Immediately after the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, localities in Nghe An province simultaneously organized inspections and handled violations in the secondment and allowance regime for seconded teachers. The results showed that the total number of seconded teachers and those receiving allowances in the period of 2021 - 2022 in 19 districts and towns (except Cua Lo town and Vinh city) was 281 people, of which 143 people in 2021 and 138 people in 2022. The total amount of allowances paid to these people in 2 years was more than 10 billion VND. In particular, localities paying quite large amounts of allowances such as Ky Son was more than 1.8 billion VND, Thanh Chuong was more than 1 billion VND, Quy Chau was more than 1.1 billion VND, Tuong Duong was more than 970 million VND...
However, through inspections and examinations, the People's Committees of the districts have different views on how to handle the allowances paid to seconded teachers. Specifically, 15/19 localities proposed to retain and not collect the allowances that seconded teachers had received that were not in accordance with regulations. Because these teachers enjoy a more disadvantaged regime than teachers currently teaching at the school. On the other hand, many teachers have retired or transferred jobs, so it is difficult to collect the allowances.
Two localities said that the application and payment of allowances for seconded teachers is in accordance with regulations and practical situations, ensuring the regime, policies, benefits and encouraging and motivating seconded teachers to work with peace of mind. In addition, two localities proposed to collect the allowances that seconded teachers have received that are not in accordance with regulations.
To advise the Provincial People's Committee on how to handle the situation, after the inspection results, the Department of Finance also requested the Provincial Inspectorate, the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Education and Training to propose a solution for the amount of allowances paid to seconded teachers that were not in accordance with regulations. Should they be recovered and returned to the budget or not?...
In the response document, although it affirmed that the payment of allowances was not in accordance with regulations and in principle, the entire amount of money spent must be recovered, the Provincial Inspectorate said that in reality, the seconded cadres and teachers enjoy more disadvantaged policies than those who are teaching at schools and civil servants of the Department of Education and Training. Therefore, the Provincial Inspectorate proposed that the Department of Finance, based on the results of inspections, checks and recommendations of the district level, consider and advise on measures to handle the amount of money paid that is not in accordance with regulations.
Meanwhile, the Department of Education and Training still maintains its viewpoint and proposes not to collect allowances for teachers assigned to perform professional tasks at the Department of Education and Training. The Department said that, in the face of difficulties and problems in arranging civil servants as well as the regime of civil servants working at the Department of Education and Training, on September 24, 2012, the Provincial People's Committee issued Official Letter No. 6612 on the staffing of the Department of Education and Training. Since then, based on the number of assigned employees and the allocated budget, the District People's Committee has arranged seconded teachers according to the instructions in Official Letter No. 6612, ensuring the regime for teachers, stabilizing and improving the quality of the staff working at the Department of Education and Training, contributing to improving the quality of education in the area. The Department of Education and Training proposes to continue implementing the regime in the spirit of Official Dispatch No. 6612 and Directive No. 15 of the Provincial People's Committee.
As for the Department of Home Affairs, in its response document, it did not state its opinion on whether to collect arrears or not. The Department only requested the Department of Finance to coordinate with the Provincial Inspectorate to advise according to the direction of the Provincial People's Committee.
After synthesizing and studying the opinions of the Department of Home Affairs, the Provincial Inspectorate and the Department of Education and Training, on June 14, 2023, the Department of Finance issued a document on consulting on handling allowances paid to seconded teachers. In which, the Department of Finance stated that, "in principle, the amount paid to seconded cadres and teachers in violation of regulations must be recovered to the state budget".
By August 7, 2023, the Provincial People's Committee directed the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to stop paying illegal allowances to teachers on secondment to work at the Department of Education and Training until there are regulations from competent authorities. At the same time, the Department of Finance was assigned to guide the districts in handling illegal allowances.
In the guidance document, the Department of Finance requested the District People's Committee to assign the Department of Education and Training to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Finance and Planning based on the direction of the Provincial People's Committee in Document No. 263/UBND-KT dated January 12, 2023 on inspection and handling of violations in the secondment and enjoyment of allowances for seconded teachers to determine the inspection and review year; Based on the opinion of the Provincial Inspectorate in Document No. 399/TTR-P1 dated June 9, 2023 to determine the allowances according to the provisions of law at the place of work and the position that the cadres and teachers undertake, to conduct inspection and review of the amount of funds paid to cadres and teachers seconded to work at the Department of Education and Training to determine the allowances and the amount of funds paid that are not in accordance with the regulations of the budget years of 2021, 2022, 2023; Synthesize and advise the District People's Committee to issue a decision to withdraw to the district budget in accordance with regulations.
However, immediately after the Department of Finance's instructions on collection, many districts expressed their hope that relevant departments, branches and the Provincial People's Committee would consider and change their decision. Speaking to Nghe An Newspaper reporters on September 5, Mr. Pham Xuan Sanh - Vice Chairman of Dien Chau District People's Committee said that the locality had just sent a document to the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Finance, and the Department of Education and Training regarding this issue.
“The suspension of payments and collection has greatly affected the lives, both materially and spiritually, of the teachers on secondment when all allowances (preferential, seniority, etc.) have to be stopped. Thus, the income of teachers on secondment in the department will be much lower than that of teachers working at schools (with additional seniority allowances, preferential allowances, etc.). Not to mention that after retirement, they will not be able to count the allowances to receive insurance,” Mr. Sanh said.
According to Mr. Sanh, before being assigned to the Department of Education and Training, these people were all good, experienced, and professionally competent managers and teachers in schools (mostly principals, vice principals, union presidents, and team leaders). Therefore, if they do not have any allowances, it will create inequality among civil servants and public employees in the Department of Education and Training. Moreover, the districts have difficulty in mobilizing good managers and teachers to work at the Department of Education and Training, affecting professional management as required.
The leader of the People's Committee of Dien Chau district proposed that in the immediate future, to ensure that seconded officials working at the Department of Education and Training can work with peace of mind, meet the requirements of their job positions, and contribute to stabilizing and improving the quality of the team of civil servants and public employees, seconded officials from the Department of Education and Training can be arranged to return to schools to directly teach a number of lessons and receive preferential allowances and seniority allowances according to State regulations.
Not to mention the issue of collecting arrears, at this time, the issue of retaining seconded teachers in the education and training departments or finding a "way out" for seconded teachers in the education and training departments is confusing. In Yen Thanh district, Mr. Le Dinh Can - Deputy Head of the Education and Training Department said that the district's area is large and the population is large, but currently only 4 civil servants have been assigned, including 1 head of department, 1 deputy head of department and 2 specialists. The remaining unit is having to use 10 seconded teachers, the longest of whom has been employed for more than 20 years.
“After receiving the document from the Department of Finance, most of the seconded teachers in the Yen Thanh District Education and Training Department are currently confused and wish to return to their old schools. But for now, we have only arranged two people, including a former vice principal to become a teacher, and a principal who will become a vice principal. We do not know how to arrange the rest because all positions in the schools are full. Recently, the department transferred a principal from Lang Thanh Secondary School to be seconded to the department. Initially, this teacher agreed, but now he refuses because the regime is not guaranteed,” said Mr. Can.
