LookAtVietnam – Lawmakers expressed major concerns surrounding the Education and Training Ministry’s planned fee hikes for school attendance at a meeting in the capital yesterday, June 3.

Deputy Nguyen Thi Tuyen.

“The project still does not include information on how the quality of education will be improved with higher fees,” said chairman of the National Assembly Committee for Culture, Education, Youth and Children (CCEYC) Dao Trong Thi.

To this end, deputy Nguyen Viet Thinh asked the ministry to specify criteria that would measure the quality of education and training of institutions. With evidence of quality education, it would be easier to mobilise funds from society for education.

Other deputies agreed that measuring the quality of education according to set criteria would provide an effective starting point for making improvements and allow parents to be able to check up on the efficiency of their education investments.

Deputy Nguyen Thi Tuyen also expressed concern that the number of school dropouts would soar up, if the new tuition scheme was not implemented in gradual stages. CCEYC chairman Thi recommended the fee be increased gradually each year, so that the maximum fees would not be fully applied until 2014.

Currently, under the proposals, school fee exemptions would remain for primary education, and tuition fees for kindergarten and high school education will not exceed 6 per cent of average household income. However, since incomes vary widely in urban, rural and mountainous areas, the fees would be flexible for each region and possibly for each household. Students from poor families may be able to have a 50-70 per cent reduction in school fees, according to the proposal, although it is unclear how families would be able to obtain this reduction.

Monthly tuition fees would rise to VND255,000 from the current VND180,000 for university students, and to VND170,000 from VND120,000 for those attending vocational schools.

There were disagreements as to how much fees should be raised. Thi, for example, said the monthly tuition for universities should be raised to maximum of VND230,000, and that for vocational schools only to VND155,000.

The CCEYC chairman said calculation of a households average income to determine the 6 per cent of average income fee rate was also complicated and required a lot of work from the financial sector and local authorities to ensure standard levels across the country. Adequate statistics of this nature do not exist in the country yet.

Government offices have been able to calculate household average income at the provincial level. It is nearly impossible, however, to get similar statistics at the district and commune level, especially in remote and mountain areas, the chairman added.

Thi said the proposed 6 per cent level was too high for the actual income of households in a developing country like Viet Nam, since most students come from poor rural households. The percentage citizens pay for their children’s education ranges from 1.9-7.5 per cent of income in developing countries, and between 2-10 per cent in developed countries. The committee, therefore, suggested to go lower in this average range and set tuition fees at no more than 5 per cent of household average income.

Many deputies at the session expressed agreement with Thi’s opinions.

Education a top priority

The session heard that despite economic difficulties the State had made the development of the education sector a top priority. However, only 20 per cent of the State budget is spent on the sector every year, lagging behind other countries regionally and around the world.

Ha Noi lawmakers discussed the reasons why the current investment in education did not meet societal demands or expectations.

One reason put forth by deputy Pham Y Nhi was the lack of transparency and information on how cities and provinces are spending the money allocated to them in the State budget. Nhi stated that 63 cities and provinces across the country have made no reports on how their funding is spent on that sector, which makes it impossible for citizens and lawmakers to evaluate the efficiency of education investments.

Under the current regulation, the State gives authority to the Finance Ministry to allocate funds to cities, provinces, ministries and industries. Cities and provinces control 74 per cent of State budget set aside for the nation’s education. An additional 5 percent goes to the Education and Training Ministry, and the remainder to other national ministries and industries. There is little oversight of what is being done with the money once it has been distributed, and this makes it challenging to evaluate education investments on a national scale.

Tuition levels have been frozen for the last 11 years, while the consumer price index has increased by 62 per cent since 2000.

Many deputies agreed it would be impossible to improve the quality of education, arm schools and classes ith libraries, laboratories and other teaching and learning tools, and help increase salaries for teachers, if more funding was not poured in.

Cryptography law

NA deputies discussed the draft law on cryptography yesterday.

Workers in this area have a responsibility to defend State’s confidential information, and act as counsellor to the Party and Government about issues relevant to cryptography, and combating and preventing spying activities of hostile parties. Cryptography is also understood as the tools, means and special weapons to protect important and confidential information of each country.

Deputies asked the compiling committee to make clear the meaning of cryptography in the draft, and were in agreement that a law should be issued for this area as soon as possible.

Confusion remained as to whether the Governmental Encryption Department should be put under the auspices of the National Defence Ministry, or the Ministry of Home Affairs or the Ministry of Public Security.

Some suggested people working in the area should be required to retire five years earlier than the current regulation on retirement age for man at 60 years old and 55 years old for women, because they worked in a difficult environment.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News