Things that should not happen in an educational environment

(Baonghean) - In mid-December 2016, Nghe An Newspaper received a petition from Ms. Tran Thi Tien (residing in Ngoc Son commune, Do Luong district) requesting clarification on the fact that her daughter, Nguyen Thi Yen - a teacher at Lam Son Primary School, had signs of being persecuted by the school's leadership. Upon verification, it was not as reported...

My business, mother stand alone

According to the application of Ms. Tran Thi Tien, her daughter, Nguyen Thi Yen (born in 1975), was recruited into the staff in 2006 as a teacher. However, “her dream of standing on the podium every day was not fully realized” because “Today she teaches, tomorrow she quits to do this job and then transfers to another job. When she goes to class, the principal and vice principal cause a lot of trouble, sometimes they send people to get lesson plans, sometimes they check the curriculum, sometimes they summon parents to get signatures, students make trouble and do not intervene; they use excuses to revoke monthly salary…”. On January 1, 2016, Yen had a decision to raise her salary to level 4, coefficient 3.3, but the school did not allow her to enjoy it. When asked, she was told that she would receive the salary later. On December 7, 2016, she was suspended from work by the principal…

Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen exchanges information with reporters.

In contact with reporters, Mrs. Tran Thi Tien confirmed that because of her daughter's matter, she wrote a petition to the newspaper. To clarify the content her mother had mentioned, Nguyen Thi Yen presented her personal diplomas and certificates and stated that she graduated from the Pedagogical College in 1997 at Nghe An Pedagogical College. Also in this year, she was accepted to work under contract at Hoa Son Primary School. On April 20, 2000, the District Department of Education and Training assigned her to Giang Son 2 Primary School. From 2000 to 2002, Yen went through the following tasks: homeroom teacher; librarian and substitute teacher. In 2002, Yen was assigned to Lam Son Primary School.

According to Yen, after working at Lam Son Primary School for a while, the Board of Directors announced the policy of the industry to standardize teacher qualifications. Therefore, in 2003, Yen registered for a teacher training course at Hue University. In 2006, Yen was awarded a graduation certificate and recruited into the staff (with a decision from the Department of Internal Affairs).

At this time, the school announced to all teachers that Yen's title was teacher, but instead of arranging a stable teaching job, she was constantly transferred to other jobs according to the school's needs. The job was unstable, only occasionally being able to teach classes, plus professional activities with teachers were not regular, making it difficult for Yen to practice her professional skills. By 2015, the school assigned Yen to teach Physical Education. And on December 12, 2016, there was a decision to suspend her teaching because it was considered that Yen "did not meet the professional standards"...

Inaccurate reflection

When they came to Lam Son Primary School to ask about Nguyen Thi Yen, many teachers expressed their desire to exchange information. From their perspective, the reason was that Yen had not yet fulfilled her job. They also said that many delegations, from district to provincial level, had come to inspect and verify.

Through the archives at Lam Son Primary School, it shows that from 2006 until now, most of Nguyen Thi Yen's duties were as a janitor (there were two years when her classification was recorded as a teacher); and, she was always rated as average or weak.

The November 2016 salary statement proves that Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen received a salary with a coefficient of 3.3.

Continuously in 2014 and 2015, in response to Ms. Tran Thi Tien's complaint, the People's Committee of Do Luong district and the Department of Education and Training conducted verification and inspection to report to the Department of Education and Training and the Provincial People's Committee, and at the same time, responded to citizens. Thereby, it was determined that Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen was contracted by the District People's Committee in 1997; from 1997 to 1999, she worked under a contract at Hoa Son Primary School as a librarian and taught some lessons; from 1999 to 2001, she worked under a contract at Giang Son 2 Primary School as a librarian, serving and teaching some lessons; from October 2002, she was transferred to work at Lam Son Primary School according to Decision No. 872 of the People's Committee of Do Luong district; from January 10, 2006, she was recruited into the payroll according to Decision No. 1226 of the Department of Home Affairs. A comprehensive inspection of the annual evaluation and classification at Lam Son Primary School showed that in 2002-2003, Nguyen Thi Yen was assigned to be a teacher but was classified as weak. From 2004 to the 2014-2015 school year, she was assigned to be a service teacher but was classified as weak to average; in 2012-2013, she did not complete her task.

In 2014, the Do Luong Department of Education and Training and the school organized for Nguyen Thi Yen to teach 3 lessons of Math (grade 5), Reading and Ethics (grade 3) to assess her ability. Thereby, Yen's strengths were assessed as being fully prepared, calm in class, clear and expressive speech. However, the knowledge transfer was not accurate, the summary of the questions was incorrect, the examples of calculations were incorrect... (for Math); the order was not correct, the understanding of difficult words was still confusing, not closely following the knowledge standards... (for Reading); the teaching steps were still confusing, through the lesson students could not draw out the content to remember... (for Ethics). The results were classified as poor for Math and Ethics; average for Reading.

In 2015, the People's Committee of Do Luong district directed to continue to evaluate Nguyen Thi Yen's capacity (in Official Dispatch 289 dated April 6, 2015). From May to October 2015, Lam Son Primary School gave Yen time off to review (2 sessions per week), provided materials, observed teachers in the school, and taught some lessons (with the help of some teachers).

On October 28, 2015, Nguyen Thi Yen was assigned by the school to teach 3 lessons of Math for grade 2, Reading for grade 3, and Craft for grade 3 for the school's jury to evaluate. Thanks to the help of teachers in the preparation, Yen's teaching results were evaluated by the jury as average for all 3 lessons. Then, from November 9, the school assigned her to teach 2 classes for grade 2 with the subjects of Craft, Ethics, Life Skills, Group Activities, Math review and Vietnamese. However, after 3 weeks, Yen could not perform her teaching duties (did not prepare lessons according to the schedule; taught the wrong schedule, was late to teach...). Because Yen's teaching quality was not guaranteed, many parents reacted...

The list of people receiving back pay for salary increase includes the name Nguyen Thi Yen.

On January 9, 2016, the Do Luong Department of Education and Training held an expanded meeting (with Ms. Tran Thi Tien and Nguyen Thi Yen in attendance) to evaluate the implementation of the District People's Committee's direction in Official Dispatch 289. Many opinions from the participating parties affirmed that Nguyen Thi Yen's capacity was not sufficient to teach in class, and requested that she be assigned to another job.

In May 2016, the People's Committee of Do Luong district continued to direct Lam Son Primary School to create conditions for Nguyen Thi Yen to strive, and at the same time continue to evaluate her professional capacity. In the 2016-2017 school year, Yen was assigned to teach Physical Education. However, Yen still could not handle it; the school's parents continued to have opinions because "teaching to improve students' physical fitness is very important, and teachers need to ensure it". Therefore, on December 12, 2016, the school suspended Yen from teaching (until December 31, 2016) so that she could improve her professional skills and study the regulations of the Education sector regarding professional standards and ethics...

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Thuan - Principal of Lam Son Primary School: "In the case of Ms. Nguyen Thi Yen, the school and the relevant authorities have paid special attention to help her fulfill her wish to teach. However, Yen's capacity is not guaranteed. Therefore, the school is following the provisions of the Civil Servants Law and the regulations of the sector, continuously monitoring and evaluating Ms. Yen's work for 2 years, then reporting to the competent authorities for appropriate handling...".

Checking the content of the petition about not receiving the new salary, through the records of the school accountant and treasurer, it shows that this reflection is not accurate. It was not until August 2016 that Lam Son Primary School received the list of civil servants and public employees who received a salary increase (6 people) from the People's Committee of Do Luong district. And from September 2016, Nguyen Thi Yen received the new salary level 4, coefficient 3.3. At the same time, she also received back pay from January to August 2016 (the school implemented the back pay policy from August 23, 2016) with an amount of over 4.2 million VND.

In Lam Son commune, we learned that the voters here are also hoping that the superiors will arrange a suitable job for Nguyen Thi Yen, not letting her continue teaching. Therefore, in preparation for the upcoming meeting of the Commune People's Council, the Lam Son Commune People's Committee requested Lam Son Primary School to clarify and respond in writing so that the commune can explain to the voters.

Ha Giang