VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese parents, who want to give the best education opportunities to their children, are willing to pay the “underground fee” of up to thousands of dollars to obtain a seat at “star schools.”

GCR, the Global Corruption Report, released by the Transparency International, the global coalition against corruption, pointed out that corruption exists in the Vietnamese educational sector.

In recent years, the increasingly high demand for high-quality education has prompted Vietnamese parents to run a race for the seats at prestigious and famous schools, or “star schools” as called by Vietnamese.

A report said that more than 40 percent of Vietnamese families spend 10 percent of their total income and more to fund their children’s study.

The report cited an online survey on 20,000 readers conducted by Dan Tri newspaper as reporting that 62 percent of parents admitted that they take full advantage of the personal relations with high ranking officials, or pay under-the-table money to get the seats at star schools for their children.

It pointed out that the bribery sums could be up to $3,000 for a seat at a reputable school, and $300-800 at a medium class school.

Meanwhile, Vietnam is a poor country with the modest income per capita at $1,700 per annum, while the people with the monthly income of VND10-12 million ($500) are considered “high income earners.”

Despite the modest income, a polled parent said $1,000 is a “reasonable” and “acceptable” price, if you want your child to be able to study in a good environment”.

The report about the corruption in the educational sector does not surprise any Vietnamese. Prior to that, a survey by the government inspectors in the three biggest cities of Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM City, found out that 71 percent of parents believe that it is quite a normal thing to spend money to “buy” a seat at good schools.

Some parents believe that sending children to star schools is not the only solution that helps children study well.

Van Anh, a parent, said though her two children went to the schools near her house, which are not the star schools, they still can do well at school. Her elder son has passed the entrance exams to the Hanoi – Amsterdam High school for the gifted, the most prestigious high school in Hanoi.

Hoang Trung, another parent, also said that “star schools” are not the only education establishments which can produce good students. This explains why a high proportion of the students passing the entrance exams to universities are not from big cities, but from villages and communes.

However, Hoang Trung and Van Anh are just the minority. The majority of people still said they would try every possible way to send their children to star schools, no matter what the price is.

The corruption in the sector has become popular and it threatens the people’s possibility of accessing to the public education. Only the students from well off families can obtain the best education opportunities, which means that students from poor families have less opportunities for education.

Thanh Mai