Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha on September 24 stood before a committee hearing at the National Assembly to explain a shortage of thousands of teachers nationwide (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNS/VNA) –Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha on September 24 stood beforea committee hearing at the National Assembly to explain a shortage of thousandsof teachers nationwide.
The hearing was chaired by theCommittee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children to look intothe responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Training in the recruitmentprocess.
A severe lack of teachers inrecent years has forced a number of localities to illegally hire more teachersto meet the demand.
In a report by the educationminister Nha, the number of teachers at kindergartens and schools was more than1.16 million as of August 15, 2018, of which nearly 859,000 teachers work inpublic institutions while more than 23,600 teach in non-public sector.
Vietnam was currently short ofjust under 76,000 teachers to meet the ever increasing demand, Nha said. Shortageof kindergarten teachers was the most severe as more than 43,000 were stillneeded across the country. It was estimated that primary, secondary and highschools lacked some 19,000, 10,000 and 3,100 teachers respectively.
Secondary schools, however, sufferedfrom teacher shortage and unbalance at the same time, the minister said.
The teacher unbalance occurredbetween subjects traditionally deemed more important like Maths or Literatureand those deemed less important like Art or Music, or between educationalinstitutions or cities and provinces that the authorities failed to manage andadjust.
Secondary schools in Vietnam werereported to need more than 10,000 teachers but also had some 12,100 surplus.
The nationwide teacher shortagecame from various reasons, the minister told the committee hearing.
“It could be due to changes inschool/class size after a school restructuring or a population increase incentral areas, big cities or industrial zones,” he said.
“At kindergarten level, aprogramme to make education for five-year-old children universal also strainedthe teacher supply while a big jump in the number of children born in 2012 (11localities reported ‘abnormal’ increase of student size) put pressure onprimary schools this year.”
2012 was the Year of Dragon,which was believed by Vietnamese people to be one of the best years to havechildren as they will be destined to have a prosper life in the future.
Another reason for the severeteacher shortage resulted from the Government’s rigid policy to downsize publicemployees since 2015, which only allowed localities to recruit half of thenumber of teachers they lost – mostly from retirement.
That left many localities, forexample Phu Yen, Quang Ngai, Dak Lak and Hanoi, with no choice but to"break the law" and sign illegal contracts with kindergarten andprimary teachers for the sake of the students.
Nha said the education ministrywas collaborating with the Ministry of Home Affairs – which oversees therecruitment of public employees – to help localities collect data on theirteachers, population and students from 2015 to 2018.
The education ministry will workout solutions based on such reports to resolve the teacher shortage situationand submit them to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc for approval as soon aspossible, he added.-VNS/VNA
The hearing was chaired by theCommittee for Culture, Education, Youth, Adolescents and Children to look intothe responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Training in the recruitmentprocess.
A severe lack of teachers inrecent years has forced a number of localities to illegally hire more teachersto meet the demand.
In a report by the educationminister Nha, the number of teachers at kindergartens and schools was more than1.16 million as of August 15, 2018, of which nearly 859,000 teachers work inpublic institutions while more than 23,600 teach in non-public sector.
Vietnam was currently short ofjust under 76,000 teachers to meet the ever increasing demand, Nha said. Shortageof kindergarten teachers was the most severe as more than 43,000 were stillneeded across the country. It was estimated that primary, secondary and highschools lacked some 19,000, 10,000 and 3,100 teachers respectively.
Secondary schools, however, sufferedfrom teacher shortage and unbalance at the same time, the minister said.
The teacher unbalance occurredbetween subjects traditionally deemed more important like Maths or Literatureand those deemed less important like Art or Music, or between educationalinstitutions or cities and provinces that the authorities failed to manage andadjust.
Secondary schools in Vietnam werereported to need more than 10,000 teachers but also had some 12,100 surplus.
The nationwide teacher shortagecame from various reasons, the minister told the committee hearing.
“It could be due to changes inschool/class size after a school restructuring or a population increase incentral areas, big cities or industrial zones,” he said.
“At kindergarten level, aprogramme to make education for five-year-old children universal also strainedthe teacher supply while a big jump in the number of children born in 2012 (11localities reported ‘abnormal’ increase of student size) put pressure onprimary schools this year.”
2012 was the Year of Dragon,which was believed by Vietnamese people to be one of the best years to havechildren as they will be destined to have a prosper life in the future.
Another reason for the severeteacher shortage resulted from the Government’s rigid policy to downsize publicemployees since 2015, which only allowed localities to recruit half of thenumber of teachers they lost – mostly from retirement.
That left many localities, forexample Phu Yen, Quang Ngai, Dak Lak and Hanoi, with no choice but to"break the law" and sign illegal contracts with kindergarten andprimary teachers for the sake of the students.
Nha said the education ministrywas collaborating with the Ministry of Home Affairs – which oversees therecruitment of public employees – to help localities collect data on theirteachers, population and students from 2015 to 2018.
The education ministry will workout solutions based on such reports to resolve the teacher shortage situationand submit them to Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc for approval as soon aspossible, he added.-VNS/VNA
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