Expected to increase by over 26,000 students next school year, schools in Nghe An must increase class sizes.

The increase in the number of secondary school students this school year was predicted. Because, in the past 5 years, the number of primary school students has increased by about 64,000 students and on average, each year increases by about 12,000 students. However, the number of students increases depending on the year and increases more in years considered good years.

Pressure to increase students but limit class size

Minh Chau Secondary School is a school that was merged from 3 communes in Dien Chau district. This is also one of the schools that is expected to increase rapidly in the next school year, with 2 classes and over 90 students.

Previously, the increase in the number of classes had been predicted by the government and the school. Therefore, at this time, the locality is rushing to complete the construction of a 2-storey classroom building and is expected to put it into use from the next school year as a subject house and a principal's office for teachers.

Minh Chau Secondary School is urgently building more classrooms to accommodate enough students for the next school year. Photo: My Ha

Although the facilities have been prepared, there are still many difficulties in ensuring that the teaching staff is in accordance with regulations. Therefore, according to the recently approved plan, although the number of 6th grade students will increase by 2 classes, the total number of classes in the school will only increase by 1 class, forcing the school to consolidate students and increase the number of students.

Sharing about this, teacher Nguyen Viet Dung - Principal of Minh Chau Secondary School said: In the immediate future, we have to arrange enough 6th grade classes for students. On the contrary, 7th grade students from 4 classes like this school year must be reduced to 3 classes.

According to the Principal of Minh Chau Secondary School (Dien Chau), class consolidation in the current context leads to certain difficulties for the school.

The first thing is to do a good job of propaganda so that parents whose children are in classes that have to be split into smaller groups can understand the policy and sympathize with the school.

In addition, the school must also arrange students in each class appropriately, ensuring enough seats for students in the condition that the classroom area is too small and each class must increase by nearly 10 students.

Not to mention that currently, when the number of students increases but the school's teaching staff is not enough, there is a surplus of Literature teachers but a shortage of Math, Foreign Language and Physical Education teachers, which will also lead to difficulties in arranging teachers.

Nghi Thuan Secondary School (Nghi Loc) is also considering having to consolidate 7th grade students after the school forecasted an increase of 60 6th grade students from the next school year. Talking about the current difficulties, teacher Hoang Thi Thu Thanh - Principal of the school said: Our school is located near industrial parks in Nghi Loc district, so not only in the 2023-2024 school year but also in the next few years, the number of first grade students will increase.

Class time of students at Nghi Thuan Secondary School (Nghi Loc). Photo: My Ha

This has led to many difficulties in both facilities and teaching staff. For example, next school year, the school will lack 2 classrooms, forcing it to use the Music and Art rooms for students. The number of teachers has also fluctuated because this year, 2 teachers have applied for early retirement due to work pressure. Next year, it is expected that 3 teachers born in 1970 will also plan to apply for retirement and we do not know how to arrange enough teachers.

Overloaded due to lack of teachers

After many years of working at Nghi Thach Secondary School (Nghi Loc), at the age of over 50, teacher Tran Thi Viet Ha still had to continue to work at Hung Dong Secondary School, a school nearly 20km away from her home, for 2 years.

Transferring teachers from places with surplus to places with shortage is a solution that the Nghi Loc district education sector has been implementing for many years, although this is not easy and requires quite a lot of "weighing and measuring".

The rapid increase in students has forced many schools to shrink classes and increase student numbers. Photo: My Ha

For schools, enhanced solutions can help schools solve the problem.teacher shortageIn the short term, but in the long term, this is only a temporary solution and has not really brought about effectiveness. For example, at Hung Dong Secondary School, due to a lack of teachers, this year the school was assigned 7 additional teachers and had to sign contracts with 6 more teachers to basically have enough teachers for the classes. However, from the next school year, while the school added 1 more class, the number of additional teachers who expired had to be transferred back to the old facility. Therefore, if calculating to have enough teachers at the ratio of 1.9 teachers/class, the school needs 12 teachers.

The additional teachers only come to work at the school for 1-2 years, so there is a lack of stability and we have to change teachers frequently, especially homeroom teachers, which affects the quality of work.

Meanwhile, if the teacher contract is also very difficult because the salary is only over 4 million VND/month, currently teachers are not interested. The contract teachers who stay with the school love the job; if they go to work in other industrial zones, the salary can be double or triple.

Talking about the current shortcomings, teacher Nguyen Thi Thu - Principal of Hung Dong Secondary School (Nghi Loc) said.

According to Mr. Nguyen Van Thong - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Nghi Loc district, next school year, Nghi Loc district will increase 51 classes, of which 37 classes for secondary school with nearly 2,000 students. To implement the 2018 General Education Program and meet the scale and conditions for teaching, Nghi Loc district is lacking about 400 teachers. In the immediate future, the district is urgently recruiting the targets assigned by the province to meet the teaching staff for preschool and primary schools.

Class time of students at Hung Dong Secondary School (Nghi Loc). Photo: My Ha

In addition, Nghi Loc district also requested the province to assign staffing quotas, especially at the higher secondary school level. Because, according to current statistics, the ratio of secondary school teachers in the district is only assigned 1.7 teachers/class. While the new program requires increasing subjects and periods, it is very difficult for schools to carry out their tasks.

In addition, to have enough teachers in the context of streamlining the payroll, the Nghi Loc district education sector is having to use contract teachers and direct the number of students in classes to increase from less than 45 students/class to a maximum of nearly 50 students/class.

From the next school year, the number of secondary school students will increase rapidly over the years. Photo: My Ha

With the increase of 69 classes with about 4,000 students, mainly at the secondary level, Vinh city is also having to find solutions to solve the problem of lack of facilities and a shortage of nearly 100 teachers in the next school year.

Through discussion, Ms. Hoang Thi Phuong Thao - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Vinh City said: The rapid increase in students will cause pressure on the lack of classrooms. Therefore, it is expected that in the next school year, some secondary schools will have to organize teaching in 2 shifts. At the same time, we are proposing that the province arrange enough staff for the industry and have its own mechanism for schools to be autonomous in recruiting contract teachers...

With an increase of over 26,000 students expected next school year, the province will add about 580 more classes.

Faced with the forecast of an increase in the number of secondary school students in the 2023-2024 school year in the province, the Department of Education and Training requires all levels, sectors and the whole society to focus on arranging the reasonable size of schools and classrooms.

At the same time, promptly invest in additional facilities and equipment and have a plan to prepare a team of teachers in both quantity and quality to arrange enough teachers to teach and implement the 2018 General Education Program and the task of building schools that meet national standards.