The Nghe An Department of Education responds to the issue of over 200 teachers and contract staff with more than 20 years of service still receiving salary at level 1.

Following reports from Nghe An's newspapers, radio, and television about the situation.Contract teachers at the district level (formerly) were in a "nowhere to go, nowhere to stay" situation.The Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism sent a document to the Department of Education and Training regarding the investigation and handling of the information reported in the press. On December 30, 2025, the Department of Education and Training responded in writing, clarifying the situation and proposing solutions.

Working for 29 years and still receiving a salary at level 1.

According to the Department of Education and Training, the province currently has 63 teachers and 148 contract staff whose contracts were signed by the former district-level authorities or assigned to schools. Many have worked for over 20 years, some for up to 29 years, but mainly receive a contract salary equivalent to level 1, and in some places only 85% of that level.

Recently, following the implementation of the two-tiered local government system, some communes and wards have proactively allocated resources to continue paying contract salaries in 2026. Specifically, Vinh Phu ward has 8 contracts with a total salary of 67.3 million VND/month; Van Hien commune has 5 contracts with a salary of 7.7 million VND/month/person for teachers and 4.7 million VND/month/person for staff; Hung Nguyen Nam commune has 3 contracts (the district handed over 4 contracts, but one contract at Long Xa Kindergarten has already ended on November 1st, 2025) with a salary of 4.7 million VND/month/person…

However, many other communes and wards lack funding or have not yet identified funding sources, leading to the risk of contract termination or delayed salary payments.

In response to this situation, the Nghe An Department of Education and Training stated that it is currently coordinating with the Department of Internal Affairs and the Department of Finance to implement directives from the Provincial People's Committee and the Ministry of Education and Training, while also reviewing the need for labor contracts in accordance with Decree 111/2022/ND-CP.

Based on that, the Department will advise the Provincial People's Committee to submit to the Provincial People's Council for decision the number and funding for contract workers in educational institutions, and at the same time propose to the Central Government to consider increasing the staffing to ensure sufficient teachers as prescribed.

In 2026, the entire education sector will still be short of nearly 6,200 teachers.

According to the Department of Education and Training, Nghe An province is currently allocated 43,094 staff positions for preschools, primary schools, and secondary schools. Based on school sizes and proposals from communes and wards, the Department has coordinated with the Department of Home Affairs to advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue a decision allocating staff positions for 2025 to educational institutions under the People's Committees at the commune level.

For 2026, Nghe An province is expected to be allocated 42,087 civil servant positions in education, a decrease of 1,007 positions compared to 2025, equivalent to a 2.8% reduction. This reduction in staffing has caused difficulties for many educational institutions, as they lack both permanent teachers and positions to continue hiring on contract.

Meanwhile, according to current regulations, Nghe An province is still lacking thousands of teachers, including 1,226 preschool positions, 2,726 primary school positions, and 2,246 secondary school positions, not to mention the need to support two-session-per-day teaching.