VietNamNet Bridge - Requiring primary school teachers to update their teaching methods is difficult as they are paid low salaries.

 

Requiring primary school teachers to update their teaching methods is difficult as they are paid low salaries.

According to Le Ngoc Diep, former head of the primary education division of the HCM City Education and Training Department, a primary school teacher who has just finished pedagogy university, can receive only VND3 million a month.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese teachers are required to have skills, qualifications and teaching methods equal to that of teachers in developed countries, which offer much higher pay, allowances and better working conditions.

Vo Hoang Diem Hang, deputy headmaster of Nguyen Viet Hong Primary School in HCM City, pointed out that teachers hesitate to carry out reform in teaching because of the unreasonable pay.

“A teacher asked me why she has to undertake more work since the Circular No 30 took effect, but the pay is still the same,” Hang said.

Vietnamese teachers are required to have skills, qualifications and teaching methods equal to that of teachers in developed countries, which offer much higher pay, allowances and better working conditions.

Ngo Minh Oanh, director of the Education Research Institute, an arm of the HCM City University of Education, said he had found from a survey that the majority of primary school teachers in the city graduated from universities, but their income did not correspond to a high educational level. 

Thirty seven percent of polled teachers have income of VND4-6 million a month and 37 percent earn VND6 million, while 66.9 percent of them said their income cannot satisfy families’ needs. Only 39 percent of teachers live in their own houses, while 51.5 percent live in parents’ houses. About 95 percent of teachers have motorbikes.

The survey was conducted in nine districts in HCM City with 1,000 question slips delivered.

Though the monthly income of 4-6 million is higher than that in other localities, it is not enough for teachers to cover their basic needs in HCM City, where the cost of living is high. At least 53.8 percent of polled teachers said they take extra classes to earn extra money, while many others said other non-teaching extra jobs.

“As teachers have to spend their time on extra jobs, they cannot devote themselves to teaching,” Oanh warned, adding that low pay is the main reason why it is difficult to attract students to pedagogy schools.

Le Phan Vuong Quoc, a teacher of the Nguyen Dinh Chieu Primary School, noted that all teachers receive pay based on their service length, not on their achievements and capability, emphasizing that the pay cannot encourage teachers to improve their skills.

Ho Van Hai from the Sai Gon University has suggested applying a competition mechanism for teachers, under which students would have the right to choose teachers.

“This would put pressure on teachers and force them to improve themselves,” he said.


NLD