Principal takes back half of teachers' bonuses

A principal, claiming the Decree 73 bonus was 'an unexpected windfall', demanded teachers return 50% to 'pay school debts' and contribute to a 'field trip fund'.

On the morning of 30/1, Tu Son ward leaders confirmed they had instructed the principal of Dinh Bang 2 Kindergarten to return all collected money and submit a disciplinary report. The ward also assigned relevant units to handle the official according to regulations after verifying the incident.

Ms. Hoai, a teacher at the school, recounted that in late December 2025, she and her colleagues were delighted to receive bonuses under Decree 73. Teachers rated 'good completion of tasks' received 8,8 million dong, while those with 'excellent completion' received 11 million dong.

However, before they could celebrate receiving a bonus equivalent to a whole month's salary, Ms. Hoai was surprised when the principal demanded a portion of the money back. The school initially proposed a tiered return rate of 30-50% based on performance ratings. After several heated discussions in meetings, the final amount to be returned was fixed at 4,4 million dong per person, regardless of individual achievement.

At the time, the school management claimed this was an 'unexpected windfall' and therefore needed to be partially returned to the school to pay off expenses incurred during the year and contribute to a field trip fund.

"I find this unreasonable and extremely frustrating," Ms. Hoai said. She added that while teachers received their bonuses via bank transfer, they were required to return the money in cash. With over 20 teachers, the total amount returned to the school is estimated at around 100 million dong.

However, this was not the first time this incident had occurred. Last year, when she first received the Decree 73 bonus, Ms. Hoai received about 4 million dong and had to return one million dong for similar reasons.

"At that time, I didn't know what kind of bonus it was. The principal didn't explain, just told us to return it to cover activities, so I complied," she said. "But for an entire year, we saw no disbursement from that fund, and this year we're being asked to return money again, which is very unfair."

Decree 73, which came into effect in July 2024, stipulates a bonus fund equivalent to 10% of the total salary fund (excluding allowances) to be used for extraordinary achievements or annual performance ratings. This year, many tenured teachers nationwide received common bonus amounts ranging from 10 to 14 million dong.