There are many kinds of educational programs for consumers, so you should choose carefully to avoid disputes.
In recent years, with the implementation of the "double reduction" policy, many disciplines of training have gradually withdrawn from the education and training market, but projects such as "strengthening the ability" and "comprehensive development" have become the "main direction" of more and more off-campus teaching and training institutions, which are favored by parents and students. At the same time, disputes involving education and training also occur frequently. Since 2022, the People’s Court of Gulou District, Fuzhou City, Fujian Province has accepted 378 cases of education and training contract disputes.
"When choosing an educational institution, parents and students should be cautious, and create a reassuring environment for learning and improvement by examining the qualifications, location, teaching quality and staff quality of educational institutions." Huang Lizhen, vice president of the Second Court of Civil Trial of Gulou Court, suggested that parents and students should be good at taking legal weapons to safeguard their legitimate rights and interests when encountering infringement, and also reminded teaching and training institutions to operate in good faith according to law and maintain a good market order.
Running a school without relevant permission
70% refund for invalid contract
In life, some parents do not carefully check their qualifications and school conditions when choosing a teaching and training institution for their children, blindly believe in the advertising or verbal commitment of the institution, and do not stipulate the liability for breach of contract in the contract, so it is difficult to safeguard their rights and interests after a dispute occurs.
In November 2020, Ms. Huang signed up for her daughter to participate in the "high-energy learning method" course system offered by an education company, with a total of 160 class hours and a registration fee of 30,000 yuan. After 90 class hours, Ms. Huang felt that her daughter’s learning effect was not up to expectations, and then she found that the education company had not obtained the school license, and its business scope did not include education and training activities involving license approval. Ms. Huang failed to negotiate with the company to refund the fee, so she sued the company to the Gulou court and demanded a refund of all the registration fees.
After trial, the court held that Ms. Huang had formed an education and training contract relationship with an education company. Without the approval of the administrative department of education, the education company signed an education and training contract with an unspecified object and promised to provide paid education and training. If it entered into a contract beyond its business scope and violated the mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations, it should be deemed that the education and training contract involved in the case was invalid.
In addition, Ms. Huang, as the purchaser of education and training services, asked the education company to provide the school license certificate after more than half of the class, which also made some mistakes in invalidating the contract. Based on the fault degree of both parties and the performance of the contract involved in the case, the court ruled that the education company should return 70% of Ms. Huang’s registration fee.
"Private education is a national franchise industry. The establishment, alteration and termination of schools and other educational institutions shall go through the formalities of examination, approval, registration or filing in accordance with the relevant provisions of the state." The handling judge said: "The purchaser of education and training services should fulfill the obligation to examine whether the other party has education and training qualifications within a reasonable range."
The judge reminded consumers that when choosing a teaching and training institution, they should make a comprehensive investigation on the qualifications and teaching quality of the training institution, for example, through the "white list" of educational institutions published by official website, each education bureau, to choose a teaching and training institution with a school license. In addition, parents need to pay the training fee in advance reasonably, try not to pay the fee for more than 3 months or 60 class hours at one time, and take the initiative to ask for invoices and other charging vouchers.
Employee violence, student injury
Apologize in writing and pay 5 thousand
In the trial practice, the Gulou court found that some teaching and training institutions did not strictly examine their qualifications when recruiting staff, which led to the entry of individual personnel with weak legal awareness and low quality into the teaching and training market, which affected the teaching quality, and even caused personal injury to children and potential safety hazards.
In June, 2021, Lin, a third-grade student, was forced to press his head, drag and press behind the classroom door by Ma, the person in charge of the custody station, during the late care of an education company, causing soft tissue injuries to Lin’s head and neck. Lin’s father called the police. After the police found out the facts of the case, they made a decision on administrative detention for 10 days and fined 500 yuan. Subsequently, Lin appealed to the court, demanding that the education company and Ma apologize in writing and bear medical expenses, nursing expenses and other expenses.
After mediation by the court, Lin reached a mediation agreement with the education company and Ma, and Ma apologized to Lin in writing. The education company and Ma jointly paid Lin a total of 5,000 yuan for medical expenses and nursing expenses.
"There are still some teaching and training institutions that often rent residential houses or even basements to carry out training, which has great security risks. Due to irregular management, after an injury accident, there will be a phenomenon that managers shirk each other. " The handling judge said that if a person without civil capacity suffers personal injury during his study and life in a school or other educational institution, and the school or other educational institution fails to fulfill its education and management responsibilities, he should bear the responsibility. Therefore, when recruiting staff, teaching and training institutions need to review their qualifications and professional certificates, so as to standardize management and ensure that staff keep the bottom line of morality and law. Parents and students should also enhance their awareness of safety and rights protection, and handle disputes through legal channels in time when their children are personally violated.
Confusion of affiliated companies
Joint responsibility for defect performance
In practice, some training institutions have exaggerated or false propaganda in advertising, or use ambiguous words in relevant contracts, and are vague about charging standards and class hours, which is prone to disputes in performance. Many consumers often ignore the contract review and sign it in a hurry, which makes it difficult to identify the responsible subject for accountability when they follow up their rights protection.
In June, 2022, Mr. Zhang bought a full-time nursery course of Company A for his son, with a total price of 12,000 yuan and a duration of three months, and signed the Agreement on Admission of Nursery Freshmen, but the name of Company B appeared from beginning to end in the agreement. Halfway through the course, due to the relocation of the teaching address of Company A, Mr. Zhang asked for a refund of the remaining course fees. Company C, the controlling shareholder of Company A, promised a refund to Mr. Zhang, but failed to fulfill the promise. Mr. Zhang appealed to the court, demanding that Company A and Company C share the responsibility for refund.
The court held that Mr. Zhang paid the childcare service fee to Company A as agreed, and Company A could not continue to provide childcare service as agreed, which constituted a breach of contract. The contract involved in the case was signed by Mr. Zhang and Company A, but the name of the contract was "Agreement on Supporting Freshmen in the Park by Company B", which did not clearly reflect that the other party of the contract was Company A or Company C.
However, because Company A and Company C are registered at the same address, and Company C holds 90% of the shares of Company A, their legal representatives, executive directors and supervisors are the same, and their business scopes overlap greatly, which easily leads to the public’s understanding that Company A and Company C are the same subject or jointly engaged in childcare services. During the subsequent contract performance, Company C also participated in the process of negotiating the refund. Accordingly, the court found that from the perspective of contract performance, both Company A and Company C formed a legal and effective service contract relationship with Mr. Zhang, and they should jointly assume the responsibility of refund to Mr. Zhang.
After the trial, the handling judge said that the contract is relative, and one party to the contract can only make a request or bring a lawsuit to the other party based on the contract, but can’t make a contractual request to a third party who has no contractual relationship with it, and can’t set contractual obligations for the third party without authorization.
The judge reminded that when signing an education and training service contract, consumers should carefully review the subject of the header part when signing the contract, the official seal stamped on the signature part of the contract, and whether the payment subject is consistent with the actual contract. If multiple parties are involved in the signing and performance of the contract, the opposite party of the contract can be identified from the official seal stamped on the signature part of the contract, the opposite party confirmed during the performance of the contract and the payer of the payment behavior. In addition, consumers need to properly keep key evidence materials such as written contracts, class notices, course records and chat records in order to effectively safeguard their legitimate rights and interests.
Advertising promises to sign up for admission
Full refund for lack of qualification
"Don’t wait until the threshold for applying for the exam becomes higher and the requirements for obtaining the certificate become stricter." In real life, some teaching and training institutions will use this kind of rhetoric in publicity, and then promise to provide "academic upgrading services" and "guarantee admission to full-time colleges and universities", while some candidates often neglect to understand the qualification requirements for applying for the exam and trust the institutions, resulting in "money" and "certificate" being empty.
In May, 2022, Chen Mou saw the advertisement of a company’s "academic upgrading" service on the Internet, and signed the Registration Agreement for Full-time College Academic Upgrading with the company, stipulating that the company would provide Chen Mou with examination-related materials and counseling, and sort out the materials that meet the relevant application conditions, so as to ensure that Chen Mou successfully registered and was admitted to a full-time college in Guizhou Province or Shanxi Province. After signing the contract, Chen Mou paid the company a service fee of 3,000 yuan. After paying the money, the company delayed to assist Chen Mou to apply for the exam, and refused to refund the fee. After many unsuccessful negotiations, Chen Mou appealed to the court.
The court held that the conditions for the registration of full-time junior college students in the agreement between the two parties all include that the enrollment object has the household registration in this province or is a native of this province. A company promised to help Chen Mou to register even though it knew that he did not meet the registration conditions. It intended to artificially create relevant certification materials through improper means, so as to realize the purpose of Chen Mou’s registration. This is a legal form to cover up the illegal purpose and harm the national interests and social public interests. The contract should be deemed invalid and the service fee of 3,000 yuan obtained according to the invalid contract should be returned.
The judge said that some teaching and training institutions illegally provide so-called "academic upgrading services" which is a malicious collusion to hinder the normal examination order of the country. Candidates can’t completely trust the promises of educational institutions when registering. They should carefully consult the official documents of the provincial admissions examination institutes and reasonably judge whether they are qualified for single-recruit registration. Relevant regulatory authorities can set up a blacklist of illegal institutions, strengthen supervision over the qualifications of adult education and training institutions, and ensure the realization of candidates’ interests through administrative measures. (Reporter Wang Ying correspondent Ye Peixin)
Relevant provisions of civil code
Article 153 A civil juristic act that violates the mandatory provisions of laws and administrative regulations is invalid. However, unless the mandatory provision does not invalidate the civil juristic act. Civil legal acts that violate public order and good customs are invalid.
Article 155 An invalid or revoked civil juristic act is not legally binding from the beginning.
Article 157 After a civil juristic act is invalid, revoked or determined to be ineffective, the property acquired by the actor as a result of the act shall be returned; If it is impossible or unnecessary to return it, it shall be compensated at a discount. The party at fault shall compensate the other party for the losses thus suffered; If all parties are at fault, they shall bear their respective responsibilities. Where there are other provisions in the law, such provisions shall prevail.
Article 577 Where a party fails to perform its contractual obligations or fails to perform its contractual obligations in conformity with the contract, it shall be liable for breach of contract such as continuing to perform, taking remedial measures or compensating for losses.
Article 584 Where one party fails to perform its contractual obligations or fails to perform its contractual obligations in conformity with the contract, thus causing losses to the other party, the amount of damages shall be equivalent to the losses caused by the breach of contract, including the benefits that can be obtained after the performance of the contract; However, it shall not exceed the losses that the breaching party foresaw or should have foreseen when concluding the contract.
Comments by Lao Hu
In recent years, education and training institutions have flourished and played an active role in improving people’s quality and developing children’s development potential. However, from this case, we can see that there are different kinds of education and training institutions. Some teaching and training institutions are over-commercialized and lack a sense of social responsibility. There are also some educational and training institutions that run schools in violation of regulations without approval, so it is difficult to guarantee the quality of teachers, and violations of students’ interests sometimes occur.
This kind of chaos in running schools leads to frequent disputes and disrupts the order of education and training market. Therefore, the education administrative organs and the market supervision departments should closely cooperate and strengthen law enforcement supervision, and resolutely ban the education and training institutions that violate the integrity and run schools without a license, and impose corresponding penalties. At the same time, various measures have been taken to publicize education and training laws and regulations extensively and deeply, to enhance compliance operation and abide by the contract concept, and to resolve conflicts and disputes from the source.
In addition, when choosing education and training institutions, people must keep a rational attitude, not blindly follow and not be credulous, pay attention to reviewing the qualifications of running schools, and carefully understand the level of teachers so as not to be deceived. (Hu Yong)