Paradox: Preschool teachers work the hardest but get the lowest pay

Shortage of 50,000 teachers

At the meeting of the National Committee for Education and Training Innovation on “Innovation and development of preschool education to 2030, vision to 2045”, held on August 4, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Thi Kim Chi shared that, besides achievements, preschool education is still a level of education with many limitations and shortcomings.

That program has not met the requirements of fundamental and comprehensive educational innovation and has not been linked with the 2018 General Education Program.

The school and classroom network has not met the needs of children to go to school. The capacity of the preschool education network to meet the needs of mobilizing children is still limited. The rate of mobilizing children in nursery schools is only 32.1%, and that of preschool children aged 3-5 is only 93.1%. Currently, there are nearly 300,000 preschool children aged 3-4 who have not been to school, mainly in disadvantaged areas, mountainous areas, and river areas of the Mekong Delta.

According to Ms. Chi, the current public preschool system is not qualified to accept more children. Non-public schools are difficult to develop in many places, especially in places with difficult socio-economic conditions.

In areas with industrial parks, export processing zones, and densely populated urban areas, the majority of workers' children and children of laborers are being raised, cared for, and educated in independent facilities with limited quality conditions.

Not to mention, schools have not met the requirements for teachers and students to teach. In preschools alone, nationwide there are still over 5,000 temporary classrooms that are not safe; the number of solid classrooms is only about 82%; teaching equipment, toys and tools have not met the requirements, especially in difficult and mountainous areas.

In addition, there is a shortage of teachers. The whole country lacks about 50,000 preschool teachers. It is worth mentioning that in the context of shortage, localities are still streamlining the number of civil servants who are preschool teachers.

The goal of "equity" in preschool education development is not yet guaranteed, the regional gap is large when nearly 41% of children in disadvantaged areas do not have access to education.

The Deputy Minister of Education and Training said that there needs to be a breakthrough solution to change the current situation, change the investment perspective to have a good education program, ensure conditions of staff, facilities, and schools so that all preschool children can access early education.

Disadvantages: Having quotas but difficult to recruit

From the perspective of local management, Vice Chairman of Hanoi People's Committee Vu Thu Ha also said that it is necessary to innovate preschool education and implement universalization for children from 3 to 5 years old. From the local reality, it shows that the issue of concern now is solving the shortage of teachers.

According to Ms. Ha, there is a shortage of preschool teachers to teach in educational institutions and even though there are recruitment targets, they cannot be recruited due to a lack of resources. “To meet the quality of teaching, there needs to be a solution to ensure the quantity and improve the quality of teachers,” Ms. Ha said.

Mr. Nguyen Van Them, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Bac Giang also shared the current difficulties due to the lack of teachers. Therefore, the Department of Education and Training of Bac Giang proposed to have timely preferential policies for young teachers who have just graduated from school to attract human resources to participate in recruitment to ensure enough teachers/class according to regulations.

The Minister of Education and Training requested internal innovation and more attention within the sector to preschool level.

At the conference summarizing the 2023-2024 school year in preparation for the new 2024-2025 school year, Minister Nguyen Kim Son affirmed that preschool education has many "bests", which are: the most lacking in facilities, the most lacking in teachers, the lowest teacher/class ratio, the most teachers quit their jobs, the lowest teacher income, the most pressure on teachers, the least investment policies for the education level...

Therefore, in the school year, the next stage needs to pay attention to preschool education. Because the educational policy develops people comprehensively, in which special attention is paid to the development of personality, morality, psychology, emotions, physical health... and most of the important factors are formed at preschool level.

However, according to the Minister, the problem at preschool level is still very challenging when the results are difficult to count in terms of achievements like other levels of education. Teachers at this level have heavy work, low salary, and a lot of pressure, leading to challenges in taking care of the team; the preschool education network is scattered and diverse in types...

The Minister requested that there should be internal innovation and more attention within the sector towards preschool education. In particular, it is necessary to strongly implement administrative reforms to practically reduce pressure on teachers and managers of preschool education. Localities should gradually solidify and modernize facilities while strengthening inspection and supervision, especially for groups of classes.

Ha Linh