To: The People’s Committees of provinces and central-affiliated cities

Implementing the direction of the Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc at the meeting of Steering Board of Price Administration in the first quarter of 2020 to tighten control over prices in education in order to stabilize the market price, reduce difficulties in business and the people’s lives, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) proposes the People’s Committees of provinces or central-affiliated cities to direct the People's Committees, Departments of Education and Training, and educational institutions to cooperate in implementing price administration and collecting fees in education and training field in school year 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, as follows:

1. Focus on speeding up the completion of investment procedures as guided, allocating counterpart fund for timely and effective execution of Programs, Schemes, Projects, etc. received by MOET; gather resources to ensure school buildings, facilities, and classrooms for school year 2020-2021, which is the first year in which the Compulsory Education Program 2018 is implemented. Promote disbursement of sources of funds associated with relevant projects following the progress directed by the Prime Minister.

2. Priority is given to allocating available resources to mobilize and distribute budgets to education field to ensure that current expenditures (salaries, allowances, salary-like amounts and expenditures on teaching and studying, etc) incurred by education institutions shall be covered as prescribed in Decision No. 46/2016/QD-TTg dated October 19, 2016 of the Prime Minister on promulgation of quotas for current expenditure estimate in the state budget in order to implement other directions of the education authority in an effective manner. Implement disclosure of education and training quality commitment, quality assurance, and receipts and expenses as prescribed in Circular No. 36/2017/TT-BGDDT dated December 28, 2017 of the Ministry of Education and Training on Regulations on required disclosure applicable to education and training institutions in national education system.

3. Strengthen inspection and examination of revenues and expenditures in educational institutions in administrative divisions; take strict actions against the head of an education institution and local education authority that let improper collection or over-collection happens; and have the Parent Committee become fully aware of their functions, tasks, entitlements as prescribed in the Circular No. 55/2011/TT-BGDDT dated November 22, 2011 of the Ministry of Education and Training on promulgation of the Parent Committee Charter, and only allow collection of fees in direct association with operating activities of the Parent Committee as specified in Clause 1 Article 10 of this Circular.

4. In particular, during the period of prevention and control of Covid-19, fees in school year 2019-2020 shall be collected according to the following rules:

Follow the mechanism for collection of tuition fees as prescribed in the Decree No. 86/2015/ND-CP dated October 2, 2015 on mechanism for collection and management of tuition fees applicable to educational institutions in the national education system and policies on tuition fee exemption and reduction and financial support from academic year 2015 – 2016 to 2020 – 2021; follow the guidelines for online teaching as specified in the Official Dispatch No. 1061/BGDDT-GDTrH dated March 25, 2020 providing instruction for teaching via Internet and on television regarding compulsory education institutions, continuing education institutions during school closure due to Covid-19 epidemic in the school year 2019-2020; the Official Dispatch No. 795/BGDDT-GDDH of March 13, 2020 adopting distance training in response to the Covid-19 epidemic; and the Official Dispatch No. 988/BGDDT-GDDH dated March 23, 2020 on quality assurance of distance learning during the period of prevention and control of Covid-19 so as to calculate, make public, reach agreement on fees based on actual teaching.

- With respect to public educational institutions:

+ Tuition fee will not be collected if, during the students’ time-off from school to curb the pandemic outbreak, the online learning has not been implemented; tuition fee will only be collected if the online learning or makeup classes have been implemented. The tuition fee level shall be collected as prescribed in the decision of People’s Council of province based on the actual number of months of learning, provided not exceeding the level set out in the Decree No. 86/2015/ND-CP (in specific: based on the actual months of learning regarding preschool education institutions, continuing education institutions; not exceeding 9 months/year regarding compulsory education institutions; not exceeding 10 months/year regarding higher education institutions).

+ Fees for services and educational activities of school shall be collected as prescribed in Point b, Clause 6, Article 99 of the Law on Education 2019; the People’s Council of province shall decide fees for services and educational activities applied to public educational institutions within their authority upon the proposal of the People's Committee of province.

The management and use of fees for services and educational activities shall comply with the Circular No. 16/2018/TT-BGDDT dated August 3, 2018 on sponsorships to institutions of national education system and other relevant regulations to encourage Vietnamese and foreign businesses, groups, and individuals to contribute, sponsor, and support education and training field.

- With respect to non-public educational institutions:

+ Tuition fee and other fees will not be collected if, during the students’ time-off from school to curb the pandemic outbreak, the online learning has not been implemented. If such a tuition fee or fee was collected, a corresponding refund shall be made when the student is back to school and the final settlement shall be made at the end of the academic year with the parents. If the online learning has been implemented, depending on the circumstances, costs incurred in connection with the online teaching, actual learning time, online learning contents, completion rate of curriculum, etc. suitable fee amounts will be collected on the principle of sharing the common burden between the educational institution and parents, provided that they does not exceed the fees and total fees of the academic year as committed and publicized in the beginning of the academic year; and have a policy to reduce fees suitable to circumstances of students.

5. Direct relevant agencies to cooperate in inspecting the implementation of regulations on putting up notices and publicizing information about prices of educational supplies and equipment, textbooks in the administrative divisions to ensure the transparency in accordance with the Law on Prices and relevant documents.

6. Based on the tuition fee ceiling for the school year 2020-2021, local governments are requested to submit reports on expected time to increase education prices for education levels in urban areas, rural areas, mountainous areas, sub-discipline codes in 2020 in accordance with the Decree No. 86/2015/ND-CP dated October 2, 2015 of the Government on mechanism for collection and management of tuition fees applicable to educational institutions in the national education system and policies on tuition fee exemption and reduction and financial support to the Ministry of Education and Training before May 30, 2020 for consolidation and then report to the Steering Board of Price Administration.

Yours sincerely./.