Will teacher training students have to pay tuition?

One of the notable contents of the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education, which was recently submitted to the National Assembly Standing Committee for comments at the 22nd session on the afternoon of March 12, is the proposal to replace the regulation on tuition exemption for pedagogical students with a regulation on borrowing pedagogical credit to pay tuition and living expenses.

The Government's report stated that the policy of not collecting tuition fees for students of teacher training colleges has been implemented for 20 years. This is also a priority policy of the Party and State, reflecting the viewpoint that "Education is the top national policy".

Reality has also proven that in the past, the above policy has attracted many excellent students to pedagogical schools. Many poor families, thanks to the above policy, have their children go to school, reducing the burden on the family and society and then becoming good teachers, making many contributions to education.

However, currently, the needs of the labor market have changed. The number of pedagogical students nationwide who have graduated and are unemployed or working in the wrong field of pedagogy is still high. There is a situation of working in the wrong field or profession, causing a huge waste of pedagogical human resources.

“Therefore, students of pedagogy also need to pay tuition fees like students of other majors,” said Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha. However, to attract and facilitate students of pedagogy, the draft Law stipulates pedagogical credit and stipulates that after graduation, if they work in the education sector for a sufficient period of time as prescribed, they will not have to repay the pedagogical credit loan. At the same time, the Government is assigned to specify the pedagogical credit regime and reimbursement policy for students of pedagogy.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Phan Thanh Binh - Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee for Culture, Education, Youth, Children and Adolescents said that there are still two types of opinions in the agency reviewing the draft law.

Accordingly, the first opinion agrees with the revised content to implement the policy payment to the right subjects working in the education sector and suggests that it is necessary to carefully study the implementation method to create the most favorable conditions for learners; add regulations on tuition refund in case learners pay tuition themselves.

The second type of opinion suggests retaining the regulation of tuition exemption for students and pedagogical students to clearly demonstrate the State's priority and preferential policies for teacher training and development.

The Standing Committee's viewpoint is that whether implementing credit policies or tuition exemption, to solve the problems of wasting budget, time, human resources and improving the quality of teacher training, it is necessary to organize well the planning of teacher training facilities and human resources in the education sector, as a basis for proper and sufficient investment, ensuring jobs for students after graduation.

Along with that, it is necessary to amend regulations on enrollment and teacher training to improve input quality; enhance the position of teachers, increase the attractiveness of the teaching profession, along with preferential policies in training and fostering to attract high-quality human resources for the education sector in the coming time./.