According to statistics from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, this year, high schools across the city need to recruit 251 teachers in many subjects. The number of qualified candidates for recruitment is 838 people. Review shows that while the number of candidates for foreign languages ​​and social sciences is close to the target, the number of candidates for natural sciences is many times higher than the demand.

Specifically, in math, nearly 100 high schools in the city need to recruit 26 teachers but there are 246 candidates applying for this position. The competition ratio of candidates is approximately 1/9. Next, the competition ratio is nearly 1/17 for physics when only 5 teachers are needed but the number of candidates applying is 87 people.

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Among the subjects, the highest competition rate belongs to the position of high school chemistry teacher. Specifically, the city needs to recruit 3 teachers but the number of qualified candidates is 79. The competition rate to teach high school chemistry is nearly 1/26. This is also the subject whose competition rate is always the highest in the teacher recruitment seasons of Ho Chi Minh City.

According to school leaders, the high competition rate in recruitment shows that the annual demand for additional personnel in the above subjects is not high. Especially when the 2018 General Education Program implemented at the high school level allows students from grade 10 to choose elective subjects according to their strengths, abilities and career orientation, leading to a situation where subjects with many students choosing need more teachers and vice versa.

The principal of a high school in Tan Phu District said that there are subjects that only have half of the students choosing them, or even one-third of the students registering to study them. This leads to teachers of subjects that are not chosen by many students not being able to teach enough compulsory periods, resulting in a surplus of teachers. Natural sciences subjects usually have 2 periods/week, so the number of teachers for this group is always higher than that of teachers of subjects that only have 1 period/week, such as geography or economics and law. Therefore, most teachers of natural sciences will not be able to fully utilize their capabilities.

To solve the problem of redundant teachers when implementing the General Education Program, Mr. Phung Nhat Anh, Vice Principal of Nguyen Huu Huan High School (Thu Duc City), said that the school must also assign concurrent positions to ensure the number of obligatory periods and receive salaries according to regulations.