Hundreds of teachers are anxiously awaiting promotion reviews.

Disadvantaged teachers

In mid-March, a group of over 200 preschool teachers from nine communes (Yen Thanh, Quan Thanh, Hop Minh, Dong Thanh, Van Du, Van Tu, Giai Lac, Quang Dong, and Binh Minh) in the former Yen Thanh district once again submitted a petition requesting the promotion of their professional title from preschool teacher rank III to rank II. According to the teachers, they have submitted numerous petitions over the years, but their requests for promotion have yet to be fulfilled.

Ms. Phan Thi Huyen, a teacher at Yen Thanh Town Kindergarten, said that she has been teaching for over 20 years, meeting all the requirements in terms of time and qualifications, but is still only a Grade III teacher. Meanwhile, at this school, the percentage of Grade II teachers is less than 20%. For many years, we have submitted applications and inquired about promotions almost every year, but there has never been a promotion review. It's very unfair to kindergarten teachers like us.

According to regulations, teachers are ranked from highest to lowest, in order of I, II, and III. This is the basis for calculating salaries and allowances. Each rank has 8-10 salary levels, and typically, teachers are promoted one level every three years of service. The difference between consecutive salary levels is currently around 700,000-800,000 VND per month. For many years, the promotion of teachers has caused much concern; in some localities, no promotion exams have been held for years, resulting in some teachers nearing retirement remaining in rank III – the lowest rank – despite meeting the eligibility requirements.

"Here, the school only has one principal who is ranked second, the rest are all at the lowest rank, including the vice-principal. While we meet all the criteria, we've been waiting all year for the review but haven't seen any results," said a vice-principal of a kindergarten with only two years left until retirement.

According to the teachers, most of them have held Grade III positions for more than the required time (minimum 3 years), met the professional and ethical requirements, and completed the training courses for Grade II professional titles. In previous years, they repeatedly contacted the former Yen Thanh District Department of Internal Affairs to inquire about promotions, but only received the answer that the promotion process for teachers was not under the district's authority but the province's. "They kept saying that the authority to consider promotions belonged to the province, so for almost a decade, we never received any notification or guidance from the former Yen Thanh District Department of Internal Affairs regarding teacher promotions. Meanwhile, at the same time, surrounding localities regularly held promotion exams for teachers," Ms. Huyen said, adding that the neglect of promotion examinations by localities in the former Yen Thanh District affected the legitimate rights of teachers. Meanwhile, the teachers' long wait, spanning many years, has negatively impacted their morale and work ethic.

After waiting for years for promotion without results, in June 2025, these teachers submitted a petition to the relevant departments and agencies. They then received a reply from the Nghe An Department of Education and Training, only to learn that before the district-level administrative unit ceased operations, according to regulations, the organization of promotion examinations for civil servants to Grade II professional titles was the responsibility and authority of the Chairman of the District People's Committee. However, because the two levels of government were preparing to operate at the time the teachers submitted their petition, and the authority for promotion had not yet been assigned, the teachers had to continue waiting.

Continue waiting for new regulations.

Regarding this issue, on November 25, 2025, the Ministry of Education and Training issued a document urging localities to review and consider teacher promotions, as some areas have neglected this for 10 years, affecting teachers' salaries and allowances. According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the reason is that this process has been inadequate in the past. For example, some provinces have not organized teacher promotions since 2016; some provinces have developed plans for the 2024-2025 school year but have not implemented them; and some areas have not implemented this uniformly across different educational levels. The Ministry requested provinces and cities to quickly review and continue organizing teacher promotions according to regulations to ensure the rights of teachers.

Shortly thereafter, on November 28, 2025, the Nghe An Department of Education and Training issued a document to communes, wards, and school principals in the province requesting a review and report on the current status of professional title promotion for civil servants. "For communes and wards where the structure of professional title ranks does not exceed the prescribed ratio, attention should be paid to organizing professional title promotion reviews for teachers and staff in public kindergartens and primary schools in the area to ensure the rights of civil servants," the document from the Department of Education and Training stated. However, since then, not a single teacher has been considered for promotion, even though the review was completed long ago.

Regarding this issue, Mr. Nguyen The Luc, Deputy Head of the Personnel and Organization Department of the Department of Education and Training, stated that before the two-tiered government system comes into operation on July 1, 2025, the authority to consider promotions for high school teachers rests with the Department of Education and Training. For junior high, primary, and preschool levels, the authority to consider promotions rests with the district. Specifically for high school teachers, the Department of Education and Training has conducted numerous promotion reviews over the years, and the overall provincial rate for this level has reached 46%, while the maximum allowed is no more than 50%. For other levels, the authority belongs to the district, but for example, the former Yen Thanh district has never organized promotion reviews for teachers; some teachers currently holding Grade II positions achieved this through salary grade classification. For preschool teachers, the overall provincial rate is only about 30% of teachers holding Grade II positions. After the two-tiered administrative system came into operation, on November 10, 2025, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued a document delegating authority to the Department of Education and Training and the People's Committees of communes and wards in organizing the promotion examination for schools under their jurisdiction, after the Provincial People's Committee approved the content of the promotion plan and the promotion quotas. That is, the authority for high schools continues to be assigned to the Department of Education and Training, while the authority for junior high schools, primary schools, and kindergartens is assigned to the People's Committees of communes and wards. After the clear delegation of authority, the Department also issued a document instructing communes and wards to review and report on the plan for submission to the Provincial People's Committee for approval. However, due to the approaching end of the year and the busy schedules of the commune-level authorities, many communes were unable to complete the task in time, and therefore the teacher promotion examination plan could not be submitted to the Provincial People's Committee for approval. According to the latest regulations, all recruitment and promotion projects approved by the Provincial People's Committee before December 31, 2025, can continue to be implemented for 12 months. Projects approved in 2026 are no longer permitted and must therefore be suspended pending further guidance from new decrees and circulars.