The Govern-ment’s Decree 54 regulated that teachers would have seniority allowance starting the beginning of last September, however, until now they have not received the benefit.
Under the decree, teachers with five years’ experience will be paid an allowance equal to 5 per cent of their salary, to increase by 1 percentage point for each additional year.

Funds for the allowances will come from school incomes and the State budget.

The allowance will be paid monthly with the salary. On average, each teacher receives nearly VND500,000 (US$24) per month.

Le Kim Oanh, principal of the To Vinh Dien Primary School in Ha Noi’s Dong Da District, said that all teachers in her school were happy to hear about the decree.

She had also sent a list of the more than 30 teachers in her school who met the demand of the decree to the Dong Da Department of Education and Training. However, she did not receive any official reply from the department.

Explaining about the late allowance, Ngo Manh Hai, deputy director of the Ministry of Education and Training’s Personnel Department, said that the department was completing a guidance document to implement Decree 54.

At present the department was collecting a draft guidance document from cities’ and provinces’ departments of education and training, he said.

“The guidance document will be finished as soon as possible and teachers will get their back pay,” said Hai.

Hai said that he could not be sure when the document would be finished as the Ministry of Education and Training had to wait for agreement from relevant ministries before promulgating the guidance document.

Meanwhile, some teachers claimed that the decree was expanded to benefit educational officials working at district or provincial levels.

In a recent National Assembly meeting, the Minister of Education and Training Pham Vu Luan said that the ministry proposed to the Government an allowance for officials and managers from departments of education and training.

However, when the reformed Law on Education was approved, it did not include seniority for educational managers, he said.

Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Sinh Hung added that the Government and the Prime Minister decided to have another proper allowance for teachers who would not benefit from the decree.

Luan also promised that the minitry would submit a draft decree on allowance for educational managers to the Prime Minister next year.

VNS