Income decreases, teachers are not interested in going on assignment to the education department

The work is harder and the income is much lower.

Before beingdetachmentAccording to the Department of Education and Training of Que Phong district, teacher Le Van The used to be the Vice Principal of Nam Nhoong Primary and Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities, a school located in an extremely difficult area.

Mr. The's house is in Nam Nhoong commune, nearly 40 km away from Kim Son town. Transferred to the Department of Education and Training, Mr. The cannot go back and forth but has to rent a room near his workplace. For more than 2 years now, while the cost of accommodation and personal living expenses has increased compared to living with his family, Mr. The's income from salary and other allowances has decreased, amounting to tens of millions of dong per year.

The Department of Education and Training organized a training course on improving soft skills for preschool teachers. Photo: CSCC

Sharing about his current job, a seconded primary school teacher in Que Phong district said: The work here is very heavy, two or three times harder than when we were working at the grassroots level. In addition to being in charge of professional matters, making reports, and inspecting the facilities, we still have to take on teaching tasks according to the regulations of seconded teachers.

As the head of the Department of Education and Training of Que Phong district, Mr. Lu Thanh Ha understands very well the feelings of the seconded teachers in the department. Because those who are assigned to the secondment are all senior, core teachers, have expertise and all have positions at the local school, mainly principals or vice principals. However, when assigned to the secondment, in addition to having a reduced income and more difficult work, the biggest worry is that they do not know where their future will go after the term of assignment ends.

In my opinion, there are two shortcomings. First, the policies and regulations for seconded teachers are not suitable. Second, it is difficult to arrange work for this group when they return to their home units. The arrangement must be reasonable to ensure that both the seconded teachers who are returning and those who are currently working in schools are worthy.

Mr. Lu Thanh Ha - Head of Education and Training Department of Que Phong district

Teacher Phan Quoc Duy is also a teacher who is being seconded to work at the Department of Education and Training of Tuong Duong district. Before that, he was a teacher at Nhon Mai Ethnic Boarding Secondary School - a border commune, so the income of teachers in these areas is higher than other areas because there is an allowance for especially difficult and border areas.

The Department of Education and Training of Que Phong district judges products at the Science and Technology competition for high school students. Photo: Que Phong Television

Transferred to the district Department of Education and Training, because he had to take on many professional tasks, he no longer had time to teach at his old school. His income also decreased significantly because all allowances were cut. To reduce the disadvantages for seconded teachers and to motivate them to stick with their work, Tuong Duong district decided to transfer Mr. Duy to teach at the Ethnic Boarding Secondary School located in Thach Giam town. Thanks to that, he could continue to teach according to the prescribed number of periods, while also taking on professional tasks at the secondary school, and organizing staff for the Department of Education and Training.

Find enoughreasonto avoid being seconded

That is the reality happening in some education departments when more and more teachers are no longer interested in being assigned to work in the department.

At the Department of Education and Training of Nam Dan district, the person on secondment for the longest timeIt has been more than 10 years. Over the years, this teacher has repeatedly requested to be transferred to teach at the grassroots level, but the department has not been able to resolve the issue because of difficulties in arranging and assigning work.

Mr. Le Trung Son - Head of Nam Dan Education and Training Department also said: According to regulations, our department has 9 positions and 6 secondments. However, currently we can only arrange 5 positions and we second 6 more teachers. If we have enough people to work, we need 2 more secondments but we cannot persuade teachers to return to the department. Moreover, we also feel sorry for the teachers because whoever returns to the department is disadvantaged, the salary is unstable, not stable and the income is reduced. Some people keep sending to the department but give many reasons such as illness, disease...

Another drawback is that the term of a seconded teacher is only 3 years according to regulations and if someone agrees to stay long-term, they have to do the procedure again every 3 years. If the seconded teacher returns to the facility after the term expires, the department has to add a new person, which takes a lot of time to get used to the job. However, because the policy is not guaranteed, very few seconded teachers choose to stay long-term with the education and training departments.

Specialists and teachers on secondment to education and training departments are core, professional staff, mainly principals and vice principals at the grassroots level. Photo: CSCC

This November, Mr. Le Van The and two other teachers in the department will end their secondment terms at the Department of Education and Training of Que Phong district. The time is approaching, but not only the teachers but also the leaders of the Department of Education and Training still do not know how to arrange a suitable assignment. Meanwhile, the seconded teachers themselves, with the special job as it is now, are not many people interested. Mr. The shared, "Now, if you ask if anyone wants to be seconded to the Department of Education and Training, the answer is probably no. If there is any, the district will make a decision to "take them away" for the teachers to agree."

Due to its own characteristics, for many years, all education and training departments in the province have had to arrange a team of teachers on secondment to work at the department. Since 2012, the People's Committee of Nghe An province has also issued Official Letter No. 6612/UBND-TH dated September 24, 2012 on the staffing of the education and training department. In particular, it requires that in addition to the civil servant staff, the education and training department is assigned from 4 to 8 officials on secondment from school units in the district.

During the working process, the reality also shows that the team of seconded teachers has become a “hard” force of the education and training departments. Because the staff of districts, cities and towns assigned to the education and training departments is very small, mainly holding the positions of head and deputy head of department. Meanwhile, according to the requirements of the task, the education and training departments all need more than 10 people.

The Department of Education and Training of Con Cuong district awarded teachers and students with high achievements in the excellent student exam. Photo: CSCC

The current problem is that the secondment of teachers is a necessary requirement for the education and training departments to carry out their professional tasks. However, the mobilization of teachers from the grassroots level to the education and training departments is facing many difficulties because most teachers are not interested because the regime and policies are not guaranteed.

Talking about this, Mr. Le Thanh An - Head of the Department of Education and Training of Con Cuong district said: Currently, the Department of Education and Training of Con Cuong district has 4 civil servants and some long-time seconded officials. It is very difficult to mobilize new teachers to be seconded to the department, because they feel that they do not have a clear title, their salary is lower than at school, and there is no unified document on the payment of benefits and allowances...

The Department of Education and Training of Con Cuong district is also a rare unit, because previously, through inspections by the province, some violations were discovered in the mobilization of seconded teachers and some teachers were forced to return the wrongly paid money. However, over the years, the recovery has still encountered many difficulties because some teachers said that the regimes and policies for seconded teachers were not suitable and there were overlaps in the documents. The incident lasted for quite a long time and also affected the thoughts and feelings of the seconded teachers later.

Vinh City Department of Education and Training organizes STEM Festival for students. Photo: My Ha

Due to many shortcomings, since 2018, the Department of Education and Training has advised the Provincial People's Council to issue a Resolution on the arrangement of civil servants, public employees and support regimes for officials of the Department of Education and Training. However, after many comments and opinions, the Resolution has not been passed yet. Therefore, the difficulties and shortcomings in the secondment of teachers in the Department of Education and Training have not been resolved.

While waiting for the Resolution, in early March 2020, Director of the Department of Education and Training Thai Van Thanh sent a document to the Provincial People's Committee regarding the settlement of the regime for teachers assigned to work at the Department of Education and Training.

In particular, it was also proposed that, in order for seconded officials to work at the Department of Education and Training to feel secure in their work, contributing to stabilizing and improving the quality of the team of civil servants and public employees while not having enough civil servants, the Department of Education and Training proposed that the province allow localities to continue implementing the regime for seconded teachers in the spirit of Official Dispatch No. 6612/UBND-TH dated September 24, 2012 on the staffing of the Department of Education and Training and Directive No. 15/CT.UBND of the Provincial People's Committee dated August 30, 2019, which includes the content of allowing the transfer of managers and teachers of affiliated educational institutions to work at the Department of Education and Training and enjoy the working regime at schools in the central area.

This is also a short-term solution for teachers to be seconded to the Department of Education and Training but still be able to do both "department work" and "school and classroom work" in parallel to ensure certain benefits and allowances for classroom teachers according to regulations.