for this money, contrary to the Law on Financial Management and Accounting. Essentially, this was a deliberate attempt to create an internal fund to easily circumvent the law and spend money in violation of state financial management regulations. What's even stranger and more unconventional is that Mr. Nguyen Van Minh, acting on behalf of the accountant, personally wrote down the transaction numbers for receipts and disbursements, even though accountant Phan Thi Que had left the document numbering field blank.

What purposes did Principal Nguyen Van Minh approve the expenditure of internal funds for?

First, the school approved expenses for former students totaling 13,722,000 VND; expenses for former teachers totaling over 8,349,000 VND; and other expenses totaling 178,101,000 VND. Not to mention citing reasons and claiming "merits" in soliciting donations, Mr. Nguyen Van Minh suggested to the school council and union that they vote by show of hands to "reward" him with 10,000,000 VND. It is certain that the money spent on his trip to the South to solicit sponsorships and contributions for the school's anniversary celebration was paid from state funds. The school already had professional staff using computers to design and present various documents, but for some unknown reason, in the 2006-2007 school year, the Principal hired a female typist on a contract with a salary of 500,000 VND per month. It is unclear which official document or policy from which competent authority allowed Mr. Nguyen Van Minh to collect 20,000 VND per student per course through the Parents' Association as a "support for teaching and learning." Furthermore, Mr. Nguyen Van Minh arbitrarily set a fee of 30,000 VND per student in the hilly areas and 50,000 VND in the plains for "building a computer room." It is unknown whether this regulation was presented, explained, voted on, and approved by the People's Council of Quynh Luu District, the Quynh Luu District Education and Training Department, and the Nghe An Provincial Department of Education and Training. Teacher Ho Van Giap has requested the Department of Education and Training's inspection team to clarify the following negative actions by Principal Nguyen Van Minh: “He spent 8 million dong of public funds on Tet (Lunar New Year) gifts; used public funds to purchase offerings for religious ceremonies in his office; and arbitrarily set internal expenditure limits contrary to regulations, such as for meetings, travel expenses, and entertaining guests. According to Mr. Giap, Mr. Nguyen Van Minh also claimed to receive a higher percentage of the following expenses: money for tutoring for the final year of high school; money from extra classes; money deducted from the initial contributions of 10th-grade students; and overtime pay. The school has 22 semi-private and adult education classes, and Mr. Minh arbitrarily received 40,000 dong per class – averaging nearly 1 million dong in additional income per month from this source. The issue here is not simply whether the “additional income” is high or low, derived from the irregular spending of a principal, but rather the nature of the matter relates to his authority.” What are the limits of responsibility, which level of authority authorized it, and how has the supervisory role of the Party branch and the inspection of civil servants and employees been implemented to allow the "rampant and undemocratic" situation at Quynh Luu 2 High School to persist? Even the actual assessment of academic quality at Quynh Luu 2 High School in previous years (specifically 2005-2006) needs to be reviewed, especially the entrance exam, which led to bribery for admission to grade 10, damaging the reputation of Principal Nguyen Van Minh. Ms. Ho Thi Lien from Hamlet 7, Quynh Van Commune, and Mr. Ho Van Luu from Hamlet 6, Quynh Van Commune, both assured the journalist that they had given bribes to Mr. Nguyen Van Minh and his wife ranging from 1 to 2 million dong.

2. This lesson is not just for Quynh Luu 2 High School.

Implementing the "Two No's and more recently, Four No's" campaign in the education sector nationwide, the Education and Training Department of our province, after serious implementation, has learned a costly lesson from Kim Lien High School (Nam Dan), Nam Dan 2 High School, Thanh Chuong 3 High School, Pham Hong Thai High School (Hung Nguyen), Dong Hieu High School (Nghia Dan), Hoang Mai High School (Quynh Luu), and most recently, Quynh Luu 2 High School and Ha Huy Tap Junior High School (Vinh City). What is worrying is that the majority of these officials committed serious violations in financial management and professional ethics. Following disciplinary actions ranging from warnings, dismissals, removals from office, and transfers to other positions, some even granted early retirement benefits, according to some leading experts and many teachers, these high school principals are almost incapable of teaching their subjects anymore, even though they were previously teachers and had only recently been appointed to management positions. One problem observed in schools where negative incidents occur is the decline, weakness, and loss of fighting spirit in the core political, ideological, and supervisory role of the grassroots Party organizations. Similarly, the trade unions in these schools fail to regularly supervise the implementation of democratic regulations, and union officials are passive in the face of the principal's autocratic decisions. Inspection activities of staff and workers are merely 형식적인 (formalistic), or even paralyzed. It is time for the Education and Training sector to establish strict regulations on the selection and appointment of principals, evaluating management capacity and professional ethics periodically, and organizing annual and semester-by-course confidence votes for principals, vice-principals, and Party branch secretaries. It is not necessary for the principal to also hold the position of Party branch secretary. Furthermore, annual inspections and audits, in addition to assessing the quality of teaching and learning within the general and vocational school systems, should include regulations that carefully examine financial management principles, democratic regulations, the quality of ranking, and the classification of Party committees, branches, and Party members, especially those holding managerial and leadership roles. It is also necessary to summarize lessons learned from Party building work and strengthen the role of trade unions within the school system. Standardizing the management staff at all levels and grades is essential, avoiding the situation where appointments are made before training and development. Only then can we contribute to purifying the educational environment and prevent the loss of management personnel, as has happened in recent years.

Trung Truc - Vuong Tran