PV:Dear Professor, Dr. Thai Van Thanh, you are the leader of the industry.GEducation, please explain why Nghe An is one of the provinces and cities with the biggest teacher shortage in the country?
Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh:Before 2015, Nghe An was one of the provinces that strictly implemented the staffing and assigned staff lower than the prescribed rate of teachers. Later, implementing the Party Central Committee's Resolutions on streamlining the staffing, the teaching staff of the whole province continued to decrease by 10%, so the number of teachers that were already low continued to be low. If compared with other provinces and cities that had assigned enough quotas, when streamlining teachers, the number of teachers in short supply was not much. For example, while primary school teachers had to meet 1.5 teachers/class, our province only assigned 1.2 teachers/class and now it has reduced to only 1.15 teachers/class. This can also be considered the "saving" spirit of Nghe people.
Another reason for the serious shortage of teachers is that the number of students increases too quickly, on average, each year, each age group increases by 5,000 students and in 2019, the number of first graders increased dramatically to 17,000 students. This affects the teaching staff and in total, there is a shortage at all levels. Moreover, in the past 4 years, the Ministry of Home Affairs has almost not added staff for preschool, primary and high schools in Nghe An, so there is a huge shortage of teachers. According to statistics from the Department of Education and Training, in 2021, Nghe An lacked over 7,800 staff, of which the most shortage is at preschool level with more than 6,000 people, followed by primary, secondary and high school levels and staff. Currently, Nghe An has just added more than 2,800 positions, but the number of teachers is still short of nearly 7,000 people because the number of classes and students this school year continues to increase.
The Education sector has also conducted statistics and forecasted the increase in student numbers, number of classes and demand for teachers at all levels in the coming years. Accordingly, it is expected that in the next 5 years, Nghe An will increase by about 92,000 students and by 2030, it will increase by over 122,000 students. The number of classes will increase by 2,228 (in 2025) and 3,980 (in 2030). Due to the rapid increase in the number of students, Nghe An will need 9,812 more teachers (in 2025) and 13,307 teachers (in 2030).
PV:The shortage of teachers has been happening in Nghe An for many years now. What difficulties does this cause for schools, especially when the Nghe An Education Department is currently implementing the 2018 General Education Program?
Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh:There are many difficulties for schools today when the shortage of teachers occurs at many levels, especially at preschool and primary school. That is, many localities do not have enough teachers to arrange enough classes according to regulations and lack of teachers in subjects specific to primary school such as IT and English, especially in mountainous districts such as remote areas. At secondary school level, the unreasonable teacher structure causes local surplus and shortage in some subjects. In particular, the trend is a shortage of many teachers in subjects according to the 2018 General Education Textbook Program such as Music, Fine Arts, IT, English, and Civic Education.
Compared to many other provinces and cities, Nghe An province's terrain is complex, so the arrangement of school sizes also has its own characteristics. The whole province has 1,555 schools but up to 1,040 school locations. This also affects the arrangement of teachers in schools. Teaching gifted subjects and special subjects is difficult to implement in remote schools because there are not enough teachers or the physical facilities are not guaranteed.
PV: The shortage of teachers has been predicted by the education sector. So, what solutions does the sector have to overcome this situation, sir?
Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh:As I said, this school year, Nghe An lacks about 7,000 teachers and greatly affects the organization of teaching and learning in schools. In the above context, Nghe An has had to increase the number of students per class, the maximum according to regulations. Even in the delta region, the city exceeds the maximum ceiling according to regulations.
Second, the sector has actively reviewed and arranged schools, and consolidated school locations to "save" teachers. With the motto "if there are students, there must be teachers", the sector has also signed teacher contracts according to Resolution 102/NQ-CP of the Government. Accordingly, educational institutions that self-insure a part of their regular expenses are allowed to sign labor contracts for positions such as teachers and medical staff in the total number of employees receiving salaries from career revenue sources assigned by competent authorities.
For subjects under the 2018 General Education Program, schools have mobilized teachers who are locally lacking to study for a second degree, or to study the Ministry's prescribed program to teach Information Technology or Science, Technology, and Natural Sciences. In the long term, we also hope that the Central Government, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and relevant departments and branches will continue to supplement the staffing of the Nghe An Education sector to soon resolve the current teacher shortage.
PV: Sir, this school year, the implementation of the new program has begun to be applied to grade 10 and there is a situation where many schools cannot organize art electives such as Fine Arts and Music. This will certainly lead to disadvantages for students. In the immediate future, what direction will the industry give and in the past, how has the industry prepared its staff to avoid being passive and confused in implementing the new program?
Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh:Temporarily, for art subjects with 10th grade students, schools can sign contracts with junior high school teachers to teach high school or can invite colleges and art schools to teach. In the long term, it is certain that more staff will be recruited for these subjects so that teachers can work with peace of mind. In addition, each art teacher will base on the number of hours they can teach inter-school to save staff.
Earlier this year, Nghe An also approved the Project on Developing a Team of Management Staff, Preschool Teachers and General Education Teachers in the Education and Training Sector of Nghe An Province for the period 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030. Thereby, it aims to meet the requirements of educational innovation and implement the 2018 General Education Program.
PV: In the past, many good students were not interested in the Pedagogy industry. However, implementing the attraction policy, in recent years, many good students from Pedagogical schools have been recruited in Nghe An. What does this mean, sir? In the Project on Developing the Team of Management Staff, Preschool Teachers and General Education Teachers of Nghe An Province for the period 2021-2025, with a vision to 2030, there is mention of training "ordered" pedagogical students. So what conditions are needed to implement it effectively?
Prof. Dr. Thai Van Thanh:Attracting excellent students is implemented according to Decree No. 140/2017/ND-CP on policies to attract and create a source of staff from excellent graduates and young scientists. In addition, since 2014, Nghe An has also issued Decision 09/2014/QD.UBND.VX on a number of preferential policies for Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted. Accordingly, students who have achieved national excellent students from the encouragement prize or higher, register to study pedagogy in the same subject they won the prize, commit to return to work in the province, have excellent academic results at the university level of key schools or higher, are arranged to teach at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, high schools in Nghe An province when needed and are given a one-time initial support equal to 60 times the basic salary at the time of work arrangement.
After nearly 10 years of implementation, the number of students who are national excellent students registering for the Pedagogy major has increased day by day and many students have been recruited into the industry after graduation. At Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, the good news is that in the past 3 years, we have not only recruited students from social sciences but also many students who are national excellent students in majors such as Physics, Mathematics and Chemistry. This is a good sign for the Nghe An Education sector and will be a driving force to encourage many national and international excellent students to choose to register for the Pedagogy major.
In the coming years, Nghe An also plans to train 1,000 students (ordering training for teachers in difficult-to-recruit subjects (such as Foreign Languages, Information Technology, Music, Fine Arts) for mountainous areas with difficult recruitment. However, for the project to be implemented effectively, in addition to the mechanism, the province needs to supplement enough staff for the education sector, on that basis, it can implement the student orders.
PV:Thank you Professor Thai Van Thanh!
