After graduating from pedagogy school, I can't find a job. Where will I get money to pay?
Discussing the draft Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Law on Education at the 5th session of the 14th National Assembly on June 11, many delegates said that replacing tuition exemption with credit loans for pedagogical students needs to be carefully considered.
But what happens when graduates cannot find a job and have to pay back this loan? Especially in cases where the family is already in a difficult situation and they borrow money to go to school, and after finishing school, they cannot find a job, the burden becomes even heavier.
Delegate Bui Ngoc Chuong. Photo: Minh Dat |
Delegate Hua Thi Ha (Tuyen Quang delegation) said that a large number of pedagogical graduates do not have the opportunity to be recruited into the education sector, not because they do not have the desire. Therefore, it is important to organize the planning of pedagogical training facilities and human resources in the education sector, as a basis for proper and sufficient investment. Moreover, this change may reduce the attractiveness and make it difficult to attract high-quality human resources for the education sector in the coming time.
Agreeing with the viewpoint of continuing to provide incentives and support for tuition fees for students majoring in education and agreeing to argue for changing the form of tuition exemption to credit to avoid wasting the budget, delegate Nguyen Kim Tuyen (Tien Giang delegation) is still quite concerned about the fairness of this credit policy.
"Let's compare, there are 2 students who borrow money, one student after graduation gets a job in the industry, serves the industry for the required time and does not have to repay this loan. The other student cannot get a job in the education industry, is forced to do other jobs... and cannot serve the industry for the required time, so life is difficult and has to struggle to earn money to repay this credit loan. Invisibly, paying this loan is like a sanction for those who do not work in the education industry or do not work for enough time."
Therefore, delegate Ha suggested that the drafting committee should also reconsider the form of support through pedagogical credit, especially when currently it is not possible to ensure the best employment for pedagogical students. The inability to work in the education sector is also an objective issue, beyond the wishes of graduates.
Delegate Phan Thai Binh (Quang Nam delegation) frankly said: "Giving priority to pedagogical students by exempting tuition fees is not the essence of the problem. The plan as in the draft is fair."
“The rate of students who have graduated from teacher training universities but are unemployed is still very high. Now, if we consider the issue of borrowing credit but not having a job after graduation, it means having no income and being unable to repay the credit loan. Not repaying the credit loan increases the risk of bad debt; so who will pay this amount to the banks? Secondly, the number of students who have jobs and income after graduation are exempted. This is extremely contradictory.”
Therefore, this person suggested that this credit loan should be reviewed, replaced by a scholarship policy, tightening the output quality of students, and creating jobs for pedagogical students.
Delegate Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa (Dong Thap delegation) agreed to exempt tuition fees for pedagogical students through credit policies and requested the Drafting Committee "to closely calculate new training targets, prioritize budgets for pedagogical schools with good training quality, prestige and create a mechanism to arrange jobs for pedagogical students after graduation".
Following the discussions, Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha said: “We have also directed the planning of the network of teacher training schools in the direction of focusing on a number of schools with good conditions to improve the quality of training, and for students to enter, it is necessary to determine the needs of use in localities according to the new textbook program and link it with training to gradually link training with use. Only when students entering teacher training schools know that they will have jobs after graduation, then the attraction of good students will be high."
Mr. Nha also added that pedagogical credit is a financial solution, not a decisive factor in attracting talented people to study pedagogy.
"I see that there is a delegate's opinion that there must be a scholarship fund to provide scholarships to excellent students in pedagogy and ensure output, that is the financial foundation. We accept this and will continue to advise" - the head of the education sector said.