Literature Teacher Teaching Biology: Paradox in Nghe An

(Baonghean.vn) - We often hear about students studying in the "wrong" class. However, in some schools in Nghe An, there are also teachers teaching in the "wrong" class. What is the truth of this?

Social studies teacher... teaches science

The incident happened in class 9C, Dien Loi Secondary School (Dien Chau) during biology classes since the beginning of the school year. On the morning of October 4, when Nghe An Newspaper reporters arrived at the class, although it was a Biology class, the teacher in charge was not a Biology teacher but Ms. Le Thi Vinh, a Literature teacher. Because it was not her major, during the lesson, instead of lecturing to the students, the teacher let the students research in the textbook.

Ms. Vinh said: "I am a Literature teacher, but because the group transferred me to teach Biology, I cannot teach, I can only go to class and manage the class." Talking about this, student Nguyen Thi Truc Linh, class 9C, said: This year is the final year, so we are very worried about the lack of teachers.

Students of class 9C, Dien Loi Secondary School during "self-study" hour

Previously, in a petition sent to relevant agencies, many parents of the class also said: Since the beginning of the school year, because 9th grade students lacked a Biology teacher, the parents of the school requested the school and the Department of Education to arrange a teacher to teach the students. After that, the Department of Education of Dien Chau district also assigned a Biology teacher to the school.

However, the transfer was just a formality because this teacher had just applied for a 2-month leave to treat a serious illness. With no teachers, the school had to transfer social studies teachers to teach science subjects. In addition, although the school year had already begun, the school merged 3 9th grade classes into 2 classes, disrupting the students' studies.

Dien Loi Secondary School has 8 classes but has 21 teachers, 5 more than the required number. However, there are only a surplus of social subject teachers and a shortage of natural science teachers, especially Biology and Chemistry teachers. The serious shortage of Biology and Chemistry teachers forced the school to bring in teachers from other subjects.

The Literature teacher switched to teaching Biology at Dien Loi Secondary School.

In the whole district of Dien Chau, there are about 200 surplus teachers at the secondary level, mainly focusing on Math, Literature, and History. Meanwhile, there is a shortage of Music, Fine Arts, and Industrial subjects.

Also because of this local surplus - shortage of teachers, schools have not been able to recruit more teachers for the past 8 years. The shortage of teachers is handled by: having teachers teach 2 - 3 schools at the same time (like the case in Dien Loi, teachers teach both biology at Thang Minh Secondary School and biology at Dien Loi Secondary School). Or arrange for teachers to teach close to their field of expertise, for example, let Math teachers teach some Physics lessons, or History teachers teach some Civic Education lessons.

One of the main reasons for the surplus of teachers is the reduction in the size of schools and classes, and the 2016-2017 school year is the year the number of classes has decreased to the lowest. Statistics also show that, if 10 years ago, the number of secondary school students in Dien Chau district each year was more than 30,000 students, now this number is only about 16,000 students.

Surplus of more than 1,000 teachers at secondary level

According to the report of the Department of Education and Training, in the 2016-2017 school year, the number of current secondary school teachers compared to the number of teachers assigned by the Provincial People's Committee is 835 teachers in excess. If including the number of teachers contracted by the District People's Committee, there is a surplus of 1,315 teachers. In recent years, the total number of teachers has decreased, but the number of surplus teachers has not decreased due to the reduction of classes.

In addition, the sector is “carrying” an additional 431 teachers who were assigned to work at community learning centers, but now the province has no longer assigned them and has reassigned them to work as teachers. In addition, local surpluses still occur, concentrated in some districts such as Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Nghi Loc, Do Luong, Anh Son, Thanh Chuong, Nam Dan, Hung Nguyen, etc.).

In terms of structure, there is a surplus of Math, Physics, Literature, History, etc., lacking Chemistry, Music, and Fine Arts. In addition, there is a situation where there is a surplus of teachers but a shortage of library staff and equipment.

Class time of students at Nghi Cong Secondary School - Nghi Loc

To solve the problem of surplus teachers, the Department of Home Affairs has advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Directive No. 30 on continuing to rectify the contract situation in agencies and units; Requesting districts to review and terminate labor contracts with individuals that the unit does not need or has no source of income. In addition, guiding districts, cities and towns to develop a project to solve the problem of surplus teachers and staff.

Since the 2015-2016 school year, the Provincial People's Committee has also had a policy to transfer primary and secondary school teachers to preschool teachers. Accordingly, in 2016, 54 teachers were transferred. In the 2016-2017 school year, Do Luong, Yen Thanh, Quynh Luu, Dien Chau, Thanh Chuong districts... have plans to retrain secondary school teachers to transfer to preschool level with a total of nearly 500 teachers. In addition, the province has directed localities to increase the arrangement of teachers to work at community learning centers, send them to study for a second degree in IT and foreign languages; attend professional training courses, arrange secondments to work at levels lacking teachers...

Mr. Thai Huy Vinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training, also said: In the coming time, the sector will continue to request the People's Committees of districts to resolve the surplus of teachers with specific and feasible solutions; Increase the opening of training classes, fostering surplus teachers to work in vacant positions. At the same time, request the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to review the teaching staff, based on the preschool teacher quota assigned by the Provincial People's Committee to propose recruitment, basic contracts with enough assigned quantity on the basis of the long-term stable educational development scale of the locality...

Song Hoang