Many preschools are short of teachers.

(Baonghean.vn) -According to data from 18 out of 21 education and training departments (excluding Hoang Mai, Tan Ky, and Con Cuong) in Nghe An province, as of the end of August 2013, compared to the current teacher staffing quota, preschools lacked 672 teachers (including 239 nursery teachers and 433 kindergarten teachers). Meanwhile, secondary schools had a surplus of 1,336 teachers and primary schools had a surplus of 200 teachers.

Of the 18 districts, cities, and towns from which we collected data, only Anh Son had a surplus of 14 kindergarten teachers, and Yen Thanh had a surplus of 6 kindergarten teachers. The other 16 places all had shortages; the most significant shortages were in Quynh Luu (121 teachers), Vinh (94 teachers), Nam Dan (86 teachers), Nghi Loc (70 teachers), Thanh Chuong (62 teachers), Do Luong (47 teachers), and Hung Nguyen (41 teachers).

According to the plan, in the 2013-2014 school year, Nam Dan district had 70 nursery groups (including 52 daycare groups) with 1,465 children and 200 kindergarten classes (including 192 daycare classes) with 6,159 children. Currently, Nam Dan has enrolled 1,459 nursery children and 6,250 kindergarten children. According to the teacher staffing quota, Nam Dan needs 175 nursery teachers and 359 kindergarten teachers, but in reality, there are only 145 nursery teachers and 303 kindergarten teachers.

Kindergartens in Nghe An province are currently short of 672 teachers.

For example, in Quy Hop district, the Nghe An Department of Education and Training assigned the task this year to mobilize 42 daycare groups with 1,075 children and 179 kindergarten classes (including 173 daycare classes) with 5,265 children. Currently, Quy Hop has mobilized 1,061 nursery children and 5,283 kindergarten children. Ideally, Quy Hop should have 80 daycare teachers and 298 kindergarten teachers, but in reality, the entire district only has 75 daycare teachers and 266 kindergarten teachers.

According to an explanation from a leader of the Nghe An Department of Education and Training, preschools are short of many teachers but cannot recruit more because primary and secondary schools have too many surplus staff. This explanation is not convincing, because the surplus of thousands of secondary school teachers is not the fault of the preschool children – this fault lies with the administrators. Why should preschool children have to suffer from a shortage of teachers to educate and care for them?

Meanwhile, Mr. Ngo Quang Long, Head of the Education and Training Department of Dien Chau District, argued that while other educational levels have surplus staff and therefore do not recruit more preschool teachers, preschools cannot afford to be short of teachers either, as a shortage of teachers makes it impossible to talk about improving the quality of care and education for the children. He suggested that, while there are no official staffing quotas, the province should have a mechanism allowing districts to recruit preschool teachers through labor contracts. Only then can the shortage of preschool teachers be resolved.

Minh Duc