VietNamNet Bridge - Twenty-seven cities/provinces have reported they lack teachers for the 2018-2019 academic year and want to employ new teachers. 

27 cities/provinces have reported they lack teachers

Of these cities/provinces, Hai Duong has the highest demand. With the number of students increasing by 24,184 students this school year, it needs an additional 4,000 teachers.

Thai Binh province wants 3,600 teachers more for the same reason.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), general schools are allowed to recruit 34,242 official teachers for this school year, which means that schools still lack 75,730 teachers, including 43,732 for preschools, 18,953 for primary schools and 10,143 for secondary schools. 

Only two cities/provinces, Da Nang and Dong Nai, have enough teachers. 

Meanwhile, 21 cities/provinces face a serious shortage of teachers (1,000 teachers and more).

The most serious shortage is seen in Hanoi, which needs 12,681 more teachers. 

MOET also pointed out that because of the lack of official teachers, in some localities, schools hire teachers in a way which is not in line with current regulations. These include Krong Pak district in Dak Lak province, Thanh Oai in Hanoi, Ca Mau, Quang Ngai, Ha Tinh and other localities. 

In many cities/provinces, schools employ teachers under short-term seasonal contracts and teachers are paid based on the number of teaching hours.

Meanwhile, as MOET’s Minister Phung Xuan Nha said, there must be a stable policy so teachers can feel secure and comfortable with their professional work. 

Also according to Nha, preschools and primary schools are seriously lacking teachers because the number of official teachers has remained unchanged in the last three years.

Under the current laws, teachers are considered civil servants, who receive pay from the state budget. Therefore, the number of annually recruited teachers must be determined by the Ministry of Home Affairs, not MOET.

Education experts say that the scheme which considers teachers as civil servants is unfair for teachers. Newly graduated teachers can only get the lowest pay level in the salary scale applied to civil servants, even though they have high qualifications and fulfill their tasks well. 

The experts also warned that working conditions would be even more severe with the policy on streamlining state agencies.

Deputy chair of Ca Mau province Tran Hong Quan said if 10 percent of personnel is cut, the province would have to shut down one school a year. The local education sector has 18,000 civil servants.

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