PANO – Poor students in Ho Chi Minh City will not have to pay any fees when they go to school.

The information was released as 900,000 students, from primary level up, in Ho Chi Minh City went to school yesterday when the new school year started.

Accordingly, students from poor families (the average income of under VND 10 million per person a year) will be exempted from all the school fees, including studying fee and infrastructure fee.

Students from near-poor families (the average income is from VND 10 million to VND 12 million per person a year) will have to pay 50% of all the fees.

Earlier, the government issued decree 49/2010 on school fee reduction and exemption. However, the circular to instruct the implementation of the decree has not been issued so that the city can not finalise its plan on school fees.

Translated by Ngoc Hung