Increasing tuition fees should be associated with improving training quality.
(Baonghean) - Since 2017, public schools in Nghe An province have increased tuition fees. Nghe An Newspaper has asked for opinions from a number of parents, students and leaders of educational institutions on this issue.
Le Tuan Anh - first year student of Preventive Medicine, Vinh Medical University:
My family is in Quang Tri, my parents are farmers with no stable income, so raising me to study medicine is a burden for the family. Since I went to Vinh city to study, along with tuition fees, my parents have to provide about 3 million VND per month to cover my studies. The tuition fee increased by more than 200,000 VND/month since the beginning of this year, which certainly has a significant impact on my life.
Currently, because of my heavy study schedule, I don't have much time to work part-time. Therefore, to save money, I may have to reconsider my expenses on food, rent, and books to make up for the increased tuition fees. I also hope that if tuition fees increase, the quality of training will increase, and practice equipment will also be improved so that when students go to clinical practice, they can do better.
Nguyen Anh Linh - student of Business Administration, Nghe An University of Economics:
This year I am a senior student, so the tuition increase will only affect me for a short time. However, the average increase of 140,000 - 185,000 VND will certainly have a significant impact on many students in difficult circumstances. In fact, for university students living far from home, in addition to daily living expenses, we also spend a lot of money on materials, field trips, and accommodation. Currently, I hope that when tuition increases, the school needs to have policies to support students from poor households and students in difficult circumstances.
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| Students of Vinh Medical University get acquainted with advanced medical equipment. Photo: PV |
Mr. Tran Chau Ngoc - security guard of a company on Le Ninh street, Vinh city:
Currently, our family has two children studying at university, one at Hanoi University of Architecture, the other at Nghe An University of Economics, so the family has to provide more than 5 million VND per month. With my current salary as a security guard, the family has to be frugal, save, and cut down on food and clothing to have enough for our children to study. I think that increasing tuition fees should be linked to training effectiveness. In recent years, there have been too many unemployed graduates because they do not meet the requirements of businesses and need training.
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| Teachers and students of Viet Anh Kindergarten (Vinh City). Photo: MH |
Mr. Nguyen Hong Hoa - Head of Education and Training Department of Ky Son district:
In Ky Son district, the impact of the tuition fee increase mainly affects students in the town area. In the remaining schools, more than 90% of students are exempted or reduced from tuition fees, so there will be no difficulty in collecting tuition fees. I just hope that after the tuition fee increase, there will be a mechanism to balance tuition fees in localities to compensate for disadvantaged districts and the support fee will increase. In the past, the tuition fee support level of only 20 - 30 million/semester/school was too little, causing schools to struggle in their operations.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Tan - Principal of Quynh Vinh B Kindergarten - Hoang Mai Town
Previously, tuition fees for preschool education were divided into 4 levels - daycare, non-daycare, daycare, and non-daycare, making it difficult for schools to prepare documents and collect tuition fees from parents. Now, when it is converted to one level for preschool education with an increase of 20,000 VND/child, it will be more convenient. More importantly, we have more funds to operate. At our school with more than 500 students, excluding about 100 students who are exempted from tuition fees and special subjects, the new collection level will help the school have an additional 7-8 million VND per month to operate. This amount will help the school have more funds to pay teachers for overtime work; save money to buy more facilities because the school has just moved to a new facility and is in need of a lot of additional teaching equipment.
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| Students of Vinh University of Technical Education with 3D printer project. Photo: MH |
Mr. Nguyen Canh Phu - Principal of Vinh Medical University:
The new regulation on tuition fee increase according to Decree No. 86 of the Government has been effective since 2015. Therefore, increasing tuition fees in Nghe An at this time is necessary. Objectively, the tuition fee increase will certainly affect parents and students. However, if tuition fees are increased, it will greatly support schools in their operations, especially in specific fields such as medicine. In fact, the tuition fee of Vinh Medical University compared to other schools in the same field is still quite low. Meanwhile, the cost of studying medicine is very high, especially the cost of consumables and equipment.
| The tuition fee increase is based on Decision 89/2016/QD - UBND on tuition fees in public educational and training institutions under the management of Nghe An province from semester II of the 2016-2017 school year to the 2020-2021 school year. Tuition fees will be applied to preschool children, secondary school students, high school students and supplementary high school students, students, graduate students and researchers studying at public educational institutions under the management of Nghe An province. In particular, the new tuition fees for mass education programs for preschool and public general education will be divided into 4 regions (wards of Vinh city, communes of Vinh city, wards of towns and townships in the plains, communes of towns and townships in lowland districts, districts in highland areas and disadvantaged areas) instead of 3 regions (urban, plain, mountainous) as in the old regulations. For secondary schools, colleges and universities, the tuition fee for the second semester this year will increase by an average of 140,000 - 185,000 VND. From the 2017 - 2018 school year, each year will increase by 70,000 - 100,000 VND. |
Song Hoang - Chu Thanh
