Nghe An province currently has a surplus of over 1,500 teachers.

(Baonghean) - According to the province's targets, Nghe An's education sector currently has a surplus of over 1,500 teachers, but according to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, the province is still short of 1,426 teachers.

Besides the significant decrease in the number of students and school size in Nghe An in recent years, recruitment has not been carefully planned or aligned with actual needs, leading to a massive surplus of teachers.

Transferring primary and secondary school teachers to teach in preschools.

This year, Son Hai Kindergarten (Quynh Luu district) has two new teachers who transferred from the primary school. These teachers were transferred according to Decision No. 7448/QD-UBND of the Provincial People's Committee on the rotation of kindergarten teachers. Thanks to having enough teachers, the universalization of kindergarten education for 5-year-old children in Son Hai is progressing smoothly.

Extracurricular activity time at Son Hai Kindergarten (Quynh Luu).

However, according to Ms. Pham Thi Dao, the school principal: Preschool teachers have unique characteristics. Besides qualifications, they also require talent and pedagogical skills. Not everyone recruited from primary and secondary schools can meet these requirements.

In the recent recruitment drive, 30 primary and secondary school teachers in Quynh Luu district were transferred to teach at preschools. This significantly reduced the number of surplus teachers in the district from over 100 to 67.

However, to ensure smooth implementation, the district's education sector had to accept doing the opposite of the regulations. Regarding this, Mr. Vo Minh Ky, Head of the District Education Department, stated: "We know that recruiting preschool teachers requires a minimum level of professional qualifications (intermediate level). But that would take time. Therefore, we had to recruit first, and after successful candidates are selected, we will send them for further training to improve their skills... On the part of the schools, if teachers do not yet meet the requirements to teach in the classroom, they will be assigned to childcare duties."

In Do Luong district, we learned that there are currently 143 contract teachers. For many years, these teachers have been receiving very low allowances, equivalent to the basic salary. Many teachers, despite having taught for 8-9 years, have not received regular salary increases and do not receive salaries during the summer months. For example, at Trang Son Primary School, there are currently three teachers who have all worked for over 5 years and are recognized as excellent teachers at the district level, but have not yet been officially employed. To pay their salaries, the school has to use funds from the revenue generated from teaching two sessions per day...

Over the past period, Do Luong district has rotated teachers and annually strives to assign them to schools in remote and disadvantaged areas, avoiding the need to accept contract teachers. However, the rotation process faces many difficulties, and ensuring fairness is not easy.

Children at Anh Son Town Kindergarten during class time.

In Anh Son district, over the past 10 years, the number of schools has decreased by 10, reducing the number of students by nearly 10,000. This has resulted in a surplus of over 200 teachers in the district. Furthermore, Anh Son district has to accommodate 88 teachers from mountainous areas, but the province has not allocated additional staff positions. Mr. Nguyen Duc Vinh, Head of the District Education Department, stated: Contract teachers face many disadvantages because, despite the district allocating over 6 billion VND annually to pay teachers' salaries, it only ensures a basic salary at a very low rate, and they are not eligible for regular salary increases. Another paradox is the localized shortage and surplus of teachers, making it difficult for the district to recruit qualified teachers.

A difficult problem to solve.

According to statistics from the Department of Internal Affairs, Nghe An's education sector currently has a surplus of over 1,500 teachers. To address this surplus, the Department of Internal Affairs advised the Provincial People's Committee to issue Directive No. 30 on continuing to rectify the situation of contract employment in agencies and units. It requires districts to review and terminate labor contracts with individuals that the unit no longer needs or that do not generate revenue. In addition, it has guided districts, cities, and towns to develop plans to address the surplus of teachers and staff in the education sector, and currently 12 out of 21 districts, cities, and towns have developed and implemented these plans. However, implementation still faces many difficulties.

Class time at Hung Thong Primary School (Hung Nguyen)

An investigation in Hung Nguyen district, one of the first districts to develop a plan to address the issue of surplus and localized shortages of teachers and staff, reveals that many solutions cannot be implemented "overnight." For example, the entire district currently has a localized surplus of 175 primary and secondary school teachers, mainly in cultural subjects. Conversely, it is short 42 teachers in subjects such as Fine Arts, Information Technology, and English. The district has facilitated teacher retraining, but this cannot be done simultaneously for all teachers. Furthermore, the uneven distribution of subjects makes class allocation difficult. This localized surplus and shortage also leads to problems due to the lack of qualified teachers. Meanwhile, many talented, newly graduated students with the necessary skills and expertise lack opportunities for employment.

In many other localities, the solution to the "surplus" of teachers is to assign them to community learning centers, send them to pursue second degrees in computer science and foreign languages; attend professional development courses, transfer them to schools with teacher shortages (primary, preschool, etc.), and streamline staffing according to Decree 108... Recently, the Provincial People's Committee also issued a policy to transfer secondary and primary school teachers to preschools; however, implementation still faces many difficulties due to bureaucratic obstacles and conditions. Therefore, in the future, the province needs to provide specific guidance or develop appropriate mechanisms for localities to plan teacher transfers and rotations.

My Ha