Vacant payroll

Solving this problem does not only rely on directives and instructions from the Central level, but also requires many synchronous and practical solutions.

Since 2022, the Ministry of Education and Training has coordinated with the Ministry of Home Affairs to report to the Central Government to supplement 65,980 teaching positions for localities. By the end of the 2024-2025 school year, the country will have nearly 1.28 million teachers from preschool to high school, an increase of 21,978 people compared to the previous school year.

Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training continued to propose adding more than 10,300 positions to overcome the shortage of teachers, especially in difficult areas. Localities have also actively recruited the assigned positions, contributing to reducing the shortage of quantity and the inadequacy of staff structure.

However, the worrying thing is that the situation of "having a payroll but not recruiting" still persists. Data from the Ministry of Education and Training shows that by the end of the first semester of the 2024-2025 school year, the whole country still has about 60,000 unfilled payrolls, while there is still a shortage of more than 120,000 public preschool and primary school teachers. This figure partly shows the inadequacies in policies to attract and retain human resources in the education sector, especially in disadvantaged areas.

Obviously, the situation of "having a staff but no one to teach the class" has posed an urgent need: It is necessary to both fill the vacant positions and ensure that the remuneration is attractive enough to retain teachers, especially in remote areas.

A new point expected to untie this "bottleneck" is Circular No. 15/2025/TT-BGDDT recently issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, guiding the functions, tasks and powers of the Department of Education and Training under the People's Committees of provinces and cities; the Department of Culture and Social Affairs under the People's Committees of communes and wards in the field of education and training.

Notably, the Circular assigns the right to recruit, transfer, rotate and second teachers directly to the Department of Education and Training - the unit that uses and understands the actual needs. This is a reasonable step, helping to shorten the gap between policy and implementation.

However, a document alone is not enough. The core issue is that the payroll is only meaningful when it is actually filled with teachers. To do that, it is necessary to synchronously deploy solutions such as: Adjusting and rearranging the team reasonably, avoiding local surpluses and shortages; Signing short-term contracts or guest lecturers when necessary; Cooperating with external organizations to teach specific subjects; Building a remuneration mechanism attractive enough for teachers to feel secure in their work and stay long-term in difficult areas.

It is thought that the Ministry of Education and Training should closely coordinate with the Ministry of Home Affairs to review, urge and inspect recruitment in localities, ensuring that all assigned staff is used. At the same time, continue to propose to competent authorities to supplement the missing staff to meet the requirements of teaching 2 sessions/day, not allowing the arrangement of the apparatus to affect the right to study of students.

Of course, all adjustments must adhere to the principle: "There must be teachers to teach the class if there are students", but still be flexible according to local conditions. Provinces and cities need to proactively regulate, rotate, second or arrange inter-school and inter-level teaching. Recruitment must be correct - sufficient - timely, with priority given to teachers with contract experience at educational institutions if they meet professional requirements.

The education sector is entering the new school year with many expectations for change. However, if the shortage of teachers and “vacant positions” are not fundamentally resolved, no matter how good the policies are, they will hardly be effective. Only when each position is filled by teachers who actually teach in the classroom can the “nurturing of knowledge for future generations” be complete in both quantity and quality.

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/bien-che-bo-trong-post744040.html