VietNamNet Bridge - Analysts say they don’t believe the Ministry of Education and Training can prohibit private teaching unless the wage policy is adjusted and teachers’ salaries are high enough to cover their basic needs.

HCMC Party Committee’s Secretary Dinh La Thang has once again stirred up the public when putting a ban on private teaching.

A teacher in district 2, HCMC, when hearing about the ban, said: “It is okay. If I don’t give private teaching, I will have more time for my family. However, I wish the city’s authorities would raise salaries or give allowance to support our lives."

The teacher has 10 years of experience, but she earns VND3 million a month. Therefore, she opens extra classes and earns several million dong more from the classes.

Analysts say they don’t believe the Ministry of Education and Training can prohibit private teaching unless the wage policy is adjusted and teachers’ salaries are high enough to cover their basic needs.

“Everything is expensive in the city. I heard someone saying that he can’t live with just VND8-9 million a month. But I just hope I can have VND8-9 million. If I can have this income level, I swear I won’t give private teaching,” she said.

Nguyen Nam Viet, a teacher in HCMC, also thinks that if the local authorities want to stop private teaching, they need to ensure salaries high enough for teachers to live on. 

Viet, who is now a freelance teacher, once worked for a high school in HCMC. Since he felt tired of the job and the modest income, he decided to leave the school.

“I still teach, but my students learn with me because they need knowledge, not because they are forced to do this. I can earn VND20 million a month now and I am happy with the income,” he said.

A high school teacher in Hanoi also commented that no teacher wants to give private teaching, because they want to spend more time to take care of their families. Private teaching is just the last resort for them to earn extra money.

“I know many teachers playing tricks with their students. They only give limited knowledge at curricular lessons, and tell students to go to extra classes run by them to receive more knowledge,” the teacher explained. 

“My nephew was once the victim of the trick. Since he did not go to the extra class run by his teacher, he could not solve the math exercises given by the teacher. Later, his parents finally decided to bring him to the private class and they saw the son’s learning capability improve immediately,” she said.

The teacher believes that the city’s plan to prohibit private teaching will fail.

“MOET has many times tried to ban private teaching, but has never succeeded,” she said.

Le Hoa