The report was released at the conference on the 2019-2020 academic year and the implementation of tasks in the new academic year for preschool education, held in late September.

With 364,776 teachers, each class has 1.82 teachers, an increase of 0.02. The qualifications of preschool teachers has improved with 73.7 percent of teachers meeting training standards.

Of this, 50.7 percent of teachers finished pedagogical higher education establishments, while 23.5 percent of teachers graduated from pedagogical junior colleges and 26.3 percent of teachers finished intermediate schools (2 year training after general school).

As such, 86.8 percent of preschool teachers met professional standards.

Shortage

However, the report also showed the serious shortage of teachers for state-owned preschools: 45,242 teachers are still lacking for schools in the country, even after 20,300 new teachers were officially recruited (receiving salaries from the state budget).

There were 48,392 teachers working under labor contracts signed with state-owned preschools as of March 2020. The provinces with the highest numbers of workers of this kind include Tuyen Quang (2,411), Thai Nguyen (1,533), Bac Giang (1,108), Phu Tho (2,368), Vinh Phuc (3,489), Bac Ninh (1,259), Thai Binh (4,595) and Nam Dinh (6,305).

In the last academic year, local authorities implemented recruitment campaigns, selecting teachers working under labor contracts with schools guided by the Ministry of Home Affairs (after officially recruited, the teachers become civil servants and receive salaries from the state budget).

In Hanoi, 5, 021 teachers have been recruited. In Hau Giang province, 98 teachers working under labor contracts and paying social insurance premiums since 2015 have been recruited without having to attend exams.

Other provinces also strengthened recruitment and 17,605 teachers were recruited last year.

Though the average number of teacher per class has increased in the country, the figures are still low in some provinces, such as Vinh Phuc (1.59), Hung Yen (1.45), Ha Giang (1.37) and Bac Kan (1.5).

According to MOET, because of the lack of teachers, some provinces, including VInh Long, An Giang, Kien Giang, Binh Duong and Quang Tri, cannot arrange 2 learning sessions (morning and afternoon) a day for children in accordance with the preschool education program.

As of the end of the 2019-2020 academic year, the country had 15,461 preschool establishments. There were 3,180 non-state preschools, which account for 20.6 percent of total schools. 

Le Huyen

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