VietNamNet Bridge – Unfair workplaces are the main reason behind why so many do not want to go into teaching. Staff working under the permanent recruitment scheme earn salaries 7-8 times higher than those who work under fixed time labor contracts.

Nguyen Thi Toan, a teacher at Mai Dinh School in Hanoi graduated from the Hanoi Pedagogical College in 2001. She has been teaching at the school for the last three years earning a monthly salary of VND200,000 ($12.5) without any other sources of income.

Mrs. Toan isn’t only worried about low pay, she is also burdened by a short-term contract meaning that she may might lose her job at any time.

Another teacher explained that she had taken time off work to have her first baby and resultantly lost her job as a teacher at a primary school. She said that teachers under short term labor contracts dare not have babies or even get married because they may lose their jobs at any time.

Doan Thi Mai, Principal of Phu Lo High School said her school employs six teachers for Informatics, Physical Education and English. Each of them receives VND450,000 ($28.12) a month and aren’t eligible for social security and health insurance.

She said she has asked the local education and training department to make them regular members of the school’s personnel many times, however, her proposal is always denied. For the time being, the teachers are still working at the school and hoping that one day they will become regular teachers under the permanent recruitment scheme.

Under current regulations, teachers muss pass exams to become civil servants and have salaries allocated to them from the state budget.

A teacher may live a new life after becoming a civil servant. According to Trinh Thang Manh, Head of the Social Policies Division under Vietnam Education Trade Union, the salary of a teacher working under the permanent recruitment mechanism is 7-8 times higher than a teacher working under a short-term contract.

Nguyen Viet Thinh, Headmaster of the Hanoi Pedagogical University, the most prominent producer of teachers and lecturers, said Vietnam will only have good teachers when teachers can make enough money to live on.

At VND400,000 a month, most teachers have to do take on extra jobs to earn enough money to take care of their families

Luong Tat Thuy, Deputy Chairman of the Vietnam Education Trade Union has called on the National Assembly to reconsider their decision on teachers’ salaries. Maybe the Government doesn’t want to pay teachers; they are giving up their jobs for better money elsewhere, and soon, there might be no one left to allocate funds to anyway.

(Source: PLTP HCM)