The HCM City Department of Education and Training is building a plan to give more autonomy to high schools to make decisions over financial issues and human resources.

Pupils at Tran Huu Trang High School

Le Hong Son, director of the Department of Education and Training, said that Tran Dai Nghia and Le Hong Phong high schools for the gifted and would have more autonomy starting from the 2018-2019 school year. 

Seven high schools will be more autonomous including Le Quy Don, Nguyen Thuong Hien and Mac Dinh before the plan is expanded to other schools in the city by 2020.

The Department of Education and Training will ask for opinions from high school headteachers while the plan is carried out. 

The schools must be prepared for the changes especially as headteachers would be responsible for improving the quality of staff and even the earns of the schools.

According to the department, as of now, five schools have become independent and are able to pay for their operations and over 1,220 schools are able to pay a part of their operational costs. 

Experts also approved of the plan and urged the authorities to quickly let schools become more financially independent so that they can pay teachers better and attract more outstanding personnel.

However, there are schools think it's not easy to lose state funding. Huynh Thanh Phu, head of Nguyen Du High School said monthly wages for teachers were covered by state funding and they would not have any additional funds to improve wages.

"Being financially independent will help schools choose priorities more accurately. But the whole source of incomes will depend on decisions by the heads of schools," Phu said.

Nguoi Lao Dong/Dtinews