Dang Van Binh, deputy director of the Ministry of Education and Training’s Department of Teachers and Education Management

Under the regulations, teachers of higher rank have to satisfy more requirements on professional ethics.

Some teachers said they find it odd to set criteria in professional ethics for every teacher rank, saying that all teachers must observe regulations on professional ethics, no matter if they are first-, second- or third class teachers.

In other words, it is feasible to quantify the number of degrees, certificates and education levels teachers need to have to classify their abilities and qualifications, but it is not feasible to do so when assessing teachers’ ethics.

In reply to the comments, Dang Van Binh, deputy director of the Ministry of Education and Training’s Department of Teachers and Education Management, said that civil servants at higher ranks have to satisfy higher requirements.

For example, second-class teachers, in addition to the standards applied to third-class teachers, also have to "be exemplary in implementing the regulations on teachers’ ethics". This means that second-class teachers have to meet more requirements than third class teachers.

Meanwhile, first-class teachers have to meet more requirements than second-class and third-class teachers. They not only have to satisfy the standards applied to third-class teachers and be exemplary in implementing the regulations but also have to help colleagues to implement the regulations.

Ordinary citizens have to obey the laws, but Party members have to set an example and be exemplary in implementing regulations. As for civil servants, officers just have to observe all regulations but high-ranking officers or leaders have to set a good example to other officers and help colleagues to observe regulations.

Some scandals related to the violations of teachers’ ethics have occurred in the past. And the task of the first- and second-class teachers is discovering unreasonable conduct and behavior so as to help their colleagues avoid conduct criticized by society.

Asked why MOET issued Circulars 01, 02, 03 and 04 stipulating the codes, standards, professional titles, appointment and salary rating for preschool and general school teachers in early 2021, Binh said that the regulations have actually been implemented since 2015 in accordance with the MOET and Ministry of Home Affairs’ inter-ministerial circulars 20, 21, 22 and 23.

MOET has issued new circulars to replace the inter-ministerial circulars, amending and supplementing new regulations to fix the problems found during implementation.

There are 1.2 million preschool and general school teachers, including 80,000 teachers at private schools and 60,000 teachers working under labor contracts. The circulars only cover public employees, not the teachers working under labor contracts and teachers at private schools. 

Hai Nguyen

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