DIFFICULT TO RECRUIT

Ms. Nguyen Hoai Thuy Hang, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Hau Giang, said that in the 2024-2025 school year, the province will lack 443 teachers in the following subjects: music, fine arts, English, and information technology. Although the province still has surplus staff, there are no teachers applying. Regarding the reason, according to Ms. Hang, other provinces also have recruitment needs to implement the General Education Program (GDPT) in 2018. Moreover, the Education Law in 2019 stipulates that the standard qualifications for teachers from preschool to secondary school have increased compared to before. Meanwhile, teacher training has not met the needs of the whole country.

In Tra Vinh province, Ms. Nguyen Thi Bach Van, Director of the Department of Education and Training, said that the province is currently short of more than 600 teachers at all levels, most of them at preschool and primary schools. The reason is that when implementing the 2018 general education program, students' choice of subjects led to a local surplus - shortage of teachers in some subjects at the secondary and high school levels. Specifically, the subjects lacking teachers are music, fine arts, and information technology.

Similarly, Mr. Do Van Tuan, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Phu Quoc City (Kien Giang), said that according to the staffing standards, Phu Quoc will lack 141 teachers at all levels in the 2024-2025 school year. The unit is coordinating with the Department of Home Affairs to advise the People's Committee of Phu Quoc City to develop a plan to send to the Department of Home Affairs of Kien Giang to organize recruitment to have enough teachers to allocate to schools in the area. However, if the civil servant recruitment exam is completed, by the time teachers are allocated to schools, it will certainly not be in time for teaching from the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, because the successful candidates must complete a number of procedures that take a lot of time. In this situation, the Phu Quoc education sector allows schools to proactively recruit contract teachers to ensure the teaching work of the unit.

In An Giang, Mr. Le Van Phuoc, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, has just reported to the Ministry of Home Affairs to review and submit to competent authorities to supplement 1,044 teacher positions for the 2024-2025 school year; most of which are at primary and preschool levels. The reason is that some districts are implementing the process of recruiting civil servants in 2024. Meanwhile, in the 2023-2024 school year, the education and training sector has not been able to recruit the number of positions because units have to develop (adjust) job position projects according to regulations. Some teachers and staff have retired, quit their jobs, or transferred to other jobs. The source of civil servant recruitment does not meet the demand...

INVESTMENT MANY BUT STILL DIFFICULT TO RECRUIT

In recent times, the Department of Education and Training of Tra Vinh and other localities have actively and proactively developed plans to submit to competent authorities for approval of recruitment targets. However, recruitment has not met the plan due to the small number of recruitment applications, not ensuring the number of recruitment targets; especially at preschool and primary levels.

According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Bach Van, many new graduates have personal wishes and needs, so submitting recruitment applications is not guaranteed. In particular, the implementation of contract teachers at educational institutions is not feasible because the source of teachers is not guaranteed in terms of quantity, so the number of contract teachers is also very limited.

In July 2022, Hau Giang issued a resolution on special policies to attract teachers in four subjects: music, fine arts, English, and information technology. The support level is 50 million VND/teacher, with the condition that they commit to teaching in the area for 5 years from the date of recruitment or transfer from another province. However, after 2 years of implementation, the province has only attracted 66 teachers. "Provinces lack teachers so they all recruit. There are many new graduates, but it is difficult to find teaching positions because they study subjects that schools do not lack," Ms. Nguyen Hoai Thuy Hang shared.

In the immediate future, Hau Giang must consider the issue of teacher contracts. The province's demand for the 2024-2025 school year is 252 teachers and 380 staff. The contract policy has been approved by the People's Council resolution with a total implementation cost of more than 46 billion VND. Previously, the Department agreed with the People's Committees of the districts to adjust from surplus to shortage areas with 156 teacher positions. For teachers of the two subjects of music and fine arts, the Department directed high schools to be able to contract and guest-teach with university-level teachers who are teaching at secondary schools in the province; or assign direct teaching if the school has two levels of secondary and high schools with this teaching force available.

Mr. Dong Van Thanh, Chairman of Hau Giang Provincial People's Committee, said that the local teaching staff with qualified training or higher accounts for 95.76%. Every year, the province supports more than 3 billion VND in funding for teachers to attend training courses to improve their qualifications. At the same time, a plan is being developed to train teachers and managers to implement the 2018 General Education Program with more than 14 billion VND. With the investment and the lack of teachers not yet resolved, Hau Giang provincial leaders have proposed that the Ministry of Education and Training coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs to advise the Government to consider and not implement the policy of reducing the number of civil servants in the education sector by 10% according to the roadmap.