Nghe An: Teachers and staff at many schools are 'living a miserable life' on contract salaries

Waiting wearily for… a position

After nearly 19 years working in the education sector, Mr. Nguyen Van Chien - a medical staff at Dien Chau Town Kindergarten (Dien Chau) still has an "unimaginable" salary and he himself cannot explain the motivation to stick with this job for so long.

Mr. Chien said: “I started working as a school health worker in 2004 and have been working at the town primary school for 8 years. Since 2012, to be able to work under the district contract, I transferred to a kindergarten and hoped to be officially transferred to the payroll. However, after nearly 20 years of working in the profession, I am still a district contract employee. Since signing the contract, my salary has been 2,480,000 VND/month, without any regular increase.”

Due to the low salary, Mr. Chien (Dien Chau Town Kindergarten) had to work extra to increase his income. Photo: NVCC

The income was too low, not enough to live on, so it was not until he was over 40 that he and his wife considered having a second child. Currently, although he is a medical staff, he holds many jobs at the school, including repairing electricity, water and many other "nameless, unpaid" jobs. With the hope of being on the payroll, more than 3 years ago, he registered for a preschool intermediate class and later studied at a preschool teacher training college to apply for a transfer and be recruited soon. Although he waited for a long time, the preschool payroll quota still could not be met.

He added: “My house is in Dien Ky commune, every day I go back and forth to town 4 times, about 20km. With my current salary, it is difficult to calculate gas, let alone do other work. Luckily, my wife workspreschool teachersshould sympathize and encourage me to study more to stick with the profession for a long time. In addition, I have to apply for a part-time job at a clinic in the district to have enough money to cover expenses.

The situation of teacher Hoang Thi Hong (Dien Chau Town Primary School) is equally difficult, because after 9 years in the profession, she still has to live on a salary of nearly 2.8 million VND. She is a medical staff but also works as a cashier, office worker and waitress to receive an additional 300,000 VND per month, including gas money. Ms. Hong's house is in Dien Tan commune, and she travels more than 10km every day to and from work.

Many people ask why she doesn't change jobs because the salary is so low. She says, "I do it for fun, but this job doesn't give me the motivation to strive. It's not enough to support myself."

But every time she mentioned it, she felt sad, because like other colleagues in the district, she had also finished her Pedagogical College, hoping to be transferred to become a preschool teacher. That was also the reason why she still stuck with the job, accepting a "living wage".

Teacher Hoang Thi Hong (Dien Chau Town Primary School)

The entire Dien Chau district still has 29 contract employees, including 27 medical staff and 2 accountants. Most of them signed contracts from 2013 or earlier, and the longest one has been on contract for nearly 20 years.

According to the representative of the District Department of Education and Training, in recent years, the recruitment of medical staff and accountants has encountered many difficulties because since 2015, implementing the Prime Minister's directive in Document No. 2378/VPCP-KGVX on medical work, finance and accounting in educational institutions, localities have temporarily stopped recruiting civil servants to work in medical and accounting at public preschools and general education institutions. In the above context, in the past, district medical staff and contract accountants have transferred to preschool colleges and junior colleges to be transferred to work positions, but due to limited staffing quotas, there have been no recruitment opportunities.

Although being medical staff, Ms. Hong (Dien Chau Town Primary School) and many other colleagues still take on many additional jobs at school with a small allowance. Photo: NVCC

Too worried about their future, recently employees in Dien Chau district have petitioned the authorities to increase their allowances or salaries. Some people believe that if they have not been on the payroll, they should soon be concerned about supporting allowances and properly resolving the salary payment regime according to seniority.

Need to be concerned soon, resolved properly

Not only Dien Chau district, the situation of teachers and contract employees waiting for official positions is happening in many other localities in the province. Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Minh - accountant of Ho Tong Thoc Secondary School (Yen Thanh) has worked in the education sector since 2015. Before that, because she graduated from the accounting department of Hanoi University of Industrial Technology, she decided to stick with the job at the school for a long time. However, after 6 years, she still only receives 85% of her salary of 2.34 and has not received a regular salary increase, making her life difficult.

“I follow the agency’s payroll, but looking at the salaries of teachers and contract employees, I feel very sad. There are even people who have been working as clerks for 10 years but their salary is not even 1.5 million/month (the salary for intermediate level). Our wish is to be recruited into the payroll soon or at least have their salary increased according to their years of service so that everyone can feel secure and committed to their work.”

Ms. Nguyen Thi Phuong Minh - accountant of Ho Tong Thoc Secondary School (Yen Thanh)

Currently, according to statistics from the Yen Thanh District Department of Education and Training, the district still has 24 district contract teachers (mainly primary school teachers in special subjects such as Music, Fine Arts) and 26 contract employees (mainly medical staff, accountants, equipment staff). Many people have worked for nearly 20 years but have not yet been on the payroll. In recent years, the district has had quotas for the Education sector but mainly prioritized recruiting primary school teachers (cultural subjects), IT teachers, English teachers and quotas for special subjects such as Physical Education, Music, Fine Arts are very few, so the opportunity for district contract teachers to be on the payroll is very fragile.

Many teachers at Cua Nam Kindergarten have worked for many years but are still kindergarten teachers in the 06-09 category. Photo: My Ha

Since the beginning of 2022, after the Government cut the support regime for teachers in categories 06-09, many people have had their salaries interrupted for many months. Teacher Nguyen Thi Nhung - Cua Nam Kindergarten (Vinh City) said: "I signed a contract in November 2006 as a teacher in category 06. Currently, my salary is more than 4 million VND, but from July until now, I have not received my salary because the school's tuition fund is running out and we have been informed that we will wait to be paid after the budget from above is received."

Kindergarten class time. Photo: My Ha

Currently, teachers are also looking forward to the number of more than 2,800 positions newly added by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Nghe An Education sector, of which the most are preschools with 2,164 positions, primary schools with 498 positions, secondary schools with 142 positions and high schools with 16 positions; in addition, there are also staff in schools.