Quickly resolve the situation of delayed salaries of more than 1,700 contract teachers in Nghe An

Struggling with late salary

For many months now, the family of Ms. TTH (32 years old) has been struggling to make ends meet. Ms. H. is a contract teacher at a kindergarten in Tan Ky district, however, for the past 5 months, she has not received any salary. “Not many people believe that a teacher has to struggle to make ends meet. But my family is really in this situation,” Ms. H. sobbed.

Her husband is unemployed and she has to raise two small children. For a long time, all the living expenses in the house have been on Ms. H's shoulders. Her income is not high, with a kindergarten teacher's salary of just over 6 million VND/month, she has to be very frugal to make ends meet. However, since April, Ms. H has not received her salary, causing her family's life to be turned upside down.

“I recently got sick and had to have surgery, so all the money I saved was used up to pay the hospital bill. So when my salary was delayed, I didn’t know where to turn. Just for food, I had to borrow money everywhere,” Ms. H. said with tears in her eyes. She used to be an excellent student, with enough points to get into many prestigious universities. However, because of her love for children, she decided to choose preschool education. However, Ms. H. did not expect that, more than 10 years after graduation, she still could not settle down with the job she had chosen.

Not only Ms. H., in Nghe An province, many preschool teachers are also in a similar situation. In Tan Ky district alone, there have been 105 preschool teachers who have not been paid since April. These are teachers who have signed indefinite labor contracts and are entitled to full benefits and policies as civil servants according to Decree 06/2018/ND-CP and Joint Circular No. 09/2013/TTLT - BGDĐT - BTC - BNV. Or simply called contract teachers 06 and 09. However, when the contract under this regulation ends from the beginning of 2022, these teachers will no longer be paid by the central budget. Not only that, their future is also very uncertain.

A contract teacher in Tan Ky district is working hard despite not receiving a salary for many months. Photo: Tien Hung

In Yen Thanh district, there are 238 kindergarten teachers with contracts 06 and 09 whose salaries are delayed for many months. This is the locality with the largest number of teachers with this type of contract in the province. Mr. Tran Xuan Tinh - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Yen Thanh district said that all teachers have been in a situation of not having their salaries for 3 to 4 months. Many teachers have difficult circumstances and often report to the Department of Education and Training.

Despite having their salaries delayed for many months and their futures uncertain, these teachers are still very passionate about their profession. They are still diligent in their daily work. “We just want to be recognized and have stability so we can work with more peace of mind,” said a 06 contract kindergarten teacher in Yen Thanh district.

"Must follow procedure"

About 10 years ago, Nghe An was facing a serious shortage of teachers. Meanwhile, the Preschool Education sector was implementing universal preschool education for 5-year-olds. Based on this reality, Nghe An requested funding from the Central Government to recruit contract teachers, in order to ensure the number of teachers in class according to regulations and qualified to be recognized as universal education for 5-year-olds from 2016.

Therefore, from 2013 to present, Nghe An province has a total of more than 2,500 preschool teacher labor contracts that have been provided with stable funding from the central budget. Teachers sign indefinite-term labor contracts and enjoy full benefits and policies like civil servants according to Decree 06/2018/ND-CP and Joint Circular No. 09/2013/TTLT - BGDĐT - BTC - BNV, with an average budget of 160 billion VND/year.

Contract teachers 06 and 09 in Yen Thanh district talk with Nghe An Newspaper reporters. Photo: My Ha

In recent years, when there are quotas, the People's Committees of the districts have prioritized the recruitment of these contract teachers into civil servants. By the end of 2021, Nghe An province only has 1,777 teachers with labor contracts 06 and 09. However, according to regulations, from the beginning of 2022, they will not continue to receive salaries from the central budget.

In that situation, on December 16, 2021, the People's Committee of Nghe An province issued an official dispatch on advising on policies for teachers with 06 and 09 contracts. Accordingly, Nghe An province advocates developing a Resolution on policies to support teachers with 06 and 09 contracts in 2022. While waiting for the Provincial People's Council to issue the Resolution, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the Department of Finance to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Education and Training and the Department of Home Affairs to advise and guide the People's Committees of districts, cities and towns to use the 2022 education career budget and other legal sources to support kindergartens to pay salaries and other benefits according to regulations for contract workers, if the career revenue is not guaranteed.

The Department of Finance then issued an official dispatch, instructing localities to use the allocated budget for education expenditure in 2022 to pay for the remaining contract workers. For the remaining preschool teachers with labor contracts, districts, cities and towns directed preschools to prioritize using the unit's career revenue to pay.

However, only a few localities have paid teachers' salaries from the district budget. The rest, most of them have assigned kindergartens to pay teachers' salaries from their career revenue and regular expenditure sources allocated in 2022. However, due to the small revenue source, many schools can only pay in the form of an advance payment of 2-3 million VND/month, or only pay for a few months or not pay at all.

“My school alone has 8 teachers with 06 and 09 contracts. The monthly salary is more than 40 million VND. If we use the school's resources, it certainly won't be enough to pay them. But because some teachers are in very difficult circumstances, the school has to ask for help from their colleagues. Therefore, the teachers in the school are willing to lend money to colleagues in difficult circumstances when needed,” said Ms. Cao Thi Mai - Principal of Tan Huong Kindergarten (Tan Ky district).

Contract teachers 06, 09 in Tan Ky district during a session to disseminate review content for the special recruitment period scheduled to take place at the end of September. Photo: Tien Hung

By mid-July 2022, the Provincial People's Council hadthrough Resolution No. 16Accordingly, all preschool teachers with contracts 06 and 09 will receive salaries from the provincial budget. Specifically, the provincial budget will provide one-time support with a maximum budget of 100 million VND/person for preschool teachers; Support 100% of the budget to pay for regimes and policies (like civil servants) for preschool teachers from September 1, 2022 to December 31, 2025...

Immediately after that, the Department of Education and Training issued a document guiding the implementation and requested the districts to urgently review the beneficiaries and determine the funding needs to provide additional funding to kindergartens for timely payment in accordance with regulations. Currently, according to the Department of Education and Training, from January to August, 1,769 teachers in categories 06 and 09 will receive additional budget for payment with an amount of more than 81 billion VND. It is expected that from September to December, the number of teachers to be paid will be 1,420 people with an amount of more than 36 billion VND.

GrandfatherThai Van Thanh– The Director of the Department of Education and Training said that the issuance of Resolution No. 16 has removed difficulties for the industry and localities in resolving the regime for preschool teachers. However, the payment must be made in accordance with the guiding documents, regulations and procedures.

“The Education Department is urging localities to complete documents and procedures to submit to the Department of Finance and the Provincial People's Committee for approval of the list to promptly pay salaries to teachers. In the near future, preschool teachers under categories 06 and 09, if meeting all conditions, will soon be considered by localities to be recruited into the payroll,” said Mr. Thanh.

Tien Hung - My Ha