With meager pay, teachers can’t make ends meet
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Teachers of Mac Thi Buoi Primary School walks through the forest to go to class |
Ms. Ho Thi Thuy Van, Principal of Dak Ha Primary School, said that the school's teachers have no income other than salary, but with low pay, teachers can’t make ends meet. This makes many teachers depressed and want to quit. Recently, several school teachers have applied for transfer and resignation. From January to now, according to the assigned staffing quota, the school is short of nine teachers. To ensure the program for students, teachers have to work harder, their health is not good enough for the job.
Principal Hoang Thi Hien of Mac Thi Buoi Primary School in Ea Kiet Commune of Dak Lak Province’s Cu M'gar District said that the school is currently short of 4 teachers and has to contract with teachers from other schools. But it is difficult to find contract teachers because salaries for teachers are so low. She moaned the school is not only short of teachers but also a vice principal; therefore, she must work as a principal and a vice principal.
The shortage of teachers occurs mostly in disadvantaged areas in the Central Highlands. Mr. Nguyen Van Cuong, Head of the Education and Training Department of Kon Plong District said that there have been inadequacies in the overtime policy for teachers leading to more difficulties. For example, preschool teachers have to go to work earlier, have to be on duty at noon, return late in the afternoon, and work more than 8 hours a day, but there is no additional support policy.
According to Mr. Cuong, from 2020 to now, 20 teachers in the area have resigned from the post. Leaders of the Department of Education and Training held a meeting to listen to their opinions and aspirations encouraging teachers not to leave the job; however, only about 5 people agreed to continue working while 15 others still decided to leave the profession with the reasons school far away from home, taking care of old parents and children, and pay failing to keep up with the cost of living. The province is in dire need of teachers as many teachers left the classroom whereas the province bumped into difficulties in recruiting new teaching staff.
Recruiting new teachers faces difficulties
Ms. Ton Thi Ngoc Hanh, Vice Chairman of Dak Nong Provincial People's Committee, said that the province's education sector is short of 606 teachers and 421 staff. Meanwhile, according to the allocation of teacher quotas for the 2022-2023 school year, Dak Nong Province was only assigned 115 teachers which has caused difficulties in teaching at educational institutions. Ms. Y Ngoc, Vice Chairman of the Kon Tum Provincial People's Committee, also said that the province is also short of 973 teachers including 446 preschool teachers, 385 primary school teachers, and 142 secondary school teachers.
Despite a serious shortage of teachers, recruiting new teachers in remote and rural districts is not easy. As Tu Mo Rong District has recently posted a recruitment of 200 teachers, but only nearly 30 applications were sent to the local administration. Worse, some teachers after being hired to work for a while, applied to go to another area, or quit because of low remuneration, said Ms. Y Ngoc.
Meanwhile, many pedagogical training institutions are no longer attracting students as before. Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Thanh, Vice Rector of Dak Lak Pedagogical College, said that in the period 2014-2015, the school attracted more than 3,000 students with 60 classes. By 2018, the school no longer trained teachers for primary schools, and fewer students enrolled in the school.
Currently, the school has only about 400 students. The school has faced many difficulties in attracting students. In the academic year 2021-2022, the Ministry of Education and Training’s enrolment quota for the school is 300, but the school only recruited more than 180 students. In the academic year 2022-2023, 79 students applied to the school, lower than the quota.
Principal Nguyen Thanh Truc of the Central Highlands University said that in recent years, the school has only attracted a number of students equivalent to 90 percent of the quota set by the Ministry of Education and Training.
According to the Department of Education and Training of Lam Dong Province, 116 managers, teachers and employees in the education sector quit in the past school year as they are old and unhealthy while many of them have not been able to meet the requirements of educational innovation in the current period. Some teachers and staff have resigned from the post because they wanted to do other jobs with high pays.
