Teacher training: Some places owe subsidies, some places have money students don't dare accept

Some local teacher training colleges said that they have not yet received local budgets to support tuition and study costs for students. Meanwhile, other localities have provided budgets, but students are afraid to apply for support money because they are worried that if they do not work in the right field after graduation, they will have to pay back the money.

According to many experts, the policy of supporting tuition fees and monthly living expenses for pedagogical students is one of the leading factors attracting students to this group of majors.

However, according to feedback from a number of schools and localities, there are still many problems in supporting tuition fees and living expenses for students majoring in education according to Decree 116.

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Mr. Nguyen Van Tuan, Vice Principal of Hanoi University, said that local pedagogical schools are currently facing difficulties in resolving the funding for tuition and living expenses for students. From the 2021-2022 school year until now, when Decree 116 was officially applied, Hanoi University has not yet received funding to pay students.

“The demand for teachers in localities every year is very large, such as Hanoi, which needs 4,000-5,000 teachers every year, and up to 8,000 in some years. According to the regulations of Decree 116, localities will assign tasks, bid, and order teacher training. Every year, the school still receives information about bidding and ordering teacher training from Hanoi. Since Decree 116 took effect, the school has committed to students receiving tuition and allowances while studying. However, up to this point, we have not received any money. After many petitions, the Hanoi People's Committee asked the school to ask the Ministry of Education and Training whether this budget is paid by the central government or the local government. The Ministry has replied that the budget is paid by the local government,” said Mr. Tuan, adding that after many petitions to the authorities, students have not yet received reimbursement for tuition and study expenses as prescribed.

From these problems, the Vice President of the Capital University proposed that the tuition and living expenses support for pedagogical students at local schools should be directly provided by the Central Government every year to reduce difficulties when educational institutions have to work through localities.

A representative of Saigon University also said that the delay in paying the two support payments to students majoring in education was due to the fact that the provinces and cities had not yet completed the training order contract with the university. Therefore, for now, students who have difficulty in paying tuition fees should apply according to the university's instructions to be considered for support. As for the living allowance, the university must wait for disbursement from the localities.

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh - Vice Principal in charge of Dak Lak Pedagogical College also said that in the first year of applying Decree 116, the locality has not yet paid tuition and living expenses for students. However, up to now, the local budget has been allocated to the school, and the school is currently reviewing the list to pay for students of each course.

According to Mr. Thanh, Decree 116 stipulates that students who receive support money, if they do not work in the education sector within 2 years after graduation, will have to repay the subsidy they received. Therefore, many students are still afraid to apply to receive this money.

“About 70% of the students in the school applied for the grant, while the remaining 30% did not apply to receive this money. The reason many students worry is that after graduating they will not be able to find a job in the education sector, and the amount of money they will have to pay back will not be small,” said Mr. Thanh.

Discussing this issue, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Hoang Minh Son said that Decree 116 clearly stipulates that local pedagogical colleges under the management of provinces and cities pay expenses. At the same time, the Budget Law does not allow the central budget to directly fund local universities and colleges.

In the case of the Capital University, Hanoi City needs to be responsible for paying this fee to the school. The Ministry of Education and Training has sent many documents to the Hanoi People's Committee on this issue.

Deputy Minister Son also affirmed that in this school year, if any locality does not provide funding according to Decree 116, the Ministry of Education and Training will not provide quotas for schools in that locality. The settlement of student subsidies is the responsibility of both the school and the locality.

Decree 116/2020/ND-CP stipulates:

Article 4. Support level and support period

1. Support level:

a, Pedagogical students are supported by the State to pay tuition fees equal to the tuition fees of the teacher training institution where they study;

b, Pedagogical students are supported by the State with 3.63 million VND/month to cover living expenses during their time studying at school.

2. The duration of tuition and living expenses support is determined by the actual number of months of study at the school as prescribed, but not exceeding 10 months/school year. In the case of teaching under the credit system, the teacher training institution can convert the support level to suit the credit system. The total support cost for the entire course under the credit system does not exceed the support level prescribed for the course per school year.