Transferring teachers in Quy Chau: 'Everyone chooses the easy jobs, who will do the hard work?'…

The feelings in each leaftransfer application

Through an education manager, in mid-August 2023, Nghe An Newspaper reporters were able to access a number of transfer requests from secondary school teachers in Quy Chau district. The desire of this education manager is to somehow make the annual transfer work in his locality be carried out fairly, especially among the teaching staff of 8 secondary schools in the district. "For many years in Quy Chau, there has been a reality that there is a group of teachers who have been dedicating all their efforts, from the days they first left school to remote areas until now, but there is a group that lacks sharing with colleagues..." - he said.

View more than 20 transfer applicationsteachers in disadvantaged areasIn Quy Chau district, we see that there are elderly teachers like Mr. Hun Vi Trung; there are teacher couples like Ms. Tran Thi Tu Anh; Ms. Trinh Thi Bich Van; there are teachers who have worked in remote areas for more than 20 years like teacher Nguyen Ba Son... The common point of these teachers who have applied for transfer is that they all reside in Tan Lac town, and have worked in remote areas for many years. The reason for the transfer is because the great distance between their family's residence and their workplace has affected their health, family, economy, psychology... Therefore, for many years, they have submitted applications expressing their wishes to be transferred to teach near their home.

Teacher Hun Vi Trung, 58 years old, with a family in Tan Lac town, wrote in the application: “On August 5, 2013, I was transferred from Hanh Thiet Secondary School to teach at Hoi Nga Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities until July 2019. After that, I was transferred to work at Tien Thang Secondary School. Up to now, I have worked far from my place of residence for 10 years. Now I am quite old, I have diabetes, my health has declined, so I have many difficulties when participating in traffic on long distances. Therefore, I respectfully request the Department of Education and the Department of Internal Affairs to consider creating conditions for me to work near my place of residence, to continue to contribute to the industry in the remaining years before retirement…”.

Literature teacher Tran Thi Tu Anh and her husband - teacher Dau Phi Dung, both work far from their place of residence. Ms. Tu Anh has been working for more than 8 years, and her husband has been working for nearly 20 years. Tran Thi Tu Anh is one of the teachers in Quy Chau district with a long history of achievements, continuously being an excellent teacher at the district level, having 5 years of experience and initiatives at the grassroots level, 5 years of having students achieving excellent results at the provincial level, having been awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Provincial People's Committee... Tran Thi Tu Anh confided in her application: "Due to the circumstances of both husband and wife working far from home, the child is in his final year of high school but has no one to take care of or tutor him. The couple has planned for many years to have a second child, but because of poor health and teaching far from home, they have not been able to do so. On the other hand, if I were to work near my place of residence, I would have more contributions to the industry in training key students. Therefore, I am writing this application to request a job transfer to conveniently take care of my family and continue to contribute to the industry...".

We went to Quy Chau with the hope of hearing the feelings of the teachers who had applied. At Tien Thang Secondary School, we met teacher Dau Phi Dung, husband of Ms. Tran Thi Tu Anh. Mr. Dung looked sad and was very quiet when revealing his personal story. But he expressed his desire and hope that his wife would be considered for a job transfer as she wished. I asked Mr. Dung: If this year she is still not considered for transfer, what do you and your wife think? Mr. Dung replied: “During the time working far from home, this is the third time my wife has written a transfer application. The reason is as stated in the application. What I am worried about is that my wife is 41 years old, has a bone and joint disease and is undergoing treatment, while for several years now we have been hoping to have another child because we only have one child who will enter grade 9 this year…”.

At Binh Thuan Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, we were spoken to by teacher Nguyen Ba Son. Like teacher Dau Phi Dung, this History teacher was very reserved when stating the reason for his transfer after 21 years working at the school in the remote area of ​​Chau Binh - Chau Thuan. But through those few confidences, knowing that teacher Nguyen Ba Son's family is facing difficulties, his wish to transfer is very legitimate and needs to be considered...

The manager's thoughts

During our visit to Tien Thang Secondary School and Binh Thuan Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, we also met with the administrators there. Through our conversations, it was shown that they recognized the legitimate request for transfer from teachers who submitted applications. They also understood that the annual transfer of teachers in the district, for the secondary school level, was facing many difficulties due to objective reasons, so they always tried to stabilize the teachers' mindset so as not to affect their teaching work.

As the Principal of Tien Thang Secondary School, Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan, acknowledged that among the more than 10 transfer requests from teachers in her school, none of them were unreasonable. Because these teachers all have families in town and have had to work away from home for many years, some teachers are near retirement age but still have to work away from home like Mr. Hun Vi Trung; or both husband and wife work away from home like Mr. Dau Phi Dung and Ms. Tran Thi Tu Anh... Principal Nguyen Thi Xuan also has a family in Tan Lac town, she confided that she herself has spent a lot of time attached to remote areas. For Tien Thang Secondary School, this was the second time. The first time, when she gave birth to her first child, she was only 7 months old, and when she was transferred to teach near her home, her child called her sister. Therefore, she understood and sympathized with her colleagues...

Leading to this unhappy reality, according to Principal Nguyen Thi Xuan, currently among the teaching staff of 8 secondary schools in the area, there are still many people who lack sharing with colleagues and those who work in educational management of the district. "This is the main reason why the rotation work in the secondary school area of ​​Quy Chau in recent years has encountered difficulties" - Ms. Xuan said.

In addition, according to Ms. Xuan, the work of streamlining the teaching staff is having shortcomings, leading to some places having inappropriate professional positions. For example, at Tien Thang Secondary School, this new school year there are only 28 teachers. The current teacher ratio is over 1.6, teaching 20 periods/week; according to the reformed program, there will be teachers who have to teach up to 26-27 periods/week. Therefore, in the near future, it is likely that Literature teachers will teach Math, Math will teach Biology and History.

“With the responsibility of a manager, I hope that superiors will consider and review the streamlining of the teaching staff. Because reality shows that it is necessary to ensure that the ratio of 1.8 new teachers is placed in the right position, ensuring the transfer of knowledge to students. Regarding the rotation work, I hope that the district and the industry will first do ideological work for the entire team of junior high school teachers in the area. So that each teacher understands that they must have the spirit of sharing with colleagues, and must have a sense of responsibility to the industry and the district, and should not stubbornly seek opportunities for themselves" - Principal of Tien Thang Secondary School Nguyen Thi Xuan proposed.

I hope the district will develop clear regulations and implement rotations based on the local terrain characteristics, so that the teaching staff can proactively create a sense of responsibility for themselves. Only then can a strong, pure flow be created in the rotation work without any relationship creating resistance...

Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan - Principal of Tien Thang Secondary School

At Binh Thuan Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, there are currently 5 teachers who have expressed their wish to be transferred. This school has more than 500 students, but only 152 are boarding students. The school's teaching staff is lacking, having to arrange at a ratio of 1.64 and 1.78, teaching up to 22 periods/week. According to the new regulations, schools with less than 50% boarding students will have to change their model, so the collective of teachers determined that the school will continue to be the most difficult in Quy Chau, both in teaching and student management.

“Although we are a semi-boarding school, we have to manage students like a boarding school. We pick up students on Mondays and send them home on Saturdays. Teachers, from administrators down, must participate in managing students, from their studies to their accommodation. Secondary school students are at a sensitive age, and there have been many cases of them sneaking home at night, requiring teachers to be mobilized to find them overnight. Given this reality, we should consider increasing support, but according to regulations, the district must go through the process of cutting the semi-boarding regime and converting the model. Without the semi-boarding regime, the work remains the same, but the staff and teachers will have their semi-boarding school regime cut. For teachers, they will lose 0.3% of their regime, about 447,000 VND/month...” – Principal Dang Thi Hoai Thanh talked about her school’s problems.

Regarding the transfer work, teacher Dang Thi Hoai Thanh acknowledged that the district is doing well, transparently and publicly. Specifically, at the end of the school year, teachers write a request for proposal, the Principal signs and sends it to the Department of Education and the Department of Internal Affairs to synthesize and advise the District Transfer Review Council for consideration. However, the district and the industry have a headache because there is no specific person to transfer. Also recognizing that the team of junior high school teachers in the area lacks the spirit of sharing with colleagues, so according to the Principal of Binh Thuan Junior High School for Ethnic Minorities, it is necessary to build afair mechanismin all secondary schools in the area.

In Quy Chau district, there are remote areas, to ensure fairness, there needs to be a mechanism for any teacher to be responsible for implementation. When there is a good mechanism, regardless of age, young, female, male, regardless of the relationship, everyone must fulfill their obligations...

Teacher Dang Thi Hoai Thanh - Binh Thuan Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities

Expect oneregulationsfair transfer

We discussed with Mr. Lu Van Hoa - Chairman of the Quy Chau District Labor Federation about what we heard. Having worked in the education sector for 17 years, the Chairman of the District Labor Federation understands the difficulties in the transfer and assignment work. He commented: “The district's teacher transfer work is very clear. From the development of the Plan, to the establishment of the review board. Although I have not been assigned to the Union for long, I have participated and worked with the Transfer Review Board, and I find it very fair. However, it is very difficult to meet the wishes of all teachers with applications at one time…” - Chairman of the Quy Chau Labor Federation assessed.

The difficulty in transferring secondary and high school teachers, as analyzed by Mr. Lu Van Hoa, is because of the special characteristics of the specialized subjects. In addition, the transfer must be linked to the wishes of the teachers, through the transfer application of the teachers who wish. Meanwhile, there are many requests to transfer out of difficult and remote areas, but there are no requests in the opposite direction.

The Chairman of the Quỳ Châu Labor Union also understands the desire to create fairness in the 8 junior high schools in the area, which is the concern of teachers and administrators that we heard and discussed. Mr. Hoa said that in reality, Quỳ Châu Junior High School for Ethnic Minority Boarding Students has been transferred to the district level for management, integrating with all schools in the district's education system, but this place seems to have its own mechanism, the teaching staff has not been assigned, or proposed for transfer. Therefore, according to Mr. Hoa, the district needs to develop a regulation on transferring and mobilizing teachers with a clear 3-year or 5-year time frame.

"Actually, Quy Chau district has considered this solution and is currently assigning the Department of Internal Affairs and the Department of Education to advise on the development of regulations..." - Chairman of the Quy Chau District Labor Federation, Lu Van Hoa, informed.

Working with the Department of Home Affairs of Quy Chau district, we were able to access Document No. 773/UBND-NV dated August 18, 2023 of the District People's Committee on the implementation of the transfer and secondment of management staff, teachers and staff of schools in the 2023-2024 school year. This document was widely sent to kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools in the area, including the content that the District People's Committee assigned the Department of Home Affairs to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Education and Training to "research and advise the District People's Committee to promulgate regulations on the transfer and secondment of teachers in secondary schools, primary schools and preschools under the management of the District People's Committee. The content of the regulations must seek comments from organizations and individuals of the schools, submit to the District People's Committee for comments, submit to the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee for comments and report to the Department of Home Affairs and the Department of Education and Training according to regulations...".

According to Head of the Department of Internal Affairs Nguyen Van Dung, in the past, Quy Chau had regulations on transferring, seconding, and dispatching managers and teachers. However, when the Law on Civil Servants was amended and Decree 115 was issued, it was no longer suitable for application. According to him, for districts with special characteristics like Quy Chau, if implementing the new regulations, there would be many difficulties, leading to the opinion of most teachers that there is a lack of fairness. Therefore, implementing the direction of the District People's Committee, the Department of Internal Affairs is coordinating with the Department of Education and Training to develop regulations on transferring and seconding managers, teachers, and staff in schools in the area.

Regarding the teaching staff, Quy Chau district is very careful in considering. We think that the transfer and assignment work must first be based on the actual circumstances of the people, the specific terrain and geographical conditions of the locality and must be carried out in a fair and objective manner. Therefore, it is necessary to develop regulations, on which to base implementation. The regulations are being drafted, but we believe that when opinions are collected, teachers, schools and the Standing Committee of the District Party Committee will agree...

Mr. Nguyen Van Dung - Head of the Department of Internal Affairs of Quy Chau district