Recent feedback to VietNamNet shows readers noting a surge in tutoring centers and tutoring fees. "Now, without extra classes at school, I send my kid to a private tutoring center. I am not sure about the knowledge provided by the center, but costs are much higher," a parent shared.

Another complained: "As teachers are prohibited from giving extra classes at school, they go to private tutoring centers. So, post-Circular 29, teachers keep giving extra teaching and students keep going to extra classes. The only difference is that parents have to pay more for tutoring lessons."

“It is clear that tutoring centers charge more than teachers,” he said.

In his locality, school tutoring cost VND20,000-30,000 per session but centers charge VND50,000-70,000.

Tran Thanh Nam, vice rector of the University of Education, a member school of the Vietnam National University, Hanoi, said this was a foreseen outcome.

"Experts warned of this during consultations,” Nam said. The core issue is that parents and students want to prepare well for exams and they feel insecure if they don’t receive tutoring."

“Circular 29 aims for high-quality, fair education within affordability, but we lack mechanisms and policies to enforce private tutoring centers to be transparent in training fees so that fees are controlled at reasonable levels,” Nam explained.

“We also still don’t have policies to measure if centers’ quality corresponds with training fees.

Thus, he said, to effectively implement Circular 29, it needs further research, tweaks, and added management mechanisms and solutions to emerging issues. 

“Fundamental change will take time, when community awareness changes and we also wait for more positive signs from other projects the Government is implementing, such as digital skill universalization,” Nam said.

Regarding solutions to control tutoring fees in the short term, transparency of information on fees for close monitoring is needed.

"Appropriate agencies must set maximum tutoring fees by grade level, paired with strict monitoring and justified fee hike explanations. In the long term, improving mainstream education quality and teacher skills is the key. Also, it’d be better to digitize high-quality mainstream lessons from top teachers so slower students can review without heavy tutoring reliance," Nam said.

Hoang Ngoc Vinh, former head of the MOET’s Professional Education Department, said the tutoring fees set by tutoring centers are automatically higher than the fees charged by schools or teachers, because centers operate like a legal entity and they have to pay to run their businesses (tax, rents, management costs). 

Thuy Nga