University fees to increase, general schools’ to remain same?
Facing opposition from the Standing Committee of the National Assembly when submitting the project on renovating the tuition fee scheme on May 13, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan proposed keeping the same tuition level for general education but raising university tuition fees by 50%.
 |
|
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thien Nhan proposed keeping the same tuition level for general education but raising university tuition fees by 50%. |
Nhan on May 13 reported to the Standing Committee of the National Assembly on the project on renovating the finance scheme in education and training for the period from 2008-2012.
According to Nhan, the currently applied tuition scheme, which was drawn up 11 years ago, is outdated as consumer prices have increased by 1.62 times since 2000. With the current tuition levels, the actual value of tuition fees is just equal to 62% of those in 2000. With the current tuition fee for university education of VND180,000 a month, universities need to come up with an additional VND291,600 a month.
One-year delay proposed
If the Ministry of Education and Training’s (MOET) project is approved by the National Assembly, the government will release a guiding document to ensure that the project will be implemented as of the 2009-2010 school year.
However, the Standing Committee of the National Assembly yesterday afternoon did not agree with the ministry’s proposal that the project should implemented as of the coming school year.
Dao Trong Thi, Chairman of the National Assembly’s Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children, said that while people’s living standards remain low, and people remain familiar with the subsidisation mechanism in education, the tuition increase plan may not get support from society.
“Under the MOET’s project, tuition fees and other educational expenses for a four-member family with two children going to kindergarten and general school will not exceed 6% of the family’s average income. In developed countries, the figure is 2-10%, which means that the 6% level is overly high,” Thi said.
Thi also cited two reasons that the project should not be applied right in the 2009-2010 school year.
In 2009, the national economy is still facing a downturn with which people are struggling. Meanwhile, relevant ministries would not have much time to prepare for the project’s implementation with the new school year beginning in September.
Thi has suggested that the starting point of the project be delayed until the 2010-2011 school year, while the project’s duration should be five years instead of four.
Agreeing with Thi, a representative of the Ministry of Finance said that it would be impossible to implement the project in the 2009-2010 school year.
If the project is kicked off in September 2009, the state would have to increase the budget for education and training, estimated at VND5,300 billion.
Tuition exemption for students in rural areas
A representative of the Ministry of Finance has warned that when the new tuition scheme is applied, students may flock to areas with low tuition levels
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Legal Committee Nguyen Van Thuan suggested that the state subsidise education and health care, while it should consider exempting 100% of tuition fees for general school students in rural areas.
The official from the Ministry of Finance agreed that it was necessary to exempt tuition for secondary school students. However, in order to do that, the state will have to raise the budget for education by 30%.
New university education tuition fees overly high
Thi believes that the gap between the currently applied tuition level for higher education and the proposed tuition level proves to be too big.
He said that the tuition increase should be carried out step by step with the increase of only 30-40% every year.
Thi also said that the suggested tuition levels set for vocational training (44.7% of regular expenses) prove to be relatively high in comparison with people’s average incomes, emphasising that the high tuition level will not encourage people to go to vocational schools after they finish general school.
2009: no increase for general education, 50% increase for university tuition
After hearing the opinions, Nhan agreed that the project’s implementation should be delayed for one year, but suggested measures for the ‘transitional period’.
Nhan said that the tuition fee for general school will not change in 2009, but the university tuition fee for higher education will increase by 50% compared to 2000 in order to cover commodity price increases.
The tuition level will increase from VND180,000 currently to VND230,000/student/month, lower than the proposed level of VND250,000.
VietNamNet, VNE
Comments