Salary and benefits policy for teachers

There needs to be a good compensation mechanism for teachers so they can work with peace of mind. Photo: Xuan Le.

According to the report of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), the results of the assessment and summary of the current implementation of the law on teachers in recent years show that the regimes and policies for teachers such as salaries, allowances, preferential treatment, attraction regimes, and social honor for teachers are not really commensurate with the position and role of teachers. Teachers' lives are still difficult, teachers cannot make a living from their profession, teachers' salaries are not really the main source of income to ensure the lives of teachers, especially young teachers and preschool teachers.

The Ministry of Education and Training stated its opinion: Teachers have not received the attention and protection they deserve from society, so there are still many sad incidents regarding the behavior of society, parents, and students towards teachers. This leads to a situation where teachers are not confident in their work, a large number of teachers have quit their jobs, changed jobs, especially young teachers; at the same time, this is also the reason for the situation of not being able to attract talented people to the teaching profession, many localities andeducational institutions lack recruitment resources to supplement the number of teachers lacking, meeting the requirements of implementing education and training programs.

Recent statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training show that from August 2023 to April 2024, 7,215 teachers nationwide quit their jobs or changed jobs, notably the high rate of teachers under 35 years old quitting their jobs. The reason for this situation is that working conditions and the regime and policies for teachers' benefits are not commensurate.

Teachers' salaries are still low compared to the general level of other professions, failing to meet the goals set out in Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW of the 11th Party Central Committee "On fundamental and comprehensive innovation of education and training, meeting the requirements of industrialization and modernization in the context of a socialist-oriented market economy and international integration". Salaries and benefits have not created motivation in the context of increasing work pressure for teachers.

The new point this time in the construction of the Law on Teachers project, according to Deputy Minister of Education and Training Pham Ngoc Thuong, lies in the regulation of salary and benefits policies for teachers to concretize the Party's policy in Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW "teachers' salaries are given priority to be ranked highest in the salary scale according to job position, title and leadership position according to Government regulations". Accordingly, the draft stipulates that teachers' salaries are ranked highest in the administrative career salary scale system and are entitled to preferential allowances and other allowances depending on the nature of the job, according to the region according to the provisions of law.

At the same time, help teachers feel secure in their work, contribute and develop their careers; attract, employ and give preferential treatment to talented people to become teachers; attract teachers to work and work long-term in the education sector, especially in disadvantaged areas.

The draft Law stipulates that the salaries and salary-based policies of teachers working at non-public, private educational institutions and public educational institutions with autonomy in regular expenditures, public educational institutions with autonomy in regular expenditures and investment expenditures shall not be less than the salaries and salary-based policies of teachers prescribed in this Law with the same training level, same seniority, same title in public educational institutions receiving salaries from the state budget. At the same time, to ensure that teachers continue to receive seniority allowances until the State issues new guidelines on salary policies, the draft Law stipulates in the Transitional Provision: “Teachers continue to receive seniority allowances until the new salary policy is implemented”.

In fact, “teacher salaries” are not new to the discussion, but have been mentioned many times in meetings on salary reform. However, the issue being raised is that from July 1, 2024, the basic salary has increased by 30% from 1.8 million VND/month to 2.34 million VND/month.

So, is the Law on Teachers' proposal that "teachers' salaries are ranked highest in the administrative career salary scale system and are entitled to preferential allowances and other allowances depending on the nature of the job and the region as prescribed by law" reasonable and appropriate in the current context?

It is worth mentioning that the agency examining the above Law project, the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education, expressed the view that: The Standing Committee of the Committee agrees that there should be a salary policy for teachers to motivate teachers to work with peace of mind and attract good students to the teaching profession. However, the institutionalization of this policy needs to be consistent with the context of salary reform implementation, avoiding the understanding that there will be a separate salary scale and table for teachers.

“The Standing Committee believes that there should be support policies and policies to attract teachers. However, it is necessary to assess the impact, identify the beneficiaries of the policies, and ensure resources to implement the policies,” said Mr. Nguyen Dac Vinh, Chairman of the Committee on Culture, Education and Information.

Regarding the above issue, Dr. Nguyen Tung Lam - Vice President of the Vietnam Association of Educational Psychology said that the draft Law on Teachers stipulates the salary of teachers as referred to Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW of 2013 of the Central Committee. Conclusion 91 of the Politburo also clearly stated to continue implementing Resolution 29. Resolution 29 was issued 11 years ago but has not been implemented yet while this is a Resolution of the Party. Especially the Party's strategy and tactics have emphasized that education is the top national policy. Therefore, we must have the attractiveness to attract a team of good teachers so that they can feel secure in their educational work.

“Our country is entering a new era, new opportunities, so human resources are the decisive factor. Our current high-quality human resources are still not guaranteed, from university to high school. We must raise the issue that if the country wants to “take off”, it must have high-quality human resources, high-quality resources are determined by education. Therefore, there must be a good treatment mechanism for the teaching staff so that they can work with peace of mind. Therefore, teachers' salaries are ranked highest in the administrative career salary scale system,” Mr. Lam stated his opinion.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/chinh-sach-tien-luong-dai-ngo-doi-voi-nha-giao-10291519.html