Retired teachers wait wearily for their allowances

(Baonghean) - After nearly 3 years of implementationDecision No. 52/2013/QD-TTg on regulations on allowance regime for retired teachers, Nghe An still has about 3,000 people whose cases cannot be resolved due to problems with regulations.

Mr. Le Sy Lam (grade 9, Quy Hop town) is a teacher with 32 years of service in the education sector. During many years, he was the principal of schools in remote areas such as Chau Thanh Secondary School, Dong Hop Secondary School, Van Loi Secondary School, Chau Son 2 Secondary School. Particularly in the period from 1984 to 2005, due to insufficient training (Mr. Lam graduated from a teacher training college), he transferred from Vice Principal of Chau Thai Secondary School to become a teacher and by the end of 2005, he was placed on the list of surplus teachers according to Decree 16 and the People's Committee of Quy Hop district waited for retirement.

Class time of students at Chau Binh Primary School (Quy Chau) - illustration photo.

In June 2006, he decided to receive his pension. With many years of working in the education sector, when Decision 52 was issued, he hoped that he would receive seniority allowance. However, he has not received it yet because before retiring, he did not directly participate in teaching (he was interrupted for 6 months).

According to the report of the Social Insurance sector, Nghe An province currently has two groups of teachers who have not received seniority allowance according to Decision No. 52/2013/QD-TTg.

The first group of subjects are teachers who have been laid off according to Decision No. 109/2002/QD-UB dated December 4, 2002 and Decision No. 86/2007/QD-UB dated July 20, 2007 of the People's Committee of Nghe An province on regulations on assessment, classification of teachers and policies for teachers who do not meet job requirements (being laid off with 80% to 100% of basic salary, not entitled to preferential allowances and salary increases, being paid social insurance until reaching retirement age), so the social insurance salary of these teachers does not include seniority allowance.

On the other hand, when these teachers are eligible for retirement, they are no longer directly teaching, so they are not eligible for seniority allowances according to Decision No. 52/2013/QD-TTg. This group of subjects has about 1,600 people.

The second group of subjects are preschool teachers who previously taught at public schools. However, due to the policy of socializing education, the model of public preschools was converted to semi-public form. Therefore, these teachers retired while directly teaching at semi-public educational institutions and were not entitled to seniority allowance according to Decision No. 52/2013/QD-TTg. This group of subjects has about 1,500 people.

According to Ms. Dau Thi Huong Lan - Department of Personnel Organization, Department of Education and Training, currently the biggest problem in Nghe An in resolving the policy focuses mainly on the subjects of retired preschool teachers in semi-public schools or the subjects of redundant teachers who have retired according to Decision 109 and 86 of the Provincial People's Committee.

This is reasonable if based on Decision 52. However, considering the actual conditions in Nghe An, it is too disadvantageous for teachers. Because, as with preschool teachers, previously, preschools in Nghe An were all public schools. Then, due to difficult economic conditions, the number of preschool children with a large need to go to school, the Provincial People's Committee had a policy of socializing education, converting public preschools in cities, towns and delta districts into semi-public schools with a model of facilities that authorities at all levels are responsible for repairing and upgrading.

Regarding the staff, in addition to the principal and vice principal who are civil servants receiving salaries from the state budget, the remaining teachers and staff are signed labor contracts by the People's Committees of wards and communes and principals and receive salaries from tuition fees.

Particularly, the group of teachers who are waiting to retire according to Decision 109 and 86 have mostly contributed to the education and training sector in difficult times after the country's reunification. Since 2000, due to the reduction in the size of schools, a number of teachers are old, have limited professional capacity, and have not met the standards as prescribed, so they are allowed to retire with 80-100% of their basic salary and participate in social insurance until they reach retirement age.

Discussing this issue, Mr. Nguyen Quang Quyet - Head of Social Insurance Regime Department - Nghe An Social Insurance said: "Facing difficulties in implementing Decision No. 52/2013/QD-TTg, in early 2014, Nghe An Provincial Social Insurance sent a dispatch to report to Vietnam Social Insurance and requested guidance on resolving difficulties in implementing the subsidy regime.

Afterwards, Vietnam Social Security issued a reply stating that: the subjects are teachers who retired while teaching at semi-public establishments and are not eligible for benefits under Decision No. 52/2013/QD-TTg; the number of teachers who retired under Decision No. 109/2002/QD-UB and Decision No. 86/2007/QD-UB of Nghe An Provincial People's Committee is a specific characteristic of Nghe An province, so it instructed Nghe An Provincial Social Security to request the Department of Education and Training of Nghe An province to report to Nghe An Provincial People's Committee to ask for opinions from the Ministry of Education and Training.

After that, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued an official dispatch on the difficulties in implementing Decision No. 52/2013/QD-TTg on seniority allowances for teachers, requesting the Ministry of Education and Training to consider recording the time working as direct teachers of retired teachers (belonging to the above subjects) as a basis for calculating seniority allowances according to Decision No. 52/2013/QD-TTg of the Prime Minister. However, up to now, the province has not received a response from the Ministry of Education and Training. Therefore, Nghe An Social Insurance hopes to receive specific instructions from superiors to have a basis to resolve the regime for the above teachers in a reasonable and equitable manner.

My Ha - Mai Anh