In the face of ride-hailing services’ robust growth, policymakers are concerned that too many university students are ride-share drivers, which might affect their school performance.

Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh requested the transport, education and training ministries, along with other local committees, devise regulations governing college student’s part-time job participation, especially as ride-share drivers.

The National Traffic Safety Committee previously voiced the suggestion, worrying that driving for ride-hailing apps will negatively impact university students’ academic activities, reports Zing.

According to the directive, the ministries are to encourage operators of ride-hailing services to reduce the work time of partners who are currently students. Tertiary institutions are ordered to come up with ways to regulate their students’ part-time jobs and promote a healthy balance between working and studying.

Bui Van Linh, who leads the Ministry of Education and Training’s student affairs department, views the new order as necessary in the current state of student employment to “avoid risks and detriments inherent in student part-time jobs,” preventing the issues from affecting the well-being and academic performance of students.

“At the moment, we don’t have any fixed limit on student work hours,” he told Tuoi Tre in Vietnamese. “In reality, many students are unable to make ends meet, so their need for part-time work is completely reasonable.”

In an interview with Tuoi Tre, Nguyen Huu Phat, a first-year IT student in Ho Chi Minh City, shared that he’s been a ride-share driver since the start of the school year. Phat typically wakes up early and takes rides from 5:30am to 8am. He stops to go to class and continues driving after lunch until 9pm.

“Before, I was pretty free so I ‘hunted’ bonuses by driving for eight hours a day,” he explained. “Recently, my school workload has increased, so I only work whenever I’m free. Many students choose to work for ride-hailing services because it’s flexible and helps with balancing classes. But imposing fixed work hours will be hard for us because every major and school year will have different schedules.”