The mountainous region of Nghe An is 'desperate' for English teachers.

Schools are completely devoid of teachers.

After more than 10 years of dedication to the mountainous district, this summer, Ms. NTN – a capable teacher at Tam Quang Secondary School (Tuong Duong) – submitted a request for a transfer. According to the school principal, the main reason for her request is her family circumstances. Both she and her husband are from the lowlands and work in the mountainous district of Tuong Duong. Being far from home, with young children and elderly parents, Ms. NTN's wish is to return to her hometown to provide for her children's education and care for her family.

Tam Quang Secondary School has 14 classes and 2 English teachers. Although the number of teachers is insufficient to meet the school's actual needs, last school year, the school's teachers also had to take on additional teaching duties at primary schools in the area. Despite receiving extra pay for exceeding the prescribed teaching hours, many teachers are still reluctant to do so.

Elaborating on this, Mr. Hoang Lien Son, Principal of Tam Quang Secondary School, said: "Upon hearing that the English teacher was requesting a transfer, the school's management board was very worried because we didn't know how we would manage to have enough teachers for the next school year. The school has submitted a request to the Department of Education, but we don't know if there are any teachers available to fill the gap, as the teacher shortage is occurring throughout the district."

Speaking about the shortage of English teachers, Mr. Nguyen Hong Hoan – Principal of Tam Quang 1 Primary School (Tuong Duong) – also expressed his concern because the new school year has begun, but this is the second year the school is facing the risk of not having an English teacher: All the English teachers at our school are teachers seconded from other schools, including primary and secondary school teachers. However, these teachers also have to take on additional professional duties at their main school, so they can only teach a limited number of classes.

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Last year, we prioritized teaching English to students in grades 3 and 4 following the new general education curriculum. Meanwhile, students in grades 1 and 2 did not study it due to a lack of teachers, and students in grade 5 studied it as an elective program, so they only had 2 lessons per week.

Teacher Nguyen Hong Hoan – Principal of Tam Quang 1 Primary School (Tuong Duong)

According to the principal of Tam Quang 1 Primary School, reinforcing schools with teacher shortages only solves the immediate problem, while in the long run, it creates difficulties for both teachers and schools: "The schedules and class times of the two schools are different, so we have to carefully consider everything before arranging timetables for teachers and students. Furthermore, if there were local teachers, they would have a longer-term commitment to the students and would know each student's abilities better to create appropriate teaching plans," added Mr. Hoan.

Difficult to recruit

A severe shortage of English teachers is occurring in Tuong Duong district during the 2024-2025 school year. Currently, the district has 36 primary and secondary schools but only 38 English teachers. Of these, two schools have no English teachers at all: Tam Quang 1 Primary School and Luu Kien Primary School. Three schools prioritize having two English teachers each, but this is not sustainable as teachers are expected to transfer this school year. The remaining schools each have only one English teacher. Prior to this, from the end of 2022 to the present, at least three teachers in Tuong Duong district have requested transfers. In some cases, overtime pay amounts to tens of millions of dong per year, but this is still not attractive enough to retain the teachers.

Due to the significant shortage of English teachers affecting teaching in schools, Tuong Duong district is proposing to the Department of Internal Affairs this school year to recruit 8 additional English teachers for both primary and secondary levels. However, this plan is unlikely to be feasible as there will likely be no applications. Regarding this, Mr. Thai Luong Thien, Head of the Education and Training Department of Tuong Duong district, stated: "Since April, we have had a quota for recruiting 4 English teachers, but no applications have been received. Therefore, if we have an additional quota, the inability to recruit teachers is likely to continue."

According to the head of the Education and Training Department of Tuong Duong district, there are many reasons for the inability to recruit English teachers. One of the main reasons is the difficult working, commuting, and teaching conditions in this mountainous district. Meanwhile, the demand for English teachers throughout the province is quite high, and graduates have many opportunities to work in more developed areas or at English language centers.

The worrying aspect is that the demand for English teachers is not only insufficient this year but will continue to be so in the coming years. However, surveys show that the number of local students studying English pedagogy is currently low. Meanwhile, the number of students studying Primary Education is quite large, even though there is an oversupply of primary school teachers in the highland districts due to the recent mergers of small schools and the shrinking number of classes.

The shortage and difficulty in recruiting English teachers is also occurring in many other mountainous districts such as Que Phong and Ky Son. Mr. Lu Thanh Ha, Head of the Education and Training Department of Que Phong district, said: "We are currently short 6 English teachers at the primary level and 4 English teachers at the secondary level. Recruitment is very difficult, and we have never met the target number of applicants. Even newly graduated students from the local area are not coming to Que Phong to teach because they have more job opportunities in the city. If this situation continues, in the new school year we will have to continue to arrange for teachers to teach across schools, even though this will be very difficult for teachers, students, and schools alike."