VietNamNet Bridge – While a worker at a foreign invested enterprise in HCM City may get VND2mil ($125) as a Tet bonus, a teacher in the city gets only VND400,000 ($25); another reason why very few students want to become teachers.

Teacher’s Tet holidays meager because of low bonuses

The HCM City People’s Committee has decided to give VND400,000 to every teacher in the city for Tet. Nguyen Tien Dat, Chairman of the HCM City Education and Training Trade Union said that this is really good news to teachers, because it is double last year’s bonus.

Mr. Dat added that VND400,000 is only from the city’s authorities, while teachers will get additional money from district authorities and from their schools as well.

In Can Gio district in the suburbs of HCM City, most teachers receive VND650,000 per person (VND400,000 from city authorities, VND250,000 from district authorities), but their schools are unable to provide a bonus because of too little funding.

Teachers in the inner city receive a little better. Phan Thuy Mai, Rector of Nguyen Truc Primary School in District 8 in HCM City said that a teacher at her school may receive up to VND700,000, including the VND400,000 from city authorities and VND150,000 from the school’s welfare fund. Parents feel sorry for teachers and have decided to give each of them VND150,000.

“If you choose to become a teacher, you have to accept that you will live on bread and cheese,” said Mrs. Lien.

Chau Nguyen Thuy Dung, a teacher at nursery school No 27 in Binh Thanh District in HCM City, said she is happy with her Tet bonus of VND1mil, much higher than colleagues. However, this is still quite modest when compared to the Tet bonuses her friends working in other fields receive.

She said that her friends could not believe that she received VND1mil only for Tet, which moved her to tears.

Tran Huong, Deputy Rector of Phan Dang Luu High School, said that both he and his wife work as teachers, therefore, they do not receive high bonuses and do not have a lot of money for Tet.

“Teachers play a very important role in society and receive very meager salaries. It is really very difficult to persuade young people to become teachers nowadays,” he said.

According to Mr. Dat, the HCM City Education and Training Trade Union has many times asked the Ministry of Education and Training to give an extra month’s salary to teachers, but the proposal has not been accepted.

Local newspapers have reported that the highest bonus this year will be given to an employee of a foreign invested IT enterprises, VND240mil ($15,000), while the lowest bonus will be given to the workers of a small enterprise at VND50,000 ($3).

On average, every worker of 220 foreign invested enterprises in HCM City will receive VND2,224,000 ($139), or 20.94% more than last year.

On average, every employee in HCM City will receive VND2,176,000 ($136) for this Tet, an increase of 28.76% over 2006.

(Source: Tuoi tre, VNE)