Pedagogy students work in fields other than their majors, localities lack them but cannot recruit them

A TEACHER MUST "HUG" MANY SUBJECTS

At the end of 2023, Dien Ban Town (Quang Nam) organized the recruitment of education officials but the results were not as expected. Specifically, the recruitment target was 311 but the locality only recruited 227 people, of which primary school teachers only recruited more than half of the target (131/245).

Currently, most mountainous districts of Quang Nam province are seriously lacking teachers.

Recruiting teachers in mountainous areas is even more difficult. The entire Nam Tra My district has 877 positions, but is currently short of more than 300 teachers. The locality has repeatedly recruited and "red-eyed" to find contract teachers to fill the gap but has not been successful.

Mr. Nguyen Khac Diep, Principal of Tra Mai Secondary School (Nam Tra My District), said that most schools in the district have "shared the same fate" and have been facing it for many years. The new school year is approaching but the school is still short of 7 teachers in many subjects such as English, fine arts, music, geography, etc. This has caused many difficulties for the school in teaching and learning because one teacher has to "take on" many subjects.

NEED POLICY TO TRAIN LOCAL TEACHERS ON THE SITE

Mr. Diep calculated that every year, about 60% of highland students pass the entrance exam to the teacher training program. However, when they graduate, they are not considered for admission but must compete through an entrance exam. It can be said that the entrance exam to compete for a position with highland students is very difficult. Therefore, many highland students have to work in a different field, while education in highland areas is in great need of local teachers.

To retain teachers in mountainous areas for a long time, the province needs to have mechanisms and preferential policies for teachers on the payroll as well as teachers teaching on contract. "For children in mountainous areas who have been teaching on contract for many years, the province needs to provide localities with mechanisms and plans to select them for the payroll instead of taking exams as is currently the case so that they can work with peace of mind and stay long-term in the education sector in mountainous areas," Mr. Diep suggested.

According to Mr. Diep, every year the number of pedagogical students graduating from university is high, struggling to find jobs. While many localities lack teachers, this is a paradox. "In order for mountainous localities to no longer have a shortage of teachers, in the long term, there needs to be a policy of training local teachers on-site to fill the current serious teacher shortage "gap", Mr. Diep proposed.

To retain teachers in mountainous areas for a long time, there needs to be mechanisms and preferential policies for teachers.

Mr. Nguyen Dang Thuan, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Nam Tra My District, also informed that for many years, the district has continuously recruited but has not met the quota. Mr. Nguyen The Phuoc, Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Nam Tra My District, admitted that Nam Tra My has not recruited enough teachers and staff in any school year. In the 2023-2024 school year, the entire district is short of 281 teachers and staff from schools. "The district has made many recommendations to the Department of Education and Training and the Provincial People's Committee on this issue, but it has not improved. Nam Tra My District also does not know how to overcome this situation," said Mr. Phuoc.

Mr. Phuoc said that one of the reasons is that the policy to attract teachers to work in mountainous districts is not attractive enough. Regarding recruitment, in recent years, Nam Tra My has had very few local people going to school, although the district and the school have encouraged and created conditions for high school students to register. The district has repeatedly recommended that the province consider appropriate mechanisms and policies to attract teachers to mountainous districts. "If there is no specific policy soon to attract teachers in particular and human resources in general to work in mountainous districts, it will be difficult to talk about solving the problem of teacher shortage and staff shortage that is lasting and increasingly lacking in Nam Tra My," said Mr. Phuoc.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sinh-vien-su-pham-lam-trai-nganh-dia-phuong-thieu-ma-khong-tuyen-duoc-185240807211158349.htm