Nghe An's Department of Education proposes additional funding to contract over 5,000 teachers and staff in 2026.

Proposal for additional funding

Since the beginning of 2026, many localities have reported difficulties in paying salaries to contract teachers. Most recently, the People's Committee of Lam Thanh commune sent a document to the principals of Chau Nhan Kindergarten, Hung Nghia Kindergarten, Hung Loi Kindergarten, and Hoa Binh Primary School regarding the termination of contracts with school staff because these cases were not approved for state-funded positions, and the commune's budget could not cover the costs.

Given this situation, schools are trying to retain students.teachers, contract staffHowever, this is only a temporary solution. Ms. Nguyen Thi Linh, Principal of Chau Nhan Kindergarten in Lam Thanh commune, said: "Kindergartens with boarding facilities have unique characteristics, and a medical staff member is indispensable. Therefore, even though the commune hasn't been able to balance the budget yet, we are still keeping the school's staff working and plan to use savings to pay their salaries. However, this is only a temporary solution because the school's resources are very limited and difficult to sustain in the long term."

Regarding this issue, Nghe An's newspapers, radio, and television have published numerous articles reflecting on the difficulties faced by localities and schools, as it is already mid-January but the payment of salaries to contract teachers is still fraught with obstacles.

In a discussion with the Department of Education and Training, the department's leaders stated that on January 8th, the Department sent document No. 44/SGDĐT-TCCB to the Department of Finance requesting their opinion on the allocation of funds to pay for contracted teachers and staff in 2026.

According to the Department of Education and Training, the projected number of education staff in the province in 2026 is 42,087, a decrease of 1,007 positions compared to 2025, equivalent to a 2.8% reduction as per the Provincial Party Committee's Plan 138-KH/TU. This reduction means a corresponding decrease in the number of positions that can be filled by contract teachers and staff, while the actual needs in schools remain very high.

Based on the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training regarding job position quotas, Nghe An province currently lacks more than 6,000 teacher positions at all levels, including 1,226 preschool positions, 2,726 primary school positions, and 2,246 secondary school positions, not including the need for teaching two sessions per day.

In addition, the province currently has 63 teachers and 148 contract staff whose contracts were signed by the former district-level authorities or assigned to schools. Notably, many of these individuals have worked and contributed to social insurance for over 20 years, with some cases even reaching 29 years, yet they mainly receive only a contract salary equivalent to level 1, and in some places, only 85% of the level 1 salary.

For units under the Department of Education and Training, the allocated staffing for 2026 is 6,063 people, a decrease of 192 people compared to 2025. Meanwhile, the Vocational Training and Continuing Education Centers throughout the province are organizing 261 classes with 9,250 students, but only have 191 tenured teachers, and have not received any additional personnel for many years, leading to a shortage of more than 800 required positions.

Based on the above situation, the Department of Education and Training requests the Department of Finance to provide its opinion on continuing to allocate funds to pay for teacher and staff contracts signed by the (former) district. These are all individuals for whom funding was allocated in 2025 and have now been transferred to the management of communes and wards, so additional funding should be provided for these contracts in 2026.

Simultaneously, the Department proposed adding 1,007 contract positions to correspond with the reduced staffing levels. Furthermore, the Department recommended adding 4,028 contract positions (equivalent to approximately 65% ​​of the remaining vacancies as per regulations) to ensure the organization of teaching and learning at educational institutions.

Specifically for units under the Department, the Department of Education and Training proposes adding 192 contract positions when reducing staff and 130 contract positions for teachers for Vocational Education and Continuing Education Centers.

Schools need to be assigned quotas for contract teachers.

In addition to the document sent to the Department of Finance, today, January 14th, the leaders of the Department of Education and Training also announced that the Department has reported the list of contract workers across all public service units in the entire sector to the Department of Internal Affairs. At the same time, they have provided a detailed report on the current situation of contract teachers in various localities.

According to the Education sector's summary, currently, due to the cessation of operations at the district level, monitoring contracts in educational institutions under district management faces many difficulties and obstacles. In particular, many teachers and staff have long-term contracts and have changed units frequently, making it difficult to determine specific information (who signed the contract, the type of contract).

Specifically, in some cases, certain (former) districts set quotas for each school, and the schools signed short-term contracts with teachers and staff; some districts clearly identified the list of teachers and staff and then assigned each school to sign contracts; and in some districts, teachers and staff signed contracts directly with the District People's Committee.

Furthermore, due to a shortage of classroom teachers compared to the prescribed quota, many educational institutions have signed short-term contracts with hundreds of teachers using their own funds to carry out educational tasks.

This will serve as the basis for the Department of Internal Affairs to compile reports and promptly submit them to the Provincial People's Committee for an early decision on the allocation of contract workers in public preschools, primary schools, secondary schools, and vocational training centers in the province for the year 2026, in accordance with Decree 111/2022/ND-CP dated December 30, 2022.
Government.