Relieving pressure on preschool staffing and reality in Nghe An

The Party and State's guidelines and policies such as: Resolution No. 18-NQ/TW of the Central Executive Committee (12th tenure) on "Some issues on continuing to innovate and reorganize the apparatus of the political system to be streamlined and operate effectively and efficiently"; Resolution No. 19-NQ/TW of the Central Executive Committee (12th tenure) on "Continuing to innovate the organizational and management system, improving the quality and efficiency of public service units"; Resolution No. 35-NQ/CP of the Government on "Strengthening the mobilization of social resources for investment in education and training development, period 2019 - 2025" ... are all aimed at streamlining the payroll, gradually reducing the number of people receiving salaries from the budget.

"Piece of cake" called establishment

What is the reality of the education sector in the country in general and Nghe An education in particular? According to the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An province, as of May 31, 2022, the entire education sector of Nghe An has a total of 44,005 people, including 3,441 managers, 36,698 teachers and 3,866 employees. In terms of school and class structure, the number of students at all levels, Nghe An lacks more than 7,800 teachers; the province located in the center of the North Central region is also one of the localitieslack of teachersthe best in the country, especially for preschool education.

To supplement teachers for primary schools, Nghe An has transferred teachers from secondary schools to primary schools for many years. Photo: My Ha

To solve the problem of teacher shortage, many localities have proactively signed contracts to fill the “gap”. There are many schools and principals who sign contracts to receive temporary teachers, or to be exact, “hire” teachers to teach classes on a monthly, quarterly, or semester basis. And teachers who teach in this way are not entitled to social insurance and other benefits.

There are also schools where, due to staffing pressures, one teacher has to teach multiple subjects. For example, a Literature teacher is assigned to teach Geography and History. A Math teacher is assigned to teach Civics and Technology.

Because of the staffing issue, the implementation of policies on innovation and comprehensive improvement of education quality sometimes and in some places cannot meet requirements.

As for public preschool education, as of the new school year 2022-2023, Nghe An has 10,870 teachers, including 8,458 civil servants, 1,777 contract teachers under Decree 06 (Decree 06/2018/ND-CP regulating lunch support policies for preschool children and policies for preschool teachers), 44 contract teachers signed by the District People's Committee and 591 short-term preschool teachers signed by the school. Notably, since the beginning of 2022, nearly 1,800 preschool teachers under the above contractno longer receive salary from the state budget.

Among them, there are teachers who have participated in educational activities for many years. Most of them are young teachers, trained and nurtured according to the new pedagogical program. And it must be affirmed that, for preschool education, nothing is more effective than being cared for and taught by young teachers according to new educational methods, suitable for the development trend. However, the instability of work, income and inequality in the educational environment are things that preschool teachers always realize, but have to accept!

Drawing class of teachers and students at Nghi Dong Kindergarten. Photo: Thu Hien

Preschool teachers always notice the instability of work, income and inequality in the educational environment, but have to accept it!

“Lifebuoy” for preschool teachers

On July 18, 2022, the Politburo issued Decision No. 72-QD/TW on the staffing of Party agencies, the Fatherland Front, political organizations at the Central level, provincial Party Committees, city Party Committees, and Party Committees of centrally-affiliated blocs for the period 2022 - 2026. Accordingly, the Central Committee has assigned additional teacher staffing for the period from 2022 to 2026 to localities nationwide. Also based on Decision No. 72, in the 2022 - 2023 school year, Nghe An will be supplemented with 2,820 staffing positions, of which preschool level is 2,164 staffing positions, primary school level is 498 staffing positions, secondary school level is 142 staffing positions and high school level is 16 staffing positions.

It can be said that Decision No. 72 of the Politburo was issued at the beginning of the new school year as a "lifebuoy" to help 1,777 struggling preschool teachers in Nghe An find a reliable support. Then, on September 16, 2022, at the meeting of the Standing Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Party Committee, Comrade Thai Thanh Quy - Member of the Central Party Committee, Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Head of the Provincial National Assembly Delegation, Chairman of the Provincial People's Council requested relevant sectors and levels toPriority is given to recruiting contract teachers.Qualify for the payroll, build a set of recruitment criteria to ensure objectivity, absolutely not allowing negativity to occur.

In the spirit of the direction of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee, at the examination of the Draft Resolution on supplementing the number of preschool teachers to the total number of teachers in the province in 2023 conducted by the Legal Committee of the Provincial People's Council, the delegates all agreed with the policy of recruiting all contract preschool teachers under the Joint Circular No. 09, issued on March 11, 2013 by the Ministry of Education and Training, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Home Affairs and Decree 06 of the Government throughout the province. The Draft Resolution will be considered and approved by the Provincial People's Council at the thematic session held on October 12, 2022.

Many contract preschool teachers still aspire to become “state employees”. Illustrative photo, source: My Ha

The solution to save contract preschool teachers is available, however, the problem that makes many people wonder is how the recruitment will take place. Recruitment also means that preschool teachers must undergo a quality test. In principle, whoever meets the recruitment criteria well; whoever has the capacity and qualifications to meet the requirements will become a "State employee". Whoever does not satisfy the conditions will quit. What makes many people worry is what Provincial Party Secretary Thai Thanh Quy mentioned. That is the negativity in the recruitment activities. In fact, in the past, many local education officials have lost money many times to "run" for positions, but still only received empty promises. Some people received many Certificates of Merit and Certificates of Merit for educational achievements but sadly had to leave the chain because of the recruitment and exam story. What the public needs most at this time is fairness and objectivity.