TP - At the meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on October 8 to give opinions on the Draft Law on Teachers, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son proposed a policy of exempting tuition fees for biological and legally adopted children of working teachers. If the policy takes effect, the estimated annual expenditure is about 9,200 billion VND. The proposal has received many opposing opinions, including from teachers who are currently teaching; some people think it is difficult to be effective and not feasible.
The proposal of the agency drafting the Law on Teachers immediately caused many conflicting opinions, including the opinion that teachers are special civil servants who need special preferential treatment, but should not create privileges and benefits that lead to unfairness towards other professions.
Ms. Bui Minh Khuyen, a teacher at Pa U Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, Muong Te District, Lai Chau Province, said that she was very happy and excited because the proposal of the Ministry of Education and Training was humane and very encouraging. In recent years, many teachers have worked very hard but their salaries have not met their living standards. In addition, good policies and incentives will also be a condition to attract talented people to the teaching profession.
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Many people are concerned when the Ministry of Education and Training proposes to exempt tuition fees for teachers' children. Photo: Ha Linh |
Ms. Nguyen Thi Thanh Ha, a teacher at a secondary school in Hanoi, believes that there should be no inequality between teachers and other professions. The Ministry of Education and Training should propose exempting tuition fees for all students, which would be a wonderful, humane policy. “Then, all students going to school will not have to worry about tuition fees, reducing the great burden on parents. Although teachers do not have high incomes, they are still more favorable than some other professions such as manual labor, workers, etc., which are more difficult and arduous than teachers,” Ms. Ha said.
Hard to be effective
Dr. Pham Hung Hiep, Director of the Institute for Educational Research and Knowledge Transfer, Thanh Do University, said that the fundamental reason why the Ministry of Education and Training proposed exempting tuition fees for teachers' children in the draft Law on Teachers is that the current Law on Public Employees and the Law on Civil Servants do not have enough basis to solve the problem of teachers' income. When teachers were separated from the Law on Civil Servants, the support for teachers was expanded, but still not enough. Because it has not escaped the general policy for public employees, the Law on Teachers was built to try to solve the problems and difficulties that the Law on Public Employees could not solve for teachers.
One of the points that has been removed is the incentives and priorities for teachers. These incentives and priorities have long been mentioned. Education is the top national policy, but teachers' lives have many difficulties that need support. There are no specific and strong enough policies to solve this problem, although there are some policies such as 40% allowance for teachers in general schools and 25% for university lecturers. Compared to other sectors, teachers' income is still average. The priorities must be groundbreaking and the proposal to exempt tuition fees for teachers' children is in the intention of the lawmakers.
“If teachers’ children are exempted from tuition fees, it may have a positive impact on their motivation, but this may lead to other issues such as social equity. Why should other parents’ children pay tuition fees but teachers’ children do not? In addition, there will be a problem of equality in schools when there is discrimination. This has a negative impact on the educational environment. Therefore, attention to teachers should be implemented through other policies such as salaries, support allowances, etc., not necessarily tuition exemption for teachers’ children. In Germany, there are no special incentives for teachers compared to other professions. Currently, the states compete to attract teachers mainly on salaries and working conditions.”
Dr. Nguyen Van Cuong, University of Potsdam, Germany
“Everyone sees that teachers must have many priorities. Decree 116 supporting tuition and living expenses for pedagogical students is an initial support policy to help attract good students to the teaching profession. But the proposal to exempt tuition for teachers' children, I personally find it difficult to be effective,” said Mr. Hiep. The State is exempting tuition for 5-year-old preschool students, primary school students and many localities have exempted secondary school fees. Thus, only high school and university levels remain. Meanwhile, at public high schools, tuition fees are not high. If high school and university are included, there are not many beneficiaries. In fact, the most difficult time for teachers is when they first enter the profession. According to Mr. Hiep, a fund should be set up to lend or provide additional support to young teachers who are new to the profession. “At the age of over 40, when teachers' children start high school or university, their lives are stable. Then when tuition is exempted, what should they choose? Should it be exempted at a public or private school, at a domestic or international school? When designing a policy with too many variables, not to mention the beneficiaries are not in great need, this policy has good intentions but implementation will be difficult and not necessarily highly effective," Mr. Hiep commented.
Will calculate further
Mr. Vu Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training), explained that in the process of developing the contents for the draft Law on Teachers, the Drafting Committee received comments from teachers, experts, etc. Among the contents and comments on preferential policies for the team, there was a desire to exempt tuition fees for biological and legally adopted children of teachers currently working. "The purpose of this policy is to create a favorable environment for teachers in their professional activities. Developing preferential policies helps teachers have a stable life, work with peace of mind, and attract talented people to the industry," said Mr. Duc.
According to Mr. Duc, with the spirit of seeking knowledge, the Drafting Committee always listens to the opinions of teachers, public opinion as well as functional agencies to continue to perfect the draft Law on Teachers to ensure its suitability, feasibility, and common ground for other professions, avoiding creating unreasonable regimes and policies for teachers compared to other civil servants, even though teachers are special civil servants and their work is of a special nature. "We will review the contents of the draft and make further calculations in accordance with our socio-economic conditions so that the proposed content does not become a burden on the state budget," said Mr. Duc.
Source: https://tienphong.vn/de-xuat-chi-9200-ty-dong-mien-hoc-phi-cho-con-nha-giao-co-cong-bang-post1681246.tpo
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