Ho Chi Minh City plans to recruit teachers after merger

There is still a shortage or surplus of teachers in some areas.

The leaders of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City acknowledged that the merger of Ho Chi Minh City with Binh Duong and Ba Ria-Vung Tau provinces has created many advantages but also many challenges for the education and training sector of a new megacity. The current state of education in Ho Chi Minh City is that the administrative boundaries are large, diverse in many types (rural, urban, island communes, special economic zones, etc.), and the facilities are still uneven in localities, especially in disadvantaged and densely populated areas.

In the 2024-2025 school year, Ho Chi Minh City has a total need to recruit 5,762 teachers from preschool to secondary school, the number of successful candidates is 2,556. In order to ensure the quantity and quality of recruitment, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City at that time prioritized recruiting preschool and primary school teachers who were still lacking, arranged and regulated preschool and general school teachers among local educational institutions, researched solutions to ensure quality and suitable teaching conditions...

In particular, the city has organized the recruitment of civil servants who are teachers from excellent graduates and young scientists according to current regulations; encouraged excellent graduates to participate in recruitment with remuneration and allowances increased by 100% of the salary according to the current salary coefficient.

PHOTO: NHAT THINH

In addition, according to the report of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, the Department of Education and Training of Binh Duong province (before the merger) although had consulted on support policies for managers and teachers, the policies and regulations did not ensure living conditions, leading to teachers quitting/leaving their jobs, and failing to attract pedagogical students to work at public educational institutions. These difficulties and shortcomings have had a certain impact on the implementation of the work of building a team of teachers, training and fostering according to the goals.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, acknowledged that there is still a shortage of teachers in some subjects, occurring in some schools and localities. The structure of the teaching staff is not consistent between subjects, and a number of teachers have not met the training standards according to the 2019 Education Law. The number of people working at public general education institutions is still lacking compared to the norm, especially teachers of English, information technology, music, fine arts, technology and physical education.

CANDIDATES REGISTER ACCORDING TO WISHES

Regarding the recruitment of teachers for the new school year after the Ministry of Education and Training officially stipulated that the Department of Education and Training is responsible for recruiting teachers for all levels of general education during the operation of the two-level government, Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu said that based on the review and proposed needs from schools in 168 wards, communes, and special zones, in the new school year 2025 - 2026, Ho Chi Minh City needs to recruit 4,865 more teachers from preschool to high school.

Of which, preschool needs 451 teachers, primary school needs 1,483, secondary school needs the most recruitment with 2,283 teachers and high school needs to recruit 648 people. In the coming time, in parallel with recruiting teachers according to demand, the department will also have plans to reduce the local surplus and shortage of teachers, encourage young teachers to volunteer to teach in schools in remote areas...

Mr. Hieu informed that the department is preparing for recruitment, in which the recruitment process has many new points. When implementing the two-level local government, Decree 142/2025 of the Government and Circular 15 of the Ministry of Education and Training on guiding the functions, tasks and powers of the Department of Education and Training, the department has the authority to recruit, manage, use, promote, train, foster and evaluate the entire team of teachers, managers, civil servants and employees in public educational institutions in the province and centrally-run cities. This is an adjustment associated with the orientation of strengthening sector management and state management of professional management. These conditions also require the proactiveness and flexibility in deploying and performing the tasks of the Department of Education and Training.

Accordingly, instead of the District People's Committee recruiting public preschool, primary and secondary school teachers in the area under its management, and the Department of Education and Training recruiting high school teachers as in previous years, this year the Department will consider recruiting teachers at all levels right from the application round. When a candidate submits an application, the data will be reviewed immediately, so that by the end of the application submission period, round 1 is considered complete and the candidate will enter round 2, which is the teaching practice interview. For round 2, this year Ho Chi Minh City will allow candidates to register according to their wishes, concentrated in 3 areas so that candidates applying for the teacher position do not have to travel far.

In addition, according to Mr. Hieu, at this time, although the surplus and shortage of teachers is happening locally in some localities, the regulation on teacher transfer cannot be applied yet. Because this regulation, although stated in the Law on Teachers, will not take effect until January 1, 2026. Therefore, currently, only mobilization and transfer are carried out according to the wishes of teachers. In particular, when transferring, teachers must have a transfer application to the place of departure, the place of destination agrees and the competent authority makes the decision. Localities need to try to do the transfer work from now until August 20 to reduce the situation of local surplus and shortage of teachers.

Photo: Dao Ngoc Thach

SCHOOLS ARE PROACTIVE WITH THEIR OWN SOLUTIONS

According to the Law on Civil Servants and Public Employees, the time limit for announcing teacher recruitment is 30 days. Therefore, during this time, while waiting for the recruitment process to go through many stages and procedures, schools are also proactively making plans to start the new school year.

Mr. Le Hong Thai, Principal of Phan Van Tri Primary School, Cau Ong Lanh Ward (formerly District 1), said that the school is currently short of 2 physical education teachers, technology teachers and a team leader. However, according to Mr. Thai, in case the new school year does not have time to recruit, the school will calculate plans to ensure that students can study and practice fully according to regulations.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Hoai Bac, Principal of Huynh Tan Phat Secondary School (Tan Thuan Ward, old District 7), said that in the new school year, the school has more than 2,000 students. The school is still lacking teachers in civics, music, and fine arts. While waiting for instructions, the school has considered options such as inviting guest teachers or assigning teachers who are short of quota to teach classes.