Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, also known as Shark Thuy, chairman of Apax Holdings JSC, the owner of the APAX Leaders English language center chain, on Wednesday promised to refund prepaid tuition fees to parents but he did not give the specific time for the refunding.

Thuy on Wednesday afternoon met with parents in Ho Chi Minh City for the first time since the start of APAX Leaders’ employee salary debt and tuition fee scandal.

Thuy said he needed more time, claiming that refunding the tuition fees at a difficult time of APAX Leaders would put students at a disadvantage.

“We are giving the priority to the early reopening of English language centers. This is also the best way for APAX Leaders to fulfill its commitments to parents,” Thuy added.

APAX Leaders will determine the numbers of parents who will let their children continue learning at APAX Leaders centers and those who wish to withdraw tuition fees.

“It is hard to concurrently do the two jobs,” Shark Thuy said.

“We need parents’ tolerance.”

APAX Leaders CEO Nguyen Anh Tuan said APAX Leaders will resume the operation of 30-33 centers nationwide in the first phase, including four to five centers in Ho Chi Minh City.

At least nine other centers will be reopened later, Tuan claimed.

In late April, 10-12 centers will come back on stream as per the road map for the second phase.

An additional eight centers across the country will resume their opreations between late June and early July so that all APAX Leaders centers can be back active by the end of this year, Tuan noted.

He informed that APAX Leaders has identified over 1,350 students who have not completed the classes that they had paid for and the identification process is ongoing.

The chain receives parents’ information between 8:00 am and 9:00 pm every day at an APAX Leaders center on Phan Xich Long Street in Ho Chi Minh City.

“We are actively reviewing all English language center operation processes and regulations and ensuring human resources at the centers. However, the process may take about three to four months,” Tuan said.

Earlier at the meeting, T., whose child used to study at an APAX Leaders center, said he has lost faith in APAX Leaders.

He already paid nearly VND100 million (US$4,224) in tuition fees but his child has not been arranged into any class for over half a year.

For the past three months, T. has contacted APAX Leaders many times but he has yet to be refunded.

Meanwhile, the studying schedule has been repeatedly delayed due to the center chain’s so-called restructuring.

“I just need the refunds,” T. underscored.

H., another parent, said, “Each family has their own circumstance. We have a simple order that our money be returned.”

Meanwhile, N., whose child used to study English at the Him Lam campus of the APAX Leaders chain, wanted to know the refund plan.

“We borrowed loans from banks to pay the tuition in advance, so we do not accept your vague answers. I need a specific time frame for the refunding,” said K., the father of a student.

Earlier, many parents had accused APAX Leaders of appropriating tuition fees as the chain accepted the tuition for long-term courses but failed to run classes.

Many former employees also accused the chain of owing them their salaries.

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An Giang University, located in the namesake province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta region, has managed to grow ice plants, an edible plant of Japanese origin, in the school’s net house after a decade of efforts, according to the school’s president Vo Van Thang.

Japan’s Saga University earlier provided the seedlings of ice plants, aka Tsuburina, for An Giang University to research and trial growing the plant, as part of an agricultural cooperation project between the two universities.

“It’s been around ten years since we came to Saga University and started our cooperation project,” Thang recalled.

“Our efforts to grow ice plants failed multiple times due to unsuitable climate and soil conditions.

“Therefore, we continued to study and adjust our methods to grow the plant after each failure.

“This is the first time that the plant has grown healthily in the school’s net house.”

Ice plants are edible and can be used in the cosmetics industry.

Further, it is capable of absorbing salt in the soil and is beneficial to the Mekong Delta region, which is affected by saline intrusion and climate change. Besides, ice plants are rich in nutrition.

Given the benefits of the plant, An Giang University opted to research and grow it on a trial basis, Thang said.

Saga University and some Japanese prefectures are home to many ice plant farms. The plant sells for around US$80 per kilogram in Japan.

Following the successful cultivation of ice plants at An Giang University, the school is set to expand the growing scale in the net house to examine the adaptability of the flora.

Growing the plant outside the school’s net house may be risky and cost a lot of money.

Hence, this can be done only after the expanded cultivation in the net house proves effective and enterprises make investments in the project, Thang said.

Earlier, a public organization in Vietnam reportedly piloted growing ice plants to no avail.

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Three students from the Ho Chi Minh City University of Social Sciences and Humanities (USSH) under the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City (VNU-HCM) impressed the audience and experts at the second Asian Arabic Debating Championship in Oman in January and February.

The championship took place in Muscat, Oman, with 165 debaters representing 42 teams from 18 countries competing for five days from January 29 to February 2.

USSH students Nguyen Thi Cam Huong, Thai Nha Tho, and Nguyen Thi Van Anh competed in the Non-Native Speaker category of the contest.

Huong, Tho, and Anh, all of whom major in Arabic studies, secured two surprising victories during the competition, defeating a team from the National University of Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim country where Arabic is popular, and another from Azerbaijan’s Baku State University.

The Vietnamese delegation’s only loss in the competition came against a team from host Oman, where Arabic is the official language.

In the end, the Vietnamese team’s total score fell short of what they needed to bring home a prize, but their efforts were considered a great success considering they marked the first-ever victories of USSH students at a continental Arabic speaking contest.

Like most Vietnamese students in Arabic at university level, Huong started from scratch. 

Many people have difficulty understanding the Arabic writing system because so many words look alike, said Huong.

“But for me, that wasn’t the hardest thing,” she said. 

“The letters in Arabic have very specific pronunciations and very strange accents. 

“It took me two months of practice to grasp basic pronunciation rules. 

“I always have a sore throat after pronunciation practice sessions.”

Huong added that her family was surprised when she told them she was learning Arabic, which is a shock given that most people in her hometown of Ben Tre – a province in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta – have little knowledge of Arabic culture.

Huong also explained that her family was worried when she first received a year-long exchange scholarship to study at Kuwait University.

“I told them about the beauty and the safety in the Middle East to ease their worries,” Huong said.

For Tho, learning Arabic was a constant struggle.

During her four years of study, Tho saw many of her classmates switch to different majors, pursue new languages, or even quit school. 

“But a strange attraction helped me stick to this language,” Tho said. 

“I think it is because in my program I learn about the language as well as the culture, countries, and people of the Middle East.”

In addition to passion, Tho’s willingness to accept new challenges has helped her on her language learning journey. 

“While an English, French, Japanese, or Korean learner can easily find native speakers to practice the language in Ho Chi Minh City, it is more difficult for Arabic speakers,” she said. 

“We have to actively learn through books and the Internet, as well as connect with international friends to find opportunities to speak Arabic, especially in different dialects of the language.”

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