The APAX Leaders English-language center system, embroiled in tuition scam scandals, recently made a new pledge to refund tuition fees to parents, extending the payment period by nearly two years compared to the previous commitment.

The chain will repay the tuition fees in three installments to those parents who have not received refunds as committed by Nguyen Ngoc Thuy, also known as Shark Thuy, chairman of Apax Holdings JSC, the owner of Apax Leaders English language centers, on April 9 this year.

In particular, Apax Leaders will refund five percent of the prepaid tuition fees in the first installment slated for December 31 this year.

The second installment with another five percent is scheduled for April 28, 2024.

From July 30, 2024, Apax Leaders will pay back five percent to parents per month, on the 30th day at the latest.

In other words, parents will get back all their money at the end of December 2025 at the latest, which is two years later than the deadline committed earlier by Shark Thuy.

According to a commitment signed by Shark Thuy on April 9 this year, the English-language chain pledged to start refunding the tuition fees from October 9, 2023.

Apax Leaders was meant to give back 20 percent in this first installment, with the following four 20-percent installments scheduled for November 20 and December 20 this year and March 20 and April 20 next year.

Many parents crowded the Apax Leaders locations to demand that the chain refund their prepaid tuition fees since early last month.

T., who has yet to get back over VND100 million (US$4,093) as pre-paid tuition fees from Apax Leaders, said Shark Thuy wrote in a commitment on April 9, 2023, "This is the last time I make a commitment. If I fail to fulfill it, I will take responsibility before the law,” which sparked concerns among parents.

“However, he continued to promise and extended the payment period by two years. We do not accept this,” T. added.

In November 2022, many parents accused Apax Leaders centers of having collected tuition fees for long-term courses but said the center had failed to arrange classes.

Many former employees denounced the chain for failing to pay their salaries.

Shark Thuy, in March of this year, promised to refund prepaid tuition fees to parents, saying that he needed more time.

The Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange last month suspended the trading of IBC shares belonging to Apax Holdings JSC as the company violated regulations on information disclosure.

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