VietNamNet Bridge – Answering the question if their total income is enough for their lives, 52% of polled teachers said “not enough”; 42% “enough; only 2% said they were able to save money.

The total income of a teacher from the school where he works, including fixed salary, pay for extra periods and subsidy, is about VND1.8-2mil/month in the southern provinces of An Giang, Vinh Long and Tra Vinh, VND2.2mil in Dak Lak, and VND2.48mil in HCM City.

Statistics show that 15% of Tra Vinh’s teachers have incomes lower than the average living standard in the locality, while the figures are 25% in Vinh Long, 40% in An Giang, 39% in Dak Lack and 39% in HCM City.

31% of teachers in Tra Vinh say that the income from their jobs at schools is just enough for a half of their expenses for their families.

As teachers cannot get enough money from their work at schools, they have to give private tuition to pupils to get extra income.

30% of teachers say that they have extra classes after teaching hours at schools. The proportion of teachers that have extra classes is highest in HCM City (52%). In the city, 44% of teachers of primary schools, 27% of secondary schools and 34% of high schools say they hold extra classes.

Moreover, many teachers also do extra jobs, which are in no way connected with their main job as teachers: growing sugar cane, farming poultry, tailoring, running groceries, typing, photocopying, playing music at cafés.

Though teachers strive to make a living by doing extra work, their incomes remain modest.

Two-thirds of polled teachers (66%) said that they borrowed money last year. The proportion is 44% in HCM City.

Only 4-5% of teachers in Tra Vinh province use Internet services at home. The figures are 8% in An Giang, 12% in Dak Lak, 42% in HCM City. The proportions of teachers who read newspapers everyday are as follows: 30-36% in Tra Vinh, Vinh Long and An Giang, and 77% in HCM City.

66% of teachers say that they hope the state renovates the pay scheme for teachers in order to help them improve their lives.

The salary level which teachers said would be enough for their lives is VND3.81mil/month. However, the figures are different for different localities (Tra Vinh VND3.32mil, Vinh Long VND3.22mil, An Giang 3.33mil, Dak Lak VND3.99mil, and HCM City VND5.2mil).

Nearly three-quarters of the teachers said that if they got the expected salary levels, they would not have to give private tuition.

Only 45% of teachers think that their incomes correspond to their labour, while 49% do not. The proportions of teachers that think that their income is lower than their labour are 72% in HCM City, 51% in Dak Lak, 49% in An Giang, 45% in Vinh Long and 28% in Tra Vinh.

(Source: TBKTVN)