Vietnamese university students protesting over constant rise in tuition
Ho Chi Minh City (AsiaNews) - On March 18, more than a hundred students of Hong Bang University (in the photo) demonstrated against the constant rise in university tuition. The continual increase in university costs over the past two years has made Vietnamese students uneasy: between 2008 and 2009, tuition rose from 4.8 million to 5.8 million VND (from about 285 to 342 dollars). "The administrators at Hong Bang," a student tells AsiaNews, "do not understand the reality of young people who study, work, and have to live. They do not understand their students. They think that we are 'doi tuong' (subjects) for collecting money. So we have to pay increasingly high tuition in order to study. And in the meantime, the quality of formation is decreasing, and education is meager and backward."
In response to the students' demands, the rector of the university says that "the main reason for the rise in tuition is for paying the salaries of associate teachers, and of the personnel. At the same time, we have to upgrade the facilities and the quality of instruction, and bring in competent professors."
"My salary," says M.S., an English teacher under contract, "is not high. Some of my colleagues, who have degrees, are paid about the same. Moreover, since we are 'guest professors', they call us in only when they need us. After teaching a class with three units, which is equivalent to 45 hours, I had to wait a long time to be paid. When I went to the office of the cashier, she asked me a typical question: 'Giay chung minh anh dau?'. 'Anh' means that I am 'a guy', not a professor. And then there were other questions: 'What do you teach? Where do you teach?' After answering, I felt panic stricken. I didn't understand where I was."
Many students say that they do not believe the rector's explanations. "We do not know how our studies will go, since we have to face so many difficulties."
.png)
30/06/2008
