Conflicting views on abolishing the permanent employment status of teachers.

During a discussion session that lasted until 6:30 PM, an unprecedented event, National Assembly deputies expressed concerns on numerous issues. One deputy argued that if the permanent employment status of teachers is to be abolished, it should be abolished throughout the entire system, except for the defense and security sectors. He reasoned that if abolishing teacher permanent employment status improves the education sector, then there's no reason why other sectors shouldn't benefit as well.

Granting excessive power to school principals without proper selection is like "giving the eggs to the wolf"!

Besides economic concerns, many delegates expressed worries about education, healthcare, and social welfare issues. Delegate Tran Thi Phuong Hoa (Hanoi) criticized the weakness in food safety management, leaving people constantly anxious about their daily meals. Delegate also expressed concern about the increasing trend of school violence and child abuse.

Citing figures from the Ministry of Education and Training, the delegate stated that in one school year, there were 1,600 incidents of students fighting inside and outside schools nationwide, averaging about 5 incidents per day. For every 5,200 students, there was one fight, and for every 11,000 students, one student was expelled for fighting. Even more alarming is the increasing trend and complexity of child sexual abuse.

Delegates speaking in the assembly hall. Photo: Van Diep

Furthermore, while the Ministry of Education and Training is considering piloting the elimination of permanent teacher positions, National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Thi Phuc (Hung Yen) argued that downsizing the workforce creates many problems in educational institutions, as some teachers retire but are not recruited to replace them. “The education sector in some localities has already stopped recruiting a long time ago, in some places since 2008, almost 10 years ago. Now, the policy of downsizing the workforce is causing a decline in the dedication and work ethic of contract teachers, failing to attract talented and passionate students.”

In contrast to the above proposal, Minister of Education and Training Phung Xuan Nha argued that: Many teachers have the mentality of wanting to be on the payroll for stability, making it very difficult for them to improve their knowledge to meet the demands of innovation, leading to a situation where the quality of education is not improved.

“We have recently initiated research to propose a pilot program to gradually transition from civil servants and public employees to labor contracts... because the teaching and teacher management sectors must be especially reformed, as this is a decisive factor in improving the quality of education.” “We are determined to remove from the profession those teachers who do not meet the new requirements. We see this as a very difficult task, but one we cannot fail to do,” Minister Phung Xuan Nha emphasized.

Disagreeing with this view, National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Lan Hieu (Hanoi) argued that if the permanent employment status of teachers is to be abolished, it should be abolished throughout the entire system, except for the defense and security sectors. He reasoned that if abolishing permanent employment for teachers is said to improve the education sector, then there is no reason why other sectors shouldn't benefit in the same way.

“For teachers working in remote schools, accessible only by car; and doctors and nurses working in mountainous regions… they still strive to work because they believe they are still on the payroll, still civil servants. Therefore, if we abolish civil servant status in education and healthcare, we need very specific policies for each region, taking into account different geopolitical characteristics, to avoid the collapse of a network that took many years to build. Furthermore, when granting significant power to school principals and hospital directors, without careful selection and training, there is a high possibility of ‘giving the eggs to the wolf’ – the delegate emphasized.”

They fear having to sell resources to fuel growth.

During a discussion session that lasted until 6:30 PM, an unprecedented event, National Assembly deputies expressed concerns on many issues, but the most prominent were economic concerns, particularly regarding the government's determination to maintain a growth target of 6.7% – considered high compared to the actual growth rate since the beginning of the year.

While commending the efforts to build a proactive government, National Assembly Deputy Nguyen Tuan Anh (Binh Phuoc) cited practical examples showing that at lower levels, some places are not yet working closely with businesses. “Some businesses complain that they frequently have to deal with overlapping and redundant inspection teams. A rubber processing company in Binh Phuoc province was fined and forced to shut down its production line for three months simply for changing its waste treatment technology in violation of regulations, even though the new technology was more modern than the old one. Afterward, the same inspection unit issued a document revoking the shutdown decision after strong protests from the company. The damage caused by such arbitrary decisions is borne by the businesses. Even a few instances of negligence by individuals in carrying out their duties can cause significant hardship and distress for businesses.”

Regarding the "hot at the top, cold at the bottom" situation, the government is determined but some ministries, sectors, and localities have not yet followed suit, as pointed out by the delegates. Administrative procedures are still considered the biggest bottleneck hindering the country's progress. "This is also indirectly reflected in the government's report, where Vietnam ranks 82nd out of 189 countries in terms of business environment, despite a 9-place increase in 2016," delegate Nguyen Tuan Anh stated.

"For every 10 businesses that are established, nearly 9 fail. Clearly, we cannot be optimistic. To achieve economic growth, we will have to extract several million more tons of oil, and sell off more natural resources."

The National Assembly discussed the socio-economic situation in the plenary session.

Representative Phung Duc Tien (Ha Nam) expressed concern that Vietnam's heavy industry sector is "in a real crisis," particularly the mechanical engineering sector, which is regressing compared to several decades ago. The projected demand for machinery and equipment in the period 2011-2025 is approximately US$250 billion, but domestic capacity can only meet 30% of this demand, resulting in tens of billions of US dollars spent on imports (in 2015, Vietnam imported US$27.57 billion worth of machinery and equipment). The supporting industries are also extremely weak, as the goal of attracting foreign investment to spread technology and management experience through technology transfer and the formation of supply chains... has not been achieved.

“Currently, we only have about 500 businesses supplying products to the automotive, motorcycle, and electronics industries, but most raw materials for the manufacturing of spare parts and auxiliary equipment have to be imported. In reality, the domestic supply rate of raw materials and components for some key sectors such as automobiles is only 20-30%, and for footwear and textiles it is over 10%. This leads to low added value and poor competitiveness of businesses,” the delegate expressed concern.

The weakening of agriculture, the "pillar" of the economy, also worried the delegates, as successive campaigns to rescue agricultural products occurred, leaving farmers' lives extremely precarious. Delegate Nguyen Ba Son (Da Nang) emphasized: The people's living standards are the most accurate measure of the government's effectiveness in governance and the development of the economy. The delegate hoped that the government's next socio-economic reports would show how people's lives have improved, instead of just dry growth figures.

According to the People's Police Newspaper