Heartbreaking confession of a good teacher with more than 10 years of contract teaching

Life is hard

In mid-July, Mr. Nguyen Van Tien Hoang (32 years old, Thinh Thanh commune, Yen Thanh district) received congratulations from many parents for successfully defending his master's thesis. Having graduated with a college degree in pedagogy, for more than 5 years, Mr. Hoang had to take advantage of his time to study for a university degree and then continue his graduate studies, all just for the hope of being on the payroll.

Mr. Hoang is currently a contract teacher at Tay Thanh Secondary School (Yen Thanh District), with a salary of just over 2 million VND per month. In 2011, Hoang graduated from Nghe An Pedagogical College and returned to his hometown to apply for a contract job at Thinh Thanh Secondary School. However, Hoang was only assigned to work as a school equipment employee and was not allowed to teach. With a salary of only 1 million VND per month and not being able to teach as he had dreamed since childhood, Hoang quit his job after a while.

After a period of applying for jobs all over the district, in 2014, Hoang was accepted into Tay Thanh Secondary School as a contract teacher. “Even though I was in Tay Thanh, I only received a salary of 1 million VND, but I was happy to be able to teach. I thought that my efforts would be recognized,” said Mr. Hoang. Since then, Nguyen Van Tien Hoang has always been an excellent teacher at the school, with many achievements in training excellent students with a high rate. However, from one recruitment round to another, Hoang was still not accepted into the staff. Even though the school had proposed many times.

Mr. Hoang said that his current monthly salary is 2.6 million VND. However, after deducting expenses such as visiting the sick, and from one fund to another, he only receives about 2 million VND per month. Meanwhile, it takes 9km from home to school. "Honestly, it is very difficult to make a living. Sometimes I feel ashamed and embarrassed because my salary is so low, I can't help my parents," Mr. Hoang said sadly.

Hoang’s father, Mr. Nguyen Van Ngoc, is 79 years old this year. He is a 3/4 disabled veteran who was captured by the enemy and imprisoned in Phu Quoc prison for more than 3 years. Thinking that his father had contributed to the revolution and was a former prisoner in Phu Quoc, he would be given preferential treatment, for many years, Hoang took his father on his motorbike and “knocked on doors” everywhere to explain but to no avail.

In the small house, Hoang's certificates of merit and awards are hung all over the walls. Hoang is the youngest child in a family of 5 brothers and sisters. But because of difficult family circumstances, 4 of Hoang's brothers and sisters went to the South to work as factory workers and then stayed there. Only he stayed in the countryside with the task of taking care of his elderly parents. However, with a salary so low, not only can he not help, Mr. Hoang seems to have become a burden for the whole family. To make ends meet, Hoang's parents, though nearly 80 years old and in poor health, still have to work on 5 sao of rice fields...

The school is helpless.

Talking to Nghe An Newspaper reporter, Mr. Bui Trong Thuong - Principal of Tay Thanh Secondary School said that Mr. Hoang has been an excellent teacher of the school for many years. Especially in the work of training excellent students. In the past 5 years, every year Mr. Hoang has trained students to compete in the district's excellent student competition, achieving a rate of 100%. "Our school is lacking 7 teachers compared to the regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training in Circular 26, including the subject of Math that Mr. Hoang is teaching. Meanwhile, Mr. Hoang is an excellent teacher, has many achievements, and his family background is special, so we have proposed many times but failed. We hope that he will be on the payroll, and after being on the payroll, he will continue to be arranged to stay at this school," said Principal Thuong.

According to this principal, not only the school, but also the students and parents highly appreciate Mr. Hoang and also earnestly wish for the same. “Almost every parent wants to send their children to Mr. Hoang. The school is also very earnest but helpless, because it has no authority. Meanwhile, the school is still in difficulty, it can only pay such a salary,” said principal Bui Trong Thuong.

After many years of trying but still not succeeding, Hoang decided to continue his studies to university and graduate school. “To have the cost of studying, I spent almost all my free time working as a tutor. As soon as I finished school, I went to work as a tutor. Then I took the opportunity to go to Vinh City to study,” said Mr. Hoang.

With a small, scholarly figure, it seems that only tutoring is suitable for Mr. Hoang to increase his income. Mr. Hoang said that because of his difficult family situation, unstable job, and low salary, he has not dared to think about love for many years. “I really feel inferior. Since graduating, I have not dared to love anyone, only focusing on work. With this salary, how can I get married? Many people have advised me and many times I have thought of giving up my dream to go work abroad. But because of my responsibility to my family, my parents are old, my siblings are far away, so I need to stay in the countryside to take care of them,” Mr. Hoang confided.

Mr. Hoang Danh Truyen - Vice Chairman of Yen Thanh District People's Committee said that the locality is urgently organizing the recruitment of civil servants in the education sector. However, the secondary school where Mr. Hoang is teaching does not have recruitment targets because the district has a surplus of secondary school teachers. "We recruit according to the correct procedures, whether they are children of war invalids or former prisoners of Phu Quoc, they still have to meet the standards and conditions to be accepted," Mr. Truyen said.

According to the reporter's investigation, Yen Thanh district is the locality with the most contract teachers in Nghe An province, with hundreds of people. Among them, there are many teachers who have been teaching on contract for 20 years, with a salary of about 2 million VND/month. To have money to cover their living expenses and pursue their dream of being on the payroll, after class they have to do many extra jobs. Some work as construction workers, swimming instructors, electricians... There are also many teachers who, waiting for a long time and not being able to wait, had to give up and go to work abroad.

In 2022, the People's Committee of Nghe An province approved a plan to recruit 392 education officials for Yen Thanh district, but so far the district has not recruited anyone. Of these, 238 are preschool teachers on contract types 06 and 09. These are cases that, according to regulations, must be recruited before January 30, 2023.

Yen Thanh district currently has 887 primary school classes, but only 807 teachers teach culture, and 80 classes have no teachers to teach culture. Meanwhile, the secondary school block has 487 classes but only 881 teachers, reaching a ratio of 1.8 teachers/class. However, the surplus and shortage occur locally. Some schools have a surplus of teachers, but there are also schools like Tay Thanh secondary school that have a shortage. Some schools have a surplus of teachers for one subject but a shortage of teachers for another.