Circular No. 16/2018/TT-BGDDT dated August 3, 2018 prescribing sponsorship for educational institutions in the national education system

CIRCULAR

PRESCRIBING SPONSORSHIP FOR EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE NATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEM

Pursuant to the Law on Education dated June 14, 2005 and the Law on Amendment and Supplement to the Law on Education dated November 25, 2009;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 69/2017/ND-CP dated May 25, 2017, defining the functions, tasks, powers and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training;

Pursuant to the Government's Decree No. 75/2006/ND-CP dated August 2, 2006, elaborating and providing guidance on the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Education; the Government's Decree No. 31/2011/ND-CP dated May 11, 2011 on revision and supplementation of  the Government's Decree No. 75/2006/ND-CP dated August 2, 2006, elaborating and providing guidance on the implementation of a number of articles of the Law on Education; the Government’s Decree No. 07/2013/ND-CP dated January 9, 2013 amending subparagraph b paragraph 13 Article 1 of the Decree No. 31/2011/ND-CP dated May 11, 2011 amending and supplementing certain Articles of the Government's Decree No. 75/2006/ND-CP dated August 2, 2006 elaborating and providing guidance on implementation of certain articles of the Law on Education; 

Upon the request of the Director of the Department of Planning and Finance,

The Minister of Education and Training hereby issues the Circular prescribing sponsorship for educational institutions in the national education system.

Chapter I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Scope and subjects of application

1. This Circular provides for the mobilization, receipt, management and use of sponsorships from domestic and foreign bodies, organizations and individuals for educational institutions in the national education system.

2. This Circular shall apply to the followings:

a) Educational institutions in the national education system, including: Early childhood education institutions, general education institutions, specialized schools belonging to continuing education institutions, pedagogy post-secondary education institutions, pedagogy colleges belonging to higher education institutions (hereinafter referred to as educational institutions);

b) Other bodies, organizations and individuals concerned.

3. Educational sponsorship provided for in this Circular refers to a non-refundable voluntary cash contribution, a contribution in kind or a non-material contribution financed by non-state budget sources of a domestic and foreign agency, organization and individual (hereinafter referred to as sponsor), which is given to educational institutions.

4. This Circular shall not apply to sponsorships which are defined in the Circular No. 72/2008/TT-BTC dated July 31, 2008 of the Ministry of Finance providing guidelines for implementation of the Government’s Decree No. 64/2008/ND-CP dated May 14, 2008 on the mobilization, receipt, distribution and use of voluntary contributions as support for mitigation of people’s difficulties caused by calamities, conflagrations, serious breakdowns and patients with deadly diseases; the Circular No. 35/2011/TT-BGDDT dated August 11, 2011 of the Minister of Education and Training prescribing the offer and receipt of scholarships or subsidies granted to students of educational institutions in the national education system; the Government’s Decree No. 93/2009/ND-CP dated October 22, 2009 issuing the Regulations on management and use of foreign non-governmental aids and the Circular No. 07/2010/TT-BKH dated March 30, 2010 of the Ministry of Planning and Investment providing guidance on implementation of the Decree No. 93/2009/ND-CP.    

Article 2. Principles of mobilization, receipt, management and use of sponsorships

1. Sponsorship must adhere to the principle of voluntariness, public disclosure, transparency, non-compulsion, no restriction on the average amount of sponsorship, no restriction on the minimum amount of sponsorship, avoid exploiting educational sponsorship to force contributions, and must not consider mobilization of sponsorships as mandatory conditions for provision of educational and training services.

2. The mobilization, receipt, management and use of sponsorships must be published and publicly posted on notice boards of educational institutions receiving sponsorships, and must strictly observe regulations laid down in applicable laws.

3. The management and use of sponsorships must conform to the principle of cost efficiency, effectiveness, serving the right purposes, avoiding any loss or wastefulness.

4. Physical objects that are not suitable for use in educational institutions or those that are harmful or dangerous to the environment and the health of officials, teachers, employees and students must be avoided.

5. Sponsors should be encouraged to put their own stakes in the construction and purchase of equipment and the complete installation thereof for handover to educational institutions according to the agreement and guidance of educational establishments.

6. Organizations and individuals should be encouraged to offer their sponsorships and aids for the purposes of educational development, improvement of educational infrastructure, support for teaching, learning and educational activities at educational institutions. 

Article 3. Details of sponsorships to be mobilized and received

1. Educational institutions shall be entitled to mobilize and receive sponsorships based on the following details:

a) Donating equipment and supplies as sponsorships for teaching and learning activities; donating equipment as sponsorship for scientific researches; carrying out refurbishment, repair and construction of facilities as sponsorships for educational activities carried out at educational institutions;

b) Giving support for educational, training and scientific research activities performed at educational institutions.

2. Sponsorships shall not be mobilized to pay teaching remunerations, expenses directly relating to school administrators, teachers, lecturers and staff members, school security and safety activities; remunerations for watching student’s vehicles; remunerations for maintenance of school or class hygiene; rewards to school administrators, teachers, staff members; other overheads of educational institutions.

Article 4. Sponsorship form

1. Cash sponsorships: Sponsors may transfer a sum of money in the Vietnam dong or another foreign currency, diamonds, gems and precious metals directly to educational institutions or into accounts of educational institutions opened at state treasuries or commercial banks.

2. Sponsorships in kind: Sponsors may transfer to educational institutions such material objects as textbooks, notebooks, clothes, food, food supplies, materials, equipment, teaching aids, construction works and other valuable objects in order to satisfy actual needs of students and educational institutions.

As regards construction works transferred as a sponsorship, evaluation and approval of technical designs and total cost estimates, granting of construction permits, quality control of construction works, pre-acceptance testing, hand-over, warranty and insurance shall be conformable to existing legislative regulations on capital construction investment.

3. Non-material sponsorships: Sponsors may transfer or grant rights of free use of copyrights and rights of ownership of property under intellectual property protection; land use rights; contribution of labor days; provide training services, and those relating to sightseeing tours, surveys, seminars, or consultants, free of charge to educational institutions.

Chapter II

PROCESS OF MOBILIZATION, RECEIPT, MANAGEMENT AND USE OF SPONSORSHIPS

Article 5. Sponsorship mobilization

1. Based on plans of activities in an academic year and estimates of the budget allocated by State regulatory authorities, on a regular or irregular basis, educational institutions shall draw up plans for mobilization of sponsorships to report to the subdepartments of education and training to obtain their approval with respect to early childhood education institutions, primary education institutions and lower secondary education institutions; report to the departments of education and training to seek their approval with respect to upper secondary education institutions and other educational institutions under the their jurisdiction, before commencing mobilization of sponsorships.

As for pedagogy post-secondary schools, pedagogy colleges and higher education institutions, the plan for mobilization of sponsorships must submit to the School Board or the Board of Directors for its approval before starting mobilization and report to the direct superior body.

2. The department of education and training, and the subdepartment of education and training, shall be responsible for appraising and approving the sponsorship mobilization plan within the duration of 15 days after receiving application documents from educational institutions. In cases where the mobilization plan is found unconformable to the prescribed processes and procedures and is not publicly disclosed, the educational institution shall have to request that educational institution to suspend that mobilization plan.

3. The mobilization plan must clearly define the contents, purposes, beneficiaries, cost estimates and plans to carry out activities that need to be sponsored.

Article 6. Receipt of sponsorships

1. Establishment of the Sponsorship Receiving Panel

a) An educational institution shall be responsible for establishing the Sponsorship Receiving Panel. The Sponsorship Receiving Panel shall comprise the following main members: the head of an educational institution, the chief accountant, the parent representative council or the Board of Representatives of Communist Youth Union of Ho Chi Minh City, the Student Association; representatives of the community at the area where the educational institution is located (if any);

b) The head of an educational institution shall become the group leader;

c) The Sponsorship Receiving Panel shall be responsible for widely informing and disseminating the purposes, significance and principles of sponsorship activities; provide information on the time, address, name and deposit account number of the educational institution receiving sponsorships; pre-acceptance testing, transfer and use of in-kind or non-material sponsorships;

d) The Sponsorship Receiving Panel shall be automatically dissolved after completion of sponsorship tasks.

2. The educational institution shall implement the process of receiving sponsorships as follows:

a) Cash sponsorships:

- The educational institution must open the detailed accounting book to separately monitor the sponsorship amounts; open an account at a bank or state treasury to receive sponsorships through the wire transfer service;

- In case sponsorships are granted in the form of diamonds, gems, precious metals or other valuable objects, the educational institution shall collaborate with the Sponsorship Receiving Panel in selling them to commercial banks or auction organizers, and send the proceeds to that educational institution's account.

b) In-kind sponsorships:

- The educational institution shall cooperate with the Sponsorship Receiving Panel in carrying out the procedures for receiving the transfer, site and warehousing preparations for the preservation of donated objects in a fast and convenient manner;

- As regards a capital construction project in the form of "turnkey" granted as a sponsorship, the sponsor shall be obliged to hand over dossiers, documents and other evidences related to construction activities to the educational institution and the financial body at the same level in order to enter the value of the construction project of which handover is completed into the accounting record. The preparation of the financial report on capital according to the provisions of the Circular No. 09/2016 /TT-BTC dated January 18, 2016 of the Ministry of Finance prescribing the financial reporting of completed projects financed by the state budget shall be encouraged;

- If equipment or machinery is granted as a sponsorship, the sponsor shall supply documents and/or technical dossiers to the educational institution according to regulations in force.

c) As for non-material sponsorships, the educational institution shall receive, manage and use them in accordance with legislative regulations on intellectual property and other laws in force.

In case of the land use right granted as a sponsorship, the sponsor shall provide dossiers related to that land use right and complete the procedures for transfer of that land use right transfer to the educational institution for its receipt, management and use in accordance with land legislation.

Article 7. Use and management of sponsorships

1. The educational institution shall draw up the plan for use of a sponsorship, clearing stating the purposes and beneficiaries of that sponsorship; the method and progress of implementation of the plan; operational quality, quality of products or facilities together with the detailed estimate of costs in conformity with regulations on current norms and standards.    

The plan for use of a sponsorship must be made known to the public before commencement within the minimum duration of 15 working days to collect opinions contributed by school administrators, teachers, staff members, students and student's parents, guardians (if any) and sponsors.

2. The plan for use of a sponsorship must be implemented in compliance with the predetermined objectives, must be according to schedule, ensure product quality, conformity with prescribed standards or norms, and must comply with existing regulations on capital construction investment and procurement processes and procedures.   Educational institutions must prepare a financial finalization report for completed items and make it known to students and society for supervisory and assessment purposes.

3. Products and construction works formed by using sponsorships must serve right functions and shall receive funds for their regular care and maintenance in order to promote their efficiency, avoid any loss or waste.

4. Value of a sponsorship must be monitored and entered into accounting records of the educational institution in accordance with regulations in force.

Article 8. Financial reporting and financial disclosure

1. Sponsorships must be consolidated on a timely basis into revenue and expense financial statements over reporting periods and annual financial statements in accordance with laws.

2. The superior budget unit shall be responsible for verifying and considering approval of financial finalization reports of the inferior budget unit.

3. The educational institution using sponsorships must disclose contents of annual financial statements and publish annual revenue and expense statements for sponsorships.  

a) Information of financial disclosure shall include the description of sponsorship, sponsor’s name, sponsorship value, accounting entries of revenues and expenses and auditing results (if any);

b) Form of financial disclosure: The written document containing financial information to be disclosed must be submitted to the superior supervisory body having competence in approving the sponsorship mobilization plan and sent to the same-level financial body; shall be publicly posted at the head office of the educational institution receiving sponsorships or shall be made known to the public in any other form;

c) Disclosure time: Financial statements shall be disclosed immediately after completion of submission of the annual financial statement as per the Law on State Budget and the Law on Accounting.

Chapter III

IMPLEMENTATION ORGANIZATION

Article 9. Responsibilities of the People’s Committees of centrally-affiliated cities and provinces (hereinafter referred to as provincial People’s Committee)

1. Direct district-level People's Committees, educational regulatory bodies, financial regulatory bodies and sectoral administrations concerned to implement this Circular within localities under their jurisdiction.

2. Direct the departments of education and training and sectoral administrations concerned to organize the inspection and examination of implementation of this Circular within localities under their jurisdiction, promptly adjust and handle violations.

Article 10. Responsibilities of the departments of education and training

1. Advise provincial People's Committees to guide and direct the implementation of this Circular within localities under their jurisdiction.

2. Preside over, and collaborate with financial bodies, inspecting bodies and units involved in, conducting inspection and examination of the implementation, promptly adjusting and handling violations.

3. Approve sponsorship mobilization plans of upper secondary education institutions and other educational institutions under their management in order to ensure that they match the tasks to be performed in a new academic year.

4. Submit consolidated reports to the provincial People's Committees on the situation of mobilization, receipt, management and use of sponsorships of educational institutions under their management.

Article 11. Responsibilities of the subdepartments of education and training

1. Preside over, and collaborate with financial bodies, inspecting bodies and units involved in, conducting inspection and examination of the implementation of this Circular, promptly adjusting and handling violations.

2. Approve sponsorship mobilization plans of early childhood education institutions, primary education institutions and lower secondary education institutions in order to ensure that they match the tasks to be performed in a new academic year.

3. Submit consolidated reports to the district-level People's Committees on the situation of mobilization, receipt, management and use of sponsorships of educational institutions under their management.

Article 12. Responsibilities of heads of educational institutions

The heads of educational institutions shall assume responsibilities before law for the mobilization, receipt, management and use of sponsorships for educational institutions, specifically including:

1. Organize the implementation of the provisions of this Circular; carry out review and evaluation in order to improve and raise the efficiency of mobilization, receipt, management and use of sponsorships.

2. Approve financial statements of sponsorships as provided for in clause 3, Article 8 of this Circular; sending results to superior supervisory agencies and sponsors.

3. Establish the Sponsorship Receiving Panel as provided in clause 1 Article 6 hereof.

4. Collaborate with sponsors in effectively sponsoring educational institutions. Take initiative in proposing to sponsors the priority order of sponsored tasks to improve school facilities, support teaching and learning activities and education activities in line with the development plan of each educational institution. 

5. Cooperate with sponsors in implementing technical measures, processes and procedures in the course of implementation of projects so as to ensure the quality and aesthetic of products and construction works, and assure that they are suitable for the educational environment.

6. Organize the pre-acceptance testing of products manufactured and construction works implemented by sponsors themselves under the provisions of laws and have the responsibility to manage, maintain and care for them so as to ensure that these products or construction works are used efficiently and for the right purposes.

7. Report to superior supervisory agencies on the mobilization, receipt, management and use of sponsorships.

8. Report and explain to bodies having competence in supervision, inspection and audit of management and use of sponsorships at educational institutions upon request.

9. Explain and answer queries (if any) of teachers, school administrators, staff members, students, student's parents and sponsors about receipt, management and use of sponsorships.

Article 13. Responsibilities of the Parent Representative Council

1. Collaborate with educational institutions in mobilization, receipt, management and use of sponsorships.

2. Assign the council’s member to participate in the Sponsorship Receiving Panel of the educational institution in order to spread and disseminate information about purposes, significance, principles, management and use of sponsorships to all student's parents.

3. Assign its members to participate in the process of receipt of sponsorships, pre-acceptance testing, handover and distribution of in-kind or non-material sponsorships.

4. Oversee management and use of sponsorships at educational institutions.

Article 14. Responsibilities of the School Board

The School Board in a public educational institution, the Management Board of a people-founded and private education institution (hereinafter referred to as School Board) shall assume the following responsibilities:

1. Give its consent to the sponsorship plan of an early childhood, primary, lower secondary or upper secondary education institution before submitting it to the department of education and training or the subdepartment of education and training to obtain its approval decision; approve the sponsorship mobilization plan of a pedagogy secondary school, a pedagogy college and a higher education institution.

2. Inspect and oversee implementation of the process of mobilization, receipt, management and use of sponsorships at educational institutions in accordance with this Circular.

Article 15. Rewarding and sanctioning

1. Sponsors who make positive contributions to the education and training development shall be honored by the head of the educational institution and the bodies in charge of managing educational institutions within their competence or recommend rewarding forms to superior supervisory agencies in accordance with the provisions of the Law on Emulation and Rewarding.

2. Any entity, organization, person or head of educational institutions receiving sponsorships that implements the process of mobilizing, receiving, managing and using sponsorships in breach of provisions laid down herein shall, depending on the severity of violation, be subject to administrative penalties or criminal prosecutions in accordance with laws in force. 

Article 16. Entry into force

1. This Circular shall enter into force from September 18, 2018. This Circular shall replace the Circular No. 29/2012/TT-BGDDT dated September 10, 2012 of the Ministry of Education and Training, prescribing sponsorships for educational institutions in the national education system.

2. The Chief of the Office, the Director of the Department of Planning and Finance, Heads of affiliates of the Ministry of Education and Training, the Chairpersons of the People’s Committees of centrally-affiliated cities and provinces, the Directors of Departments of Education and Training, the Heads of educational institutions, other entities, organizations or individuals concerned shall be responsible for implementing this Circular.