Teachers violating tutoring rules could face fines up to 50 million dong

Teachers, schools, and centers could be fined 2-50 million dong for violating tutoring regulations, an increase of up to 30 million dong compared to previous penalties.

The Ministry of Education and Training has drafted a decree on administrative penalties in education, expected to be issued in September. This draft includes increased fines, with most penalties higher than those in a previous draft from a year ago, which capped fines at 20 million dong.

Minor infractions may result in a warning. Teachers, schools, and tutoring centers may receive a warning for failing to fully and promptly report or disclose tutoring activities, provided this has not led to conflicts of interest or misrepresentation of information.

Teachers conducting tutoring outside school who fail to report, report incompletely, or are dishonest with their principal about the subject, location, format, or their relationship with the business registration holder will face fines of 2-5 million dong.

Schools that organize tutoring for ineligible students, exceed permitted hours, place more than 45 students in a class, or do not disclose their tutoring plans could be fined 5-10 million dong. Tutoring centers face similar penalties for failing to disclose or incompletely disclosing their content and plans.

More severe violations incur higher penalties. Individuals or organizations face fines of 10-20 million dong and a 1-3 month suspension of tutoring activities for: tutoring primary school students; charging regular students for extra classes; participating in the management or operation of tutoring outside school; scheduling tutoring sessions that overlap with regular class times; or failing to publicize a hotline number for receiving feedback on tutoring.

Fines of 20-30 million dong, along with a 3-6 month suspension of tutoring activities, will be imposed for: arranging or contracting for teachers to charge regular students for tutoring; allowing public school teachers to manage or operate outside-school tutoring; reducing in-school curriculum for tutoring purposes; or exploiting relationships with public school teachers to organize tutoring that creates conflicts of interest.

The most severe penalties, including fines of 30-50 million dong and a 6-12 month suspension of tutoring, are reserved for: organizing tutoring without proper business registration; coercing or enticing students into illegal tutoring; or repeatedly violating regulations after prior penalties from authorities.

All violations require rectification. This includes fully reporting and disclosing information; refunding illegally collected money to parents or remitting illicit gains; and providing make-up classes or supplementary content that was previously reduced.

Furthermore, the draft decree introduces new penalties for specific educational misconduct. Teachers who pre-teach first-grade curriculum or provide knowledge beyond the requirements of the kindergarten program will face fines of 10-20 million dong. Interference with examination activities, particularly leaking exam questions or answers without reaching criminal prosecution levels, could result in fines of 1-60 million dong.

Maximum 20 million dong fine for pre-teaching first-grade curriculum

These new penalties build upon existing regulations. Circular 29 by the Ministry of Education and Training, governing tutoring activities, will become effective from 2/2025. Under this circular, schools are only permitted to offer free tutoring to three specific groups: students who have not met academic standards, selected gifted students, and graduating students who voluntarily register for exam preparation.

Students seeking in-school tutoring must submit an application, and class sizes are limited to 45 students. For each subject, schools are restricted to offering no more than two extra lessons per week. The funding for these authorized tutoring activities is drawn from the state budget.

For tutoring conducted outside school, individuals and organizations must register their business and openly disclose details like tuition fees and lesson duration. Furthermore, teachers are explicitly prohibited from charging their own students for additional tutoring. Primary school students are explicitly prohibited from participating in any form of tutoring.

After one year of implementation, the Ministry made adjustments, allowing schools to offer more than two free tutoring lessons per week to the three specified student groups, subject to approval by the Department of Education.

Leaking exam questions or answers could incur a maximum 60 million dong fine