Many schools in Nghe An have not yet implemented socialization at the beginning of the new school year.

Extend socialized revenue collection

In recent years, socialized fees have also received much attention from parents. However, at this time, many schools in Nghe An have not yet implemented socialized fees. A parent whose child is studying at a public high school in Vinh city said: In previous years, my child's school usually collected about 1 million VND/student in socialized fees at the beginning of the new school year. But this year, the school announced that it has not implemented it yet. I also hope that this year's fee is not too high to reduce the pressure on parents.

According to many high schools in the province, up to now, many schools have not yet implemented socialized fees at the beginning of the new school year. Some schools are even planning not to collect socialized fees this school year. Through research at the Department of Education and Training, currently no school has had its plan approved by the Department.socialization of educationTherefore, if any school collects fees, it is against the guidelines.

Not only high schools, many localities also do not have plans to collect socialized fees in the first semester. In Nghia Dan district, through discussion, Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - Head of the district's Department of Education and Training said: Currently, no school has had its socialized plan approved by the department, so the socialized fee collection has not been implemented at the grassroots level. To ensure that the collection and expenditure at the beginning of the year are on schedule, Nghia Dan district has also issued a document guiding and requiring schools to organize to get the consensus of parents to organize the implementation of the collection and payment on behalf of students. The implementation of service collection to serve and support the activities of educational institutions must be submitted to the District People's Committee for written agreement before implementation.

According to the guidance of Nghia Dan district, this year, educational institutions must publicly post the revenues and contributions at least 7 days before implementation and notify staff, teachers, students, parents and people to know, implement and monitor the implementation. The posting must clearly state the revenues, collection levels (if any), contributions, objects and purposes of use, expenditure content, expenditure levels and other notices, if any.

In particular, to avoid the situation where some educational institutions are planning to set up socialized collection levels at the beginning of the new school year without a policy from competent authorities, Nghia Dan District Police have also issued a document to strengthen revenue and expenditure management.

It is recommended that many relevant departments, especially the Education sector, need to review and rectify educational institutions that collect and spend money, and call for socialization without approval. Absolutely do not let educational institutions in the area make illegal payments, causing pressure and negative public opinion among the people, causing complications in security and order.

Some other districts such as Quynh Luu and Nam Dan also expect to have to wait until November or the end of the first semester to approve socialization plans for schools.

Mr. Tran Xuan Nhuong - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Quynh Luu district said: In addition to the revenue and expenditure guidance of the Department of Education and Training, Quynh Luu district has also issued documents to manage revenue and expenditure in the area. The district's viewpoint is that the implementationrevenue and expendituremust be transparent and used for the right purpose. Regarding sponsorships, we request that there be no regulations on average sponsorship levels, no regulations on minimum sponsorship levels. Absolutely do not take advantage of sponsorship for educational institutions to force contributions. In addition, timely support for students in difficult circumstances to ensure that all students can attend school fully. Currently, the Department of Education and Training has also announced a hotline number for people to report on illegal collection and spending. This includes the phone number of the Department of Education leaders.

The implementation of revenues must be for the right purpose.

According to the guidance of the Department of Education and Training, in the 2023-2024 school year, the funding for educational institutions (also known as socialization) is a voluntary revenue. In particular, according to regulations, funding must ensure the principles of voluntariness, publicity, transparency, schools do not force, do not stipulate an average funding level, do not stipulate a minimum funding level, and absolutely do not assign funding mobilization targets to each class (or each homeroom teacher). In addition, funding for education must not be used to force contributions and funding mobilization must not be considered a condition for providing educational and training services (or a condition for evaluating and ranking in competition).

To ensure the implementation of socialized revenues in schools in accordance with requirements, the Department of Education and Training also requires educational institutions to strictly implement 6 steps. In which, step one, educational institutions must compile statistics, review, and evaluate the current state of the unit's existing facilities. Based on the assessment combined with the forecast of the unit's development scale to determine the need for additional facilities. The fundraising plan must clearly define the content, purpose, beneficiaries, budget estimates, and implementation plans for activities requiring sponsorship.

The implementation must then be reported and approved by the Department of Education and Training or the Department of Education and Training before organizing the collection of funds. The remaining steps must be made public to parents at the parent meeting, establish a funding receiving team, and make a plan for using the funding. After completing the work, educational institutions must publicly post and report the financial settlement and implementation results to parents of students, organizations, and individuals who have contributed funds.

Regarding the revenue and expenditure at the beginning of the new school year, Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoan - Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training added: Currently, some schools have organized parent meetings, but many schools have not yet implemented them because they are developing plans to submit to local authorities, Departments and Departments of Education and Training for approval. This is considered a positive signal, showing strict compliance with regulations.

The industry's view on voluntary collections is to ensure the principles: Transparency, publicity, voluntariness, no regulations on average or minimum collection levels... At the same time, the collections should be spread out, avoiding concentrating them at the beginning of the year, causing pressure on parents.

The Chief of Office of the Department of Education and Training also added: Previously, through information gathering, there were some units whose implementation methods were unreasonable, not in accordance with the order and regulations according to the instructions. In these cases, the Department directly reminded and corrected. At the same time, it was noted that schools, when implementing in the coming time, need to have a suitable revenue and expenditure plan, in accordance with the process, ensuring the right purpose.

In the process of approving the socialization plan of schools, the Department and departments also calculate, review, and consider based on the actual situation of the school and the conditions of parents and students, to avoid overcharging in the education sector. At the same time, we will strengthen the inspection and examination of the revenue and expenditure situation at the beginning of the year, promptly correct the situation of overcharging, wrong collection, handle or propose strict handling of cases of intentional violations of regulations.