Too low salary , too many concurrent jobs, thousands of employees quit

Regarding policies for school staff, the Ministry of Education and Training said that nationwide there are about 150,000 civil servants working in support and service jobs in schools; including more than 37,800 accountants; over 32,100 medical staff, over 35,100 librarians, nearly 32,300 laboratory equipment staff, more than 13,600 information technology staff, clerks, treasurers, education staff, and support for people with disabilities.

The Ministry of Education and Training has found that school staff face many difficulties. Currently, the total income of school staff (including insurance premiums) with less than 15 years of service ranges from 3.6 million VND to less than 7 million VND/month; while the workload is very large, and they have to take on many different tasks at the same time.

Specifically, for accounting, education, laboratory equipment, and support staff for the disabled, when newly recruited, appointed, and ranked according to the salary coefficient of type A0 civil servants, the salary coefficient is from 2.10 to 4.89 (salary for less than 10 years of work is about 3.6 million VND to 4.8 million VND/month; for more than 10 years of work until retirement, it is from 5.4 million VND to 8.8 million VND/month, excluding social insurance contributions).

In addition, accounting and cashier staff are entitled to a responsibility allowance of 0.1 compared to the basic salary (equivalent to 180,000 VND/month). Laboratory equipment staff are entitled to a responsibility allowance of 0.2 (equivalent to 360,000 VND/month).

Other staff such as librarians, medical staff, clerical staff, and information technology staff who are newly recruited and appointed to professional positions are classified as type B civil servants, with a salary coefficient of 1.86 to 4.06 (salary for less than 10 years of work is from 3.3 to 4.0 million VND/month; salary for more than 10 years of work until retirement is from 4.4 to 7.3 million VND/month, excluding social insurance contributions). In addition to the basic salary, medical staff are entitled to a preferential allowance of 20% compared to the basic salary, while clerical staff, library staff, and information technology staff do not have any allowance.

The Ministry of Education and Training also pointed out the fact that many accounting staff in schools have to quit their jobs to find other jobs. In the 2021-2022 school year, more than 1,300 employees on the payroll quit their jobs. By the 2022-2023 school year, more than 1,400 employees on the payroll quit their jobs. Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training has received many letters from accounting staff to all levels requesting consideration of salary increases for this team.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, most school staff have not been tested or upgraded by the management agency but have kept their professional title since they were first recruited, so their salary coefficient is still according to the salary table for type B and type A0 civil servants.

Public schools are implementing quotas where the number of people working as school staff is less than the number of positions in the school. Therefore, school staff must take on additional tasks.

In particular, staff at ethnic minority boarding schools and ethnic minority boarding schools, in addition to their professional duties, are also responsible for being on duty, managing, caring for, and nurturing students, but are not entitled to a responsibility allowance of 0.3 like teachers and managers working at these schools.

Suggested considerations when implementing new salary policy

In order to help school staff increase their income, stabilize their lives and feel secure at work, the Ministry of Education and Training has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs to study and review school staff salaries when implementing the new salary policy.

Firstly, the Ministry of Education and Training proposed that school staff receive a preferential allowance of 25%. The reason is that 25% is the lowest preferential allowance that managers and teachers are currently receiving, and this is also the public service allowance that civil servants are currently receiving.

Second, when newly recruited, after completing the internship, school staff are appointed and ranked at level 2 in the salary scale of the corresponding civil servant category.

The reason the Ministry of Education and Training made this proposal is that school staff are currently receiving salaries of type B and A0 civil servants; in addition, teaching and laboratory equipment staff are not classified into professional titles and only receive salaries on the salary scale of type A0 civil servants.