Many countries in Southeast Asia have adopted a “free education” policy for students in college and, in some cases, in high school.
But in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, it’s not really free.
Many additional or hidden costs – for uniforms, textbooks, supplies, transport, extracurricular activities and sometimes even teacher wages or school maintenance or improvement – make education too expensive for certain families to be able to afford.
In Vietnam, the Politburo of the Communist Party recently eliminated tuition fees for students from public schools from the nursery school to the 12th year, a moving by parents initially welcomed – before discovering the high costs of other monthly educational expenses.
According to a report of February 28 of the state media, the Politburo decided to give up tuition fees from the 2025-26 school year, following a recommendation from the Ministry of Education and Training.
This decision marks the first time that Vietnam ordered the end of the costs, which applied to some 23 million students, nationally, the report said. About 30 Billions of Dong Vietnamese ($ 1.17 billion) will be applied from the country’s budget to compensate for the deficit, he said.
The government will provide students from private schools equivalent to the rate of public school tuition fees, but families of private schools will have to cover the remaining difference in their child’s annual tuition fees, according to the report.
The state media report cited the Ministry of Education of Ho Chi Minh City saying that monthly school fees for public secondary students are 100,000 to 200,000 Vietnamese Dong (US $ 4-8), while schooling costs for preschool students are around 300,000 Vietnamese Dong (US $ 12).
A mother of two children in Hanoi college and high school applauded the end of tuition fees, but said that other costs were higher than tuition fees.
“Although this may be a significant cost for the government, an exemption from tuition fees from 200,000 to 300,000 Dong is quite low compared to other expenses that parents must cover for the education of their children in the city,” the mother at the Vietnamese FRG, which, like other members of this report, spoke of anonymity due to the fear of reprisals.
The mother said she spent between 1 million and 2 million Dong (39 to US $ 78) per month on tuition, meals and drinking water. In addition, families should contribute to an annual “parents’ fund”, which schools use for events such as teacher day, Vietnam Day for women and other extracurricular activities.
Another parent, whose child is in high school in Hanoi, told RFA that she remained concerned about monthly education expenses – in particular costs of 325,000 Dong (US $ 13) for the student’s parascolish courses.
The concerns about high and opaque costs in Vietnam public schools – which are considered a burden for low -income families – have been widely reported in state and social media for years.
In 2024, the average monthly income for Vietnam workers was around 7.7 million Dong (US $ 300), according to the country’s general statistics office.
Schools do not have enough money ‘
In Laos, public education is free, but students have to pay several other unofficial costs for their education, according to parents. This includes tutorial fees and the cost of manuals, as well as contributions to maintenance costs and public service bills.
A parent who previously lived in the capital Vientiane told RFA Lao that he had to pay up to 650,000 Lao Kip (US $ 30) for “learning and teaching activities” each year, his child was first in the fifth year.
“In addition to that, I had to pay 150,000 kip (US $ 7) per month for” special tuition fees “for a subject in which my child was not good,” said the parent, who also refused to be appointed.
The same parent recently moved his family in the province of Khammouane and noted that the schools in the countryside collect less than those of the cities.
“They collect money to pay for school manuals and everyone has to pay 60,000 KIP (US $ 3) per year for school maintenance,” he said. “But poorer families could not afford it, preventing their children from entering schools.”
In the province of Bokeo, on the northern border of Laos with Thailand, another parent told RFA that he had to pay 300 to 400 Thai (9 to US $ 12) for electricity each year since his child began to frequent the college.
“When I learned from the government for the first time that school is free, I felt so happy,” he said. “However, the school claims that they do not have enough money, so they have to recover it with parents.”
Addressing RFA, an educator said that his schools and other schools were to spend money on things such as “repairing toilets, painting, repairing sports facilities, construction of fences and purchasing materials” each year, which forced them to ask parents to contribute.
‘I am stressed and exhausted’
Cambodian parents have told the FRG that if the tuition fees are free, they also find costs in primary and secondary exorbitant and complain that they are taking a large part of their daily income.
Those who live in extreme poverty often stop the education of their children in 6th year due to the cost, they said.
Some compared the teaching profession to a “business”, despite free tuition fees, citing the payments they have to regularly make to the schools of their children.
SOEUNG SAKONA, a tailor based in Sala Kamreuk Sangkat, the province of Siem Reap, has two daughters who study in a secondary school in Siem Reap City and said that she had to spend at least 10,000 riel (US $ 2.50) in fees on each of them daily.
TUTORY – Often the same people who teach in public school per day – textbooks, transport and other school supplies are among the costs it said that it had to account every day, leaving it with little marginage for its remaining income.
“Each day is very tense for me because I cannot save anything … I spend a lot for their daily education to cover the gas and their private lessons,” she said. “I have to work hard to save and I can’t afford to eat nutritious foods, so I’m stressed and exhausted.”
SOEUNG SAKONA said that on average, it spends about US $ 1,000 per year on the education of her children, and that once they started high school, she had to sell part of her land to collect funds, because she could not win enough work to cover the cost.
Other parents have complained that, although the Cambodia Constitution guarantees primary and secondary school for free, children whose families who cannot afford a tutor are often disadvantaged in terms of the quality of their global education.
But parents with even more precarious income told RFA that they planned to get their children out of school at a given time because they could not afford additional costs.
The RFA attempts to reach the Minister of Cambodia of Education, Youth and Sport Khuon Vicheka for comments remained unanswered at the time of publication.
Lack of high schools in the countryside
Myanmar parents are expected to cover the parascaliar costs in most public schools in urban and suburban areas for otherwise “free” education from their child to high school, paying around 100,000 kyats (US $ 23) per year.
The fees are generally contacted by the collection of funds for activities related to initial and government policy, and may include contributions for celebrations of holidays, farewell festivals for staff and similar occasions. In some cases, parents are invited to cover the salary or improvements of a teacher at school.
In addition, students can expect to pay around 250,000 kyats (US $ 57) per year for school supplies such as manuals, notebooks, pencils, pens and uniforms.
In some rural areas, parents should not pay tuition fees. Their children share supplies during the academic year and are not required to wear uniforms.
In other parts of the campaign, students only have access to elementary and intermediate schools and are required to attend an urban boarding school if they intend to pursue secondary studies. The cost of boarding schools varies depending on the school level, ranging from 2.5 million to 4 million kyats (US $ 570 to 910) per year for accommodation, food and tuition fees.
In addition, some rural schools lack teachers – especially in college level. In such cases, parents must hire teachers from the city, contributing individually to their wages. The annual cost for the hiring of a teacher varies from 50,000 to 100,000 kyats (US $ 11 at 23) per family.
For those who are fortunate to be able to afford it, private schools generally charge from 100,000 to 250,000 kyats (US $ 23 to 57) for monthly tuition fees. Additional expenses – including transport, uniforms and other schools related to school – often exceed 3 million kyats (US $ 690) per year.
Translated by Anna Vu, Max Avary, Sum Sokry and Kyaw Min htun. Published by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.