Thousands of teachers in Nghe An were awarded Certificates of Merit but have not yet received bonuses?

Having received a Certificate of Merit from the Ministry of Education and Training for more than a month, Ms. Lo Thi Tam - a teacher at Mau Don Secondary School (Con Cuong district) has not yet received it.bonusThis is also the common situation of thousands of teachers and school administrators in Nghe An for many years.

“In this school year, the school only had one teacher who was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Ministry of Education and Training in early November. After receiving the certificate of merit, the school completed the procedures to raise the salary ahead of schedule for this teacher. As for the bonus, there was no sign of it. The school also has a regular source of expenditure, but in the internal spending regulations, there is no category for this reward, so we dare not spend it,” said Ms. Dinh Thi Ha - Principal of Mau Don Secondary School, adding that she also sought information from schools in the district whose teachers received certificates of merit, and all schools did not spend money on the reward. Therefore, up to now, all those who received certificates of merit have not received the accompanying bonus.

Mr. Le Thanh An - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Con Cuong district said that according to regulations, the unit that is praised will be rewarded. If regular expenditure sources are used for spending, it will violate financial principles, so schools do not dare to spend. Therefore, for many years, leaders and teachers of schools in the district have been awarded certificates of merit by the Ministry of Education and Training but without accompanying bonuses from the Ministry's reward fund, the giver will not receive the award, because no agency will pay.

According to the reporter's investigation, in the past 7 years, thousands of teachers in Nghe An province have received certificates of merit from the Ministry of Education and Training, but so far they have not received the bonus. Most recently, on November 7, 2023, the Minister of Education and Training signed a decision to award certificates of merit to 82 collectives and 365 individuals in the Nghe An Education sector for their outstanding achievements in the emulation movement "Innovation and creativity in management, teaching and learning" in the 2022-2023 school year. In the 2021-2022 school year, Nghe An had 362 individuals, and in the 2020-2021 school year, the whole province had 73 collectives and 276 individuals honored to receive this certificate of merit. The award decision clearly states that "accompanying the certificate of merit, the collective and individual will be awarded according to the reward level prescribed in Decree 91 dated July 31, 2017 of the Government, deducted from the emulation and reward fund of the submitting unit". According to Decree 91, the reward level for those receiving a certificate of merit at the Ministry level is 1 time the basic salary (equivalent to 1.8 million VND).

Collectives and individuals awarded Certificates of Merit by the Minister of Education and Training must be exemplary collectives and individuals who effectively implement the emulation movement "Innovation and creativity in management, teaching and learning", have many initiatives and innovative products demonstrated through evidence and specific accompanying products, and are classified as Excellently completing the tasks of the school year.

However, like previous school years, 365 individuals and 82 groups in Nghe An who were awarded this time did not receive any money. “For teachers like us, that is quite a large amount of money. Not only that, but more importantly, it is a source of spiritual encouragement. Waiting forever without seeing any bonus is also disappointing and worrying. We asked the school but the school did not know,” said a teacher who received a certificate of merit 4 years ago but has not received any bonus yet.

Not only the certificates of merit from the Ministry, many teachers reported that they received certificates of merit from the Department of Education and Training, but have not yet received bonuses. In addition, leaders of some non-public schools in Nghe An province are also concerned when they received titles such as "Emulation Fighter at the grassroots level" and "Advanced Labor Collective" many years ago, but they did not come with bonuses as prescribed.

The principal of a non-public school in Dien Chau district said that in the 2017-2018 school year, he received the title of "Emulation Fighter at the grassroots level" awarded by the Department of Education and Training. In July 2019, the school continued to receive the title of "Advanced Labor Collective" also awarded by the Department, but so far there has been no accompanying bonus. "Although it is a non-public school, these titles are signed and awarded by the leaders of the Department of Education and Training, and the unit that grants them must pay the accompanying bonus. But we have waited for a long time and have not seen any bonus. That is why teachers are not interested and our school has not been enthusiastic about proposing them for several years," said the principal.

Regarding the Certificate of Merit from the Ministry of Education and Training, the award decision states "from the emulation and reward fund of the submitting unit", however, to receive a certificate of merit, preschool, primary and secondary school teachers must go through 3 levels of submission: the school, the Department of Education and Training and the Department of Education and Training. Accordingly, the school submits to the department, the department submits to the department and finally the department submits to the ministry. Because the content is unclear, many schools or leaders of the Department of Education and Training are also wondering, not knowing which "submitting unit" is here?

Discussing this issue, Mr. Nguyen Trong Hoan - Chief of Office of Nghe An Department of Education and Training said that in the past, every time the Ministry of Education and Training awarded a certificate of merit, there was a bonus. But for the past 7 years, the bonus is no longer there, only the certificate of merit and in the award decision there is a note that the bonus will be taken from the emulation and reward fund of the submitting unit.

In the document guiding emulation and reward work issued by the Department of Education and Training in May 2023, it also stated that "bonuses for collectives and individuals awarded Certificates of Merit by the Director of the Department of Education and Training and Certificates of Merit by the Minister of Education and Training are implemented according to Article 73 of Decree 91/2017/ND-CP, the funding source is taken from the emulation and reward fund of the submitting unit".

“Because the instructions do not specify which unit is the presenting unit, the schools do not understand, so up to now, teachers who have received certificates of merit have not received the accompanying bonus. According to the Department's point of view, the presenting unit here is the first presenting unit, that is, the schools, not the Department or the office. The school whose member has received the certificate of merit is responsible for paying this bonus,” said Mr. Hoan.

However, some principals and leaders of the Department of Education and Training disagree with this guidance. “The school does not have a reward fund, but only a regular expenditure fund. But if we take money from the regular expenditure fund to give rewards, it is against financial principles,” said a leader of the Department of Education and Training, adding that the unit that awards certificates of merit is responsible for paying the accompanying bonus./.