A corner of the Vietnam Australia International School System. The school has announced a new tuition plan for the period affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. — VNS Photo

The Vietnam Australia International School System (VAS) on Monday announced a revised tuition policy for the period affected by COVID-19.

In the latest announcement, VAS said the school fully understood the difficulties that parents were and are facing due to the effect of the pandemic.

“COVID-19 is a challenge not unique to anyone. During this period, VAS is aware of our responsibility to work together with parents, making sure the education of our younger generation always stays as a top priority. As the school is reopening, we will immediately implement a teaching programme to make up for the knowledge interrupted by the epidemic. We will also continue to gather inputs from parents in order to help us improve the quality of education and ensure a healthy learning environment for students,” VAS board of management said.

To support parents during this challenging period, VAS has decided to roll out a new tuition fee plan, applied to the tuition fee for the 2019-20 school year for kindergarten, primary and secondary schools.

For the kindergarten level, tuition will be waived for the official school closure period as required by the Government.

For the primary and secondary level, tuition will be reduced by 70 per cent for the online learning period during school closure as required by the Government.

Meal and student transportation fees during the affected period will not be charged. Parents will pay only for the amount corresponding to the actual days of service usage.

Upon students return to school as per the schedule of the HCM City Department of Education and Training, all tuition and other fees will return to normal as per the listed fee schedule published by the school at the beginning of the current school year, subject to the actual number of physical teaching weeks, including the compensation weeks until the tentative school ending date of July 15.

The payment deadline for these fees has been flexibly extended until May 22.

The balance amount of the tuition fee and meal and transportation fees after the reduction will be carried forward to the following term payment or the payment for the new school year 2020-21, or will be otherwise refunded at the end of the school year, if preferred by parents.

The refund will be made subject to the fulfillment of all the fees incurred for the school year 2019-20, including online teaching and learning fees.

The VAS board of directors has decided to extend the one-time offer of a 10 per cent reduction on tuition fees for the 2020-21 school year paid prior to May 29, whether for a full year or a partial year.

At the same time, VAS is committed to maintaining the salaries of all teachers and staff for the time affected by the epidemic, and is continuing to upgrade facilities and curriculum for the new school year. — VNS