Fraud Allegations and Divided Opinions in Đà Nẵng Homeschooling Founder’s Arrest

“My child has studied here for five years. My family will always be grateful to the teacher and all the teachers at the center for educating my child.” [1]

“I hope the authorities will review and investigate the case thoroughly, with both compassion and reason, so that a supportive, exemplary community of teachers so dedicated to education will be treated fairly.” [2]

“His only mistake was being ahead of the trend and behind on the paperwork.” [3]

These comments appeared under a Facebook post by the Đà Nẵng City police announcing the arrest of Trương Văn Thiên Tư, the director of the Thiên Lập Nhân English Center and operator of the Prinberk Academy study program. Although investigators accuse Tư of the fraudulent appropriation of property, numerous commenters who identified themselves as parents of students at the center publicly defended him.

His arrest has sparked debate regarding homeschooling, an educational model that an increasing number of Vietnamese families are choosing over traditional schooling. 

What is Homeschooling?

When children reach school age, parents typically send them to traditional schools to follow a grade-specific curriculum where teachers instruct, test, and issue official academic certificates. 

Homeschooling, however, breaks from this convention.

Often translated into Vietnamese as “giáo dục tại nhà,” homeschooling is an arrangement where parents or guardians take primary responsibility for organizing their children’s education. [4] Parents might teach the material directly, hire tutors, utilize online courses, or combine several methods, granting them greater control over the curriculum, the pace of learning, and the assessment of results. 

In the United States, for example, homeschooling is entirely legal, though regulatory requirements—such as notifying authorities or meeting specific curriculum and testing standards—vary by state. [5] [6]

For some families, this model allows children to learn according to their unique abilities and interests rather than simply keeping pace with their peers. Yet, it also demands great time and resources from parents, who must ensure educational quality while actively providing opportunities for their children to socialize and engage in group activities.

Recently, a growing number of families in Việt Nam have adopted this approach. Trịnh Kim Tiến, a parent who homeschools her child, took to Facebook to write about her family’s educational choice, noting the difficulties that arise because programs outside the regular school system lack a clear mechanism for official recognition. [7]

Similarly, an educator going by the account name Daisy Nguyen posted about the desire to find a learning environment better suited to children’s individual needs. [8]

Importantly, homeschooling does not necessarily mean that children are confined to studying at home with their parents. Families often choose foreign online programs, form collaborative study groups, hire private teachers, and organize shared activities. This trend has sparked the creation of centers offering homeschooling support services, which provide teachers, physical locations, and educational activities.

However, a learning support center does not hold the same legal standing as a licensed general education school. This distinction is one of the central issues in the Prinberk Academy case in Đà Nẵng. 

What Happened at Prinberk Academy?

Born in 1970, Trương Văn Thiên Tư is the director of the Thiên Lập Nhân English Center, which the Đà Nẵng Department of Education and Training approved in 2017. Headquartered at 177 Hải Phòng Street with several other locations across the city, the center was exclusively licensed for English training and tutoring for children. According to the Đà Nẵng police, this license did not permit the teaching of a general education curriculum or the formation of partnerships with foreign institutions. [9]

Despite these restrictions, the center began operating a full-time study program called Prinberk Academy in 2019, marketing it as an American homeschooling model. Investigators found that more than 200 students between the ages of 5 and 16 enrolled in the Monday-through-Friday program, paying a monthly tuition of approximately 7 million to 8 million đồng. [10] 

For many families, this was a chance for their children to learn through international methods and eventually study abroad. Comments under the arrest announcement indicate that some parents viewed the program positively, reporting that their children gained confidence, improved their English fluency, or rediscovered a joy for learning after struggling in traditional schools.

However, other parents had the opposite experience, leading to disputes involving Prinberk Academy nearly two years before Tư’s eventual arrest.  At the end of October 2024, Người Lao Động newspaper received multiple complaints about the center’s activities, and on Nov. 6, 2024, the outlet reported that the center was illegally teaching math, science, and other subjects even though it was licensed only for English. [11] 

Similarly, on Nov. 25, Tuổi Trẻ newspaper published a report detailing how parents enrolled their children in what they believed was an American school, only to discover that the Đà Nẵng facility possessed only an English training license. [12] One parent revealed that their child attended from 2021 to 2023 at an annual cost of nearly 100 million đồng, fully expecting transcripts that would enable future studies abroad. When attempting to transfer schools in 2023, the family could not obtain the promised transcripts, prompting them to file a petition with the Đà Nẵng Department of Education and Training in August 2024.

During a meeting with the department’s inspectorate in September of that year, Tư claimed that the center had no connection to Prinberk Academy. Yet, at a subsequent meeting on Nov. 27, 2024, he contradicted himself by stating the center had referred parents to Prinberk Academy’s online program and provided student support, a discrepancy explicitly highlighted by Tuổi Trẻ. [13]

By March 2025, the Đà Nẵng Department of Education and Training released its inspection results, confirming the center had violated regulations on teacher qualifications, public disclosure, and educational activities. [14] The department ordered the center to clarify its ties to Prinberk Academy and to stop blurring the line between a language center and an official school.

Although disputes over academic records and legal status simmered long before Tư’s arrest, the case did not enter criminal proceedings until October 2026. On Oct. 14, the Security Investigation Agency of the Đà Nẵng police opened a criminal case, charging Trương Văn Thiên Tư with the fraudulent appropriation of property and ordering his arrest and detention. [15] 

Following the public announcement of his arrest on Oct. 29 and the subsequent social media backlash, authorities released further initial investigation results detailing more specific accusations on Nov. 1. 

Tư’s Arrest and Unanswered Legal Questions

The Đà Nẵng police detailed two sets of accusations against Tư in their Nov. 1 announcement. [16] 

First, investigators allege he taught a general education curriculum outside the scope of his language center’s license. By having students study full time while invoicing services as “educational support” or “play and physical development,” Tư allegedly concealed activities his license did not permit.

The second set of accusations centers on the fraudulent appropriation of property. Police claim that Tư recruited students by falsely presenting Prinberk Academy as an international school registered and licensed in the United States, promising that graduates would receive valid academic records, transcripts, and certificates needed to continue higher levels of education. 

However, investigators state that a private school functioning as Prinberk Academy did not exist from 2019 through the end of 2024. Tư allegedly fabricated an embossed seal to design and print transcripts in Việt Nam, deceiving parents into believing they were issued in the United States—even charging some families an extra $100 to $120 for supposed international shipping. As a result, some families who paid hundreds of millions of đồng in tuition never received the promised records or refunds. 

To prove the crime of fraudulent appropriation of property under Article 174 of the Penal Code, authorities must establish the use of deceptive tricks to take another’s property. [17] Mai Thùy Linh, writing for the Hà Nội People’s Procuracy website, noted that this requires examining the deceptive act, the intent to appropriate, the causal connection between them, and when the intent arose. [18] While police accuse Tư of deceiving parents into paying tuition based on false information regarding the school’s U.S. legal status, their Nov. 1 announcement omitted the total number of victims, the overall amount appropriated, and the methodology used to determine which portion of the collected tuition qualifies as appropriated property. [19]

Furthermore, political analyst Nguyễn Anh Tuấn argued on Facebook that the school’s lack of U.S. Department of Homeland Security certification to issue Form I-20 does not mean that the school is not allowed to operate, is unaccredited, or lacks the authority to issue diplomas. [20] As the U.S. State Department outlines, Form I-20 is a document used in the student visa application; separate regulations govern private school registration and accreditation in California. [21] Tuấn also argued that printing and stamping academic records or transcripts in Việt Nam does not automatically make them forgeries, provided the U.S. institution authorized them.  

While Tuấn noted that the Prinberk school holds WASC accreditation, an RFA report on Nov. 2 found that only “Prinberk High School” appears in the accrediting organization’s directory, with no listing for “Prinberk Academy.” [22] This leaves unresolved questions regarding when accreditation occurred, its scope, and how these U.S. entities relate to the Đà Nẵng program.

According to Luật Khoa’s research, an archived California Department of Education directory page lists Prinberk High School as a private high school in Huntington Beach, opened on June 28, 2024. [23] Moreover, page 151 of the Orange County school directory for 2024–2025 names Thien-Tu Truong as the principal. [24] The Orange County education office’s current online directory also lists “Prinberk Academy” sharing the same address and administrator. [25]

These records confirm that institutions named Prinberk appear in education directories in California. However, they are not enough to establish the identity of the listed principal, the legal ties to Tư’s operations in Đà Nẵng, or the legitimacy of the academic records, transcripts, and transfer promises given to parents.

Although the Đà Nẵng police claim that Tư has confessed to the violations, Article 98 of the Criminal Procedure Code states that a confession cannot be the sole basis for conviction and must align with other evidence. [26] Furthermore, Article 13 of the same code guarantees the presumption of innocence until a conviction takes legal effect. [27]

Homeschooling According to Vietnamese Law 

Beyond the criminal charges against Tư, the case raises questions about the legal status of homeschooling in Việt Nam.

Under Article 14 of the 2019 Education Law, primary education is compulsory. [28] This mandate was expanded to include lower secondary school through Law No. 123/2025/QH15, passed by the National Assembly on Dec. 10, 2025, taking effect on July 1, 2026. [29] Furthermore, on Nov. 1, Decree 353/2026/NĐ-CP clarified that compulsory education must be fulfilled through recognized institutions within the national education system or educational institutions of the armed forces. [30] 

While Vietnamese law does not ban parents from teaching their children at home, official recognition remains a hurdle. In an Oct. 17, 2026 investigative report by Tuổi Trẻ, the head of a culture and social affairs office in Hồ Chí Minh City confirmed that parents are permitted to teach their children. However, the official warned that unauthorized facilities teaching academic subjects and issuing their own homeschooling certificates are not recognized by the national education system. [31] 

Article 43 of the 2019 Education Law also recognizes distance learning, self-study, and guided self-study in continuing education. [32] However, this does not mean that an independent family-run homeschooling program automatically recognizes and satisfies compulsory education requirements. While the law demands compulsory education, it provides no general mechanism to recognize independent homeschooling results in place of the standard curriculum. 

Education authorities are increasingly monitoring this sector. In August 2026, the Hồ Chí Minh City Department of Education and Training warned parents against pulling their children out of regular schools to rely solely on homeschooling. [33] The department cited cases where children who studied at home for years struggled to re-enter the regular school system because their academic results could not be validated.

Additionally, the department instructed local authorities to review centers offering primary school homeschooling programs. By October, Tuổi Trẻ reported that numerous unregulated facilities were advertising international programs with unverified promises regarding tuition, curriculum, and parental rights. [34] Thus, authorities are concerned not only with teaching quality but also with student safety, the recognition of academic results, and the viability of future educational transfers.

As legislative changes and regulatory actions in 2026 demonstrate growing official scrutiny, Tư’s arrest has simultaneously ignited a broader debate regarding a family’s right to choose how their children are educated.

The Debate Over Educational Freedom

On Facebook, social activist Nguyễn Hồ Nhật Thành suggested that Tư’s arrest might be the first step in a broader campaign to control or suppress independent homeschooling models. [35] This argument has some basis. In October 2025, for example, the Palm River Academy English Center in Hội An was fined 35 million đồng for teaching unlicensed subjects, deceptively advertising as a school, and offering unauthorized full-day boarding services. [36] 

Furthermore, educator Daisy Nguyen noted on Facebook that Đà Nẵng hosts the largest concentration of homeschooling activity in Việt Nam. [37] However, because it remains unclear exactly how many facilities offer homeschooling nationwide, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that Tư’s arrest is part of a deliberate state campaign against the model.

Amid these conflicting views and legal uncertainties, a former Prinberk Academy student has publicly defended the institution. On Facebook, Trương Nguyễn Khánh Linh shared her experience studying at Prinberk from 2018 to 2024, completing two years of basic English and a four-year American high school curriculum.

After graduating, Khánh Linh was admitted to Georgia State University in the United States to study fine arts and design. She credited Prinberk’s teaching methods for developing her English fluency, confidence, and independent learning skills, expressing deep gratitude to Tư and her teachers. [38]

“I believe the most convincing answer lies not in words, but in the success of the generations of students who came before,” Khánh Linh wrote.

This was Khánh Linh’s experience after six years at Prinberk. Meanwhile, parents who complained about the center’s transcripts, academic records, and promises tell different stories. As investigators continue to examine the accusations against Tư, Việt Nam is simultaneously expanding compulsory education and stepping up regulatory reviews of homeschooling centers. 

With the debate over educational freedom ongoing, one question remains: Does the arrest of Trương Văn Thiên Tư signal a tougher nationwide crackdown on homeschooling? 

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Uyển Thanh wrote this article in Vietnamese and published it in Luật Khoa Magazine on Nov. 4, 2025. The Vietnamese Magazine translated it into English.