The information was shared by Lê Thụy Mỵ Châu, deputy director of the department, during a press conference on socio-economic issues in the city on Thursday afternoon.

However, Châu said that the matter of parents wanting to take over the management of the school fell outside the role and responsibility of the department.

According to Châu, AISVN is a private school located in the city offering three levels of education: elementary, secondary and high school.

The school was established under Decision 432/QĐ-UBND on January 31, 2019, by the People's Committee of the city. The school has 129 foreign teachers and 26 Vietnamese teachers, with 1,213 students from various provinces and cities.

She added that the incident of teachers at the school going on strike occurred from March 4 and continued until March 20.

On March 4, only 53 teachers went on strike, citing illness as the reason. On March 18, all students had to temporarily suspend classes, causing much concern and frustration among parents. By March 19 and 20, despite announcing the resumption of classes, many teachers did not return, with 85 teachers absent on March 20.

On Thursday morning, the department met with over 20 parents who came to report the incident. All parents expressed their desire not to transfer their children to another school and requested the department to negotiate with the investors of the school so that the parents could take over the management and operation of the school.

However, Châu said that was beyond the jurisdiction of the department, because the department only ensured the rights of teaching and learning for students.

According to parents, the school is facing serious financial difficulties, including salary and insurance debts for teachers and staff. The parents also said that over 90 per cent of parents have fully paid for their children's education at the school until the high school level under loan contracts or investment contracts with the school. The total amount that the parents paid the school reached over VNĐ3.2 trillion.

Châu said according to the school, it was facing financial difficulties from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic until now. In addition, they were seeking investment funds for school restructuring, which had affected teacher salaries.

After receiving complaints from the parents, the department promptly reported to the People's Committee of the city.

In the short term, the department wanted to ensure the learning situation for the 1,213 students, she said.

Specifically, the department has established a hotline to receive all feedback from parents of AISVN students via phone number 028.38294016 and email address: tiepcongdan@hcm.edu.vn. The department has also set up a specialised team to handle complaints from the school’s parents.

In the event that parents of AISVN students want to transfer their children to another school, the department has publicly disclosed a list of educational institutions, addresses and tuition fees for both public and private schools for parents to follow the transfer procedures as prescribed.

On Thursday morning, the department worked with Nguyễn Thị Út Em, the principal of the school.

Em committed that after a one-week spring break, at the end of March, she would invite investment funds to have a roadmap and solutions to ensure teaching and learning from now until the end of the school year. Em also said that she would take full legal responsibility if she failed to comply. VNS