Tens of thousands of teachers have not been recruited yet.

Localities must recruit an additional 27,850 teachers in the 2022-2023 school year, but so far only 15,540 have been recruited.

The above information was given in a report by the Ministry of Education and Training sent to the National Assembly in early May on the questioning activities at the 2nd session of the 15th National Assembly.

In July 2022, in the decision on the staffing of Party agencies, the Fatherland Front, and political organizations for the 2022-2026 period, the Politburo assigned an additional 65,980 teacher positions in this period. In the 2022-2023 school year alone, localities were allowed to recruit an additional 27,850 public preschool and general education teacher positions.

Thus, the number of teachers that localities have not been able to recruit this school year is more than 12,300.

This number is based only on the number of teachers recruited and the assigned quota. In reality, the number of teachers needed to be recruited this school year is higher due to many teachers leaving their jobs.

Sharing at a meeting with voters in Ha Dong district, Hanoi on September 30, 2022, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that the country has 1.6 million teachers, lacking about 100,000. In 2022 alone, the total number of teachers quitting nationwide was more than 16,000. Thus, the teacher shortage has not improved much.

Currently, the Ministry of Education and Training is coordinating with the Ministry of Home Affairs and localities to review the number and structure of teachers at all levels and subjects to specifically determine the number of shortages, then propose additional staffing for the 2023-2024 school year.

The Ministry also proposed that the Government allow localities lacking teachers to recruit preschool and primary school teachers according to the old standards, which means they only need to graduate from a secondary school of education instead of a college degree. After being recruited, these teachers must upgrade their standards, preschool teachers must have a college degree, and primary school teachers must have a bachelor's degree or higher, according to current regulations.

In addition, the Ministry said it will continue to prioritize recruiting teachers for new subjects in the 2018 general education program.

Teachers at Dinh Tien Hoang Primary School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) instruct first-grade students on the first day of school, on the first day of school in the 2022-2023 school year. Photo: Quynh Tran — Teachers at Dinh Tien Hoang Primary School (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) instruct first-grade students on the first day of school, on the first day of school in the 2022-2023 school year. Photo: *Quynh Tran*

The shortage of teachers has been a prominent issue in the education sector since the beginning of the new school year. Due to the requirement of teaching two sessions a day and universalizing preschool education for 5-year-olds in the new program, provinces need a large number of teachers. In addition, the new program has IT and Foreign Language subjects for primary school, two integrated subjects in secondary school, so schools all need to recruit teachers to take on these subjects. At the high school level, places mainly lack Art and Music teachers.

While the new program requires a large workforce, the education sector has yet to solve the problem of teachers’ income, so despite having quotas, recruitment is still difficult. The average income of preschool teachers after 5 years is 4.5 to 4.7 million VND, including allowances and seniority. Meanwhile, new teachers only receive about 3 million VND in the first 2-3 years.

In the first 9 months of 2022, about 16,000 teachers quit their jobs. The minister and many managers said that "too low" salaries are the main reason why teachers quit their jobs, making the education sector less attractive and difficult to recruit.

Duong Tam

Source link