There are major tasks for the 2019-2020 academic year. The number of students in each class must not be higher than 35 and primary school students will go to class both in the morning and afternoon. Teachers need to be trained in accordance with the new education program.

However, this is not an easy task. To reduce the number of students rom 50-60 currently to 35 as required, schools will have to have more classrooms and more teachers.

The classroom shortage which has existed for years still cannot be settled. A report shows that Hanoi has 77 new schools, including 38 preschools, 17 primary schools, 15 secondary and 7 high schools.

Dau Tu cited a report showing that 14,307 new classrooms were built in the last year.

Meanwhile, the teacher shortage has become more serious than ever. MOET reported that since 2015, the number of preschool children has increased rapidly by 1.2 million and another 80,000 preschool teachers are needed. About 3,000 teachers retire each year, and the number of teachers which can be recruited is modest.

When opening the new academic year, the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) emphasized that this is an important year to prepare for application of the new general education program and textbooks for next year.

Most provinces and cities complain they are lacking teachers. In the south, Kien Giang province needs 1,008 teachers, HCM City 1,290, Binh Duong 2,811 and Dong Nai 1,762. In the north, Vinh Phuc lacks 2,300 students and Son La 3,355. The teacher/class ratio is very low in some provinces – 1.32 in Tra Vinh, 1.44 in An Giang, 1.47 in Kien Giang and 1.36 in Kon Tum.

In Kien Giang province, the teacher shortage has occurred since 2015, and at times the schools in the locality lack 1,000 teachers.

However, it is not easy to recruit teachers. MOET doesn’t have the right to recruit teachers. It can only report about the demand to the Ministry of Interior Affairs.

The recruiting of preschool and general school teachers belongs to the central provincial/municipal people’s committee.

Most recently, when answering Tien Phong’s interview, Do said the Ministry of Interior Affairs (MIA) has requested local authorities to check the teaching staff in localities and report about the demand for teachers to the ministry. MOET and MIA have asked for permission to recruit 23,000 more teachers.

“In principle, where there are students, there must be enough students,” Do said.

Chi Mai

HCM City aims high in teaching foreign languages to school children

Ho Chi Minh City wants 50 percent of high school graduates attaining certifiable international standard proficiency in foreign languages by 2020, according to the city Department of Education.  

Teachers’ salaries to be based on qualifications

Hoang Duc Minh, director of the Teachers and Educational Managers Department under the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), talks to Vietnamnet e-newspaper about staff for the new school year and their salary policy.