Vietnam: Is a lower secondary school allowed to solicit funding in order to pay teacher salaries?

Is a lower secondary school allowed to solicit funding in order to pay teacher salaries?

Pursuant to Article 3 of Circular 16/2018/TT-BGDDT of the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam, details of sponsorships to be mobilized and received are as follows:

Details of sponsorships to be mobilized and received

1. Educational institutions shall be entitled to mobilize and receive sponsorships based on the following details:

a) Donating equipment and supplies as sponsorships for teaching and learning activities; donating equipment as sponsorship for scientific researches; carrying out refurbishment, repair and construction of facilities as sponsorships for educational activities carried out at educational institutions;

b) Giving support for educational, training and scientific research activities performed at educational institutions.

2. Sponsorships shall not be mobilized to pay teaching remunerations, expenses directly relating to school administrators, teachers, lecturers and staff members, school security and safety activities; remunerations for watching student’s vehicles; remunerations for maintenance of school or class hygiene; rewards to school administrators, teachers, staff members; other overheads of educational institutions.

Additionally, pursuant to Article 4 of Circular 16/2018/TT-BGDDT, sponsorship form is as follows:

Sponsorship form

1. Cash sponsorships: Sponsors may transfer a sum of money in the Vietnam dong or another foreign currency, diamonds, gems and precious metals directly to educational institutions or into accounts of educational institutions opened at state treasuries or commercial banks.

2. Sponsorships in kind: Sponsors may transfer to educational institutions such material objects as textbooks, notebooks, clothes, food, food supplies, materials, equipment, teaching aids, construction works and other valuable objects in order to satisfy actual needs of students and educational institutions.

As regards construction works transferred as a sponsorship, evaluation and approval of technical designs and total cost estimates, granting of construction permits, quality control of construction works, pre-acceptance testing, hand-over, warranty and insurance shall be conformable to existing legislative regulations on capital construction investment.

3. Non-material sponsorships: Sponsors may transfer or grant rights of free use of copyrights and rights of ownership of property under intellectual property protection; land use rights; contribution of labor days; provide training services, and those relating to sightseeing tours, surveys, seminars, or consultants, free of charge to educational institutions.

Thus, according to these regulations, secondary schools are indeed allowed to solicit monetary donations; however, they are not permitted to use the solicited money to pay teachers' salaries or for direct expenses related to administrative staff, teachers, lecturers, employees, and security activities.

Is a lower secondary school allowed to solicit funding in order to pay teacher salaries? (Image from the Internet)

How will a lower secondary school receive funding?

Pursuant to Article 6 of Circular 16/2018/TT-BGDDT, the receipt of sponsorships is specified as follows:

Step 1: Establishment of the Sponsorship Receiving Panel

- An educational institution shall be responsible for establishing the Sponsorship Receiving Panel. The Sponsorship Receiving Panel shall comprise the following main members: the head of an educational institution, the chief accountant, the parent representative council or the Board of Representatives of Communist Youth Union of Ho Chi Minh City, the Student Association; representatives of the community at the area where the educational institution is located (if any);

- The head of an educational institution shall become the group leader;

- The Sponsorship Receiving Panel shall be responsible for widely informing and disseminating the purposes, significance and principles of sponsorship activities; provide information on the time, address, name and deposit account number of the educational institution receiving sponsorships; pre-acceptance testing, transfer and use of in-kind or non-material sponsorships;

- The Sponsorship Receiving Panel shall be automatically dissolved after completion of sponsorship tasks.

Step 2. The educational institution shall implement the process of receiving sponsorships as follows:

* Cash sponsorships:

- The educational institution must open the detailed accounting book to separately monitor the sponsorship amounts; open an account at a bank or state treasury to receive sponsorships through the wire transfer service;

- In case sponsorships are granted in the form of diamonds, gems, precious metals or other valuable objects, the educational institution shall collaborate with the Sponsorship Receiving Panel in selling them to commercial banks or auction organizers, and send the proceeds to that educational institution's account.

* In-kind sponsorships:

- The educational institution shall cooperate with the Sponsorship Receiving Panel in carrying out the procedures for receiving the transfer, site and warehousing preparations for the preservation of donated objects in a fast and convenient manner;

- As regards a capital construction project in the form of "turnkey" granted as a sponsorship, the sponsor shall be obliged to hand over dossiers, documents and other evidences related to construction activities to the educational institution and the financial body at the same level in order to enter the value of the construction project of which handover is completed into the accounting record. The preparation of the financial report on capital according to the provisions of the Circular No. 09/2016 /TT-BTC shall be encouraged (expired);

- If equipment or machinery is granted as a sponsorship, the sponsor shall supply documents and/or technical dossiers to the educational institution according to regulations in force.

* As for non-material sponsorships, the educational institution shall receive, manage and use them in accordance with legislative regulations on intellectual property and other laws in force.

In case of the land use right granted as a sponsorship, the sponsor shall provide dossiers related to that land use right and complete the procedures for transfer of that land use right transfer to the educational institution for its receipt, management and use in accordance with land legislation.

How should secondary schools use donations in compliance with regulations?

Pursuant to Article 7 of Circular 16/2018/TT-BGDDT, use and management of sponsorships are prescribed as follows:

1. The educational institution shall draw up the plan for use of a sponsorship, clearing stating the purposes and beneficiaries of that sponsorship; the method and progress of implementation of the plan; operational quality, quality of products or facilities together with the detailed estimate of costs in conformity with regulations on current norms and standards.    

The plan for use of a sponsorship must be made known to the public before commencement within the minimum duration of 15 working days to collect opinions contributed by school administrators, teachers, staff members, students and student's parents, guardians (if any) and sponsors.

2. The plan for use of a sponsorship must be implemented in compliance with the predetermined objectives, must be according to schedule, ensure product quality, conformity with prescribed standards or norms, and must comply with existing regulations on capital construction investment and procurement processes and procedures.   Educational institutions must prepare a financial finalization report for completed items and make it known to students and society for supervisory and assessment purposes.

3. Products and construction works formed by using sponsorships must serve right functions and shall receive funds for their regular care and maintenance in order to promote their efficiency, avoid any loss or waste.

4. Value of a sponsorship must be monitored and entered into accounting records of the educational institution in accordance with regulations in force.