Many 'bottlenecks' in attracting excellent students to the education sector

Hard to attract

Decree 140/2017/ND-CP onattraction policy, creating a source of cadres from excellent graduates and young scientists was issued by the Government on December 5, 2017. Accordingly, there are 3 priority recruitment targets, including excellent university graduates from higher education institutions at home and abroad.

To enjoy this policy, excellent students must have won Third Prize or higher in one of the provincial-level excellent student selection competitions, Encouragement Prize or higher in national excellent student selection competitions, or Certificate of Merit or higher in international excellent student selection competitions during high school.

In addition, excellent students must have won third prize or higher in national or international science and technology competitions during their time studying at high school or university level; those who have won third prize or higher in individual competitions in one of the following subjects: Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Mechanics, Information Technology or other majors during their time studying at university level must be recognized by the Ministry of Education and Training.

Since the Decree came into effect, Nghe An Department of Education and Training has organized 4 recruitments for graduates in the field.pedagogyto work at high schools across the province. In the most recent recruitment in April 2023, out of the list of 64 successful candidates, 4 were recruited under this policy, including 2 who were national excellent students and 2 who were provincial excellent students in high school. These students all graduated with excellent grades, some of them were valedictorians at universities.

Teacher Nguyen Thi Anh Tho - Kim Lien High School (Nam Dan) is one of the lucky teachers recruited in the recent recruitment. This young female teacher won the second prize in the provincial Biology competition and graduated with honors from Hanoi Pedagogical University. With the recruitment under Decree 140, in the first years, Ms. Tho will receive a salary of 200%, not to mention other allowances.

Talking about this preferential policy, Ms. Anh Tho shared: Being recruited under the attraction policy is an honor for me. That not only recognizes the efforts in 4 years of university but also the process of striving and trying in 3 years of high school. Personally, I also consider this a motivation for me to continue and strive.

Previously, from 2019 to now, Nghe An Department of Education and Training has recruited 250 teachers. However, only 19 of them were recruited according to the attraction policy of Decree 140. Currently, these teachers are working at many high schools in the province such as Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, Cua Lo 2 High School, Kim Lien High School (Nam Dan), Nghi Loc 3 High School, Hoang Mai High School and are promoting their capacity.

Need to "loosen" the criteria

Regarding the reason for low priority recruitment policy, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh - Deputy Head of Personnel Organization Department - Department of Education and Training said: The Education sector creates all conditions for excellent students to work in the sector. However, the annual quota assigned to the Education sector is low. Meanwhile, the number of applications meeting both criteria is small, so it has not attracted many excellent students.

In fact, not only at the provincial level, recruiting pedagogical students to work at schools from kindergarten to secondary school at the district level is also very difficult. Partly because in recent years, the number of excellent provincial and national students registering for the pedagogical exam is not much, so there is no source of recruitment. Moreover, with the regulation that both criteria must be met, it is even less.

Mr. Nguyen Duc Vinh - Head of the Department of Internal Affairs of Anh Son district said: In the period of 2017 - 2018, our district attracted 1 excellent graduate to work at the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs. In the following years, there were not many excellent graduates applying, including in the field of pedagogy. In my opinion, there should be specific policies for districts in remote and disadvantaged areas.

The excessively high and unreasonable criteria also reduce the attraction of students to the teaching profession. For example, in Nghe An, in recent years, hundreds of 12th graders have passed the provincial and national excellent student exams each year, but the number of students enrolling in the teaching profession can be counted on the fingers of one hand. The rest, although studying teaching, do not meet both criteria.

Mr. Thai Van Thanh - Director of the Department of Education and Training said: With the regulation that excellent graduates must also have a third prize in the provincial excellent student competition or higher, it is very difficult. Therefore, the Government needs to make adjustments suitable to reality to create a quality source for the education sector.

Regarding the "bottleneck" in attracting excellent students, during the question-and-answer session with National Assembly deputies on November 5, 2022, Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra also acknowledged the limitations because from 2022, the whole country only recruited 258 people through attraction, compared to the target of 1,000 people. Of which, at the central level, 130 excellent students and young scientists were attracted, the rest were local.

Therefore, in the coming time, the head of the Ministry of Home Affairs said that he will comprehensively evaluate Decree 140 and will build a national strategy on attracting and utilizing talents so that the policy can be put into practice and truly motivate the country's excellent students and remove difficulties for localities, departments and branches in the implementation process.