D STOP TEACHING MUSIC, ENGLISH, AND COMPUTER SCIENCE

Teacher shortage is not something too strange and this situation has existed for many years in Thanh Hoa, especially in the mountainous areas. This province has 11 mountainous districts, most of which are in a state of teacher shortage.

According to the reporter's investigation, at Giao Thien Secondary School (Giao Thien Commune, Lang Chanh District), since the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, this school has been forced to stop teaching music and English due to lack of teachers. Yen Khuong Primary School (Yen Khuong Commune, Lang Chanh District) is similar when it is forced to stop teaching IT and English due to lack of teachers.

At Tri Nang Primary and Secondary School (Tri Nang Commune, Lang Chanh District), Mr. Do Dong Hoa, the school's principal, had to meet with principals in neighboring schools to "ask for help" and ask for teachers to teach more computer science. "From the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year until now, the school is lacking 6 teachers and 2 staff members. The subjects lacking teachers are computer science, English, math, and elementary school cultural subjects because some teachers transferred schools. In particular, the computer science subject has not had a teacher since the beginning of the school year, so it cannot be taught. Recently (about a week ago - PV ) a teacher from another school has been found to teach. The most difficult thing is that we don't know when the money to support inter-school teaching for teachers will be available, and this money needs to be supported immediately so that teachers can be enthusiastic about teaching," said Mr. Hoa.

SENDING KINDERGARTEN TEACHERS TO PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS

Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Son, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Lang Chanh District, said that the whole district is lacking 92 positions in the education sector, mainly lacking teachers in English, IT, fine arts, chemistry, and geography. Last May, the district organized recruitment exams but only recruited 25 teachers due to lack of recruitment sources. "The department has directed schools to temporarily solve the teacher shortage by teaching inter-school and contracting work with teachers, but that only partially solves the problem," Mr. Son said.

Similarly, in the mountainous district of Ba Thuoc, there are 1,655 positions in the education sector, 77 teachers short of the provincial quota. Despite the shortage, the district "does not dare" to recruit because if it recruits, by 2026 there will be a surplus of teachers according to the provisions of Plan 157 (issued on June 12, 2023) of the Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee on the management of the Thanh Hoa provincial government's payroll for the period 2022 - 2026.

Mr. Ha Tu Nhien, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Ba Thuoc District, said that the district must deal with the problem of teacher shortage by sending teachers to teach at inter-school level, even sending preschool teachers to teach at primary and secondary school level. Mr. Nhien admitted that recently, some subjects had to be stopped teaching locally due to the lack of teachers. "The district is sending more than 10 preschool teachers to teach at primary and secondary school level, these teachers have a second degree and can teach at both primary and secondary school levels. There are currently about 20 teachers teaching inter-school level, however, teaching inter-school level is very difficult due to mountainous terrain, long distances between schools, on average teachers have to travel 7-8 km from one school to another to teach. Another difficulty is that we do not know where the funding will come from to pay for inter-school teaching for teachers, we still owe teachers," said Mr. Nhien.

PROPOSAL FOR RECRUITING COLLEGE TEACHERS TO TEACH NEW SUBJECTS

Mr. Tran Van Thuc, Director of the Thanh Hoa Department of Education and Training, said the immediate solution is to arrange teachers to teach inter-school and make up for missed classes. In the long term, Mr. Thuc said that in addition to recruiting and streamlining the school system, he will propose recruiting college-level teachers to teach new subjects according to the 2018 General Education Program.

"In 2024, the Department of Education and Training coordinated with the Department of Home Affairs to advise the Provincial People's Committee to propose that the Central Government assign 2,654 additional educational positions to the province; at the same time, propose that the Provincial People's Committee assign 3,840 contract labor quotas to work as teachers according to the provisions of Decree No. 111/2022 of the Government. In total, there will be 6,494 more teachers in 2024. Since the beginning of 2024, the districts have recruited 3,351 teachers. In addition to recruiting and selecting teachers, the Thanh Hoa education sector has been implementing solutions such as reviewing and rearranging the scale of the school and class network to ensure compliance with regulations to minimize the number of small schools, groups, and classes. At the same time, flexibly arrange teachers to teach inter-school, inter-level, and teach extra periods; second teachers from surplus schools to schools with shortages under its authority to solve the problem of teacher shortage," said Mr. Thuc.

According to Mr. Thuc, by 2025, the Department of Education and Training of Thanh Hoa will coordinate with the Department of Home Affairs to advise the Provincial People's Committee to continue to assign 6,507 contract labor quotas to work as teachers. At the same time, review the number of teachers with college degrees in the province to report to the Ministry of Education and Training to advise the Government to submit to the National Assembly to issue a Resolution allowing the recruitment of teachers with college degrees to teach new subjects.