In 9 months, 1,600 preschool teachers quit their jobs
The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has just announced a draft Decree regulating preferential allowances according to occupation for civil servants and employees in public educational institutions.
Regarding the necessity of issuing a new Decree, the Ministry of Education and Training said: Current regulations, including Decision No. 244/2005/QD-TTg dated October 6, 2005 and Joint Circular No. 01/2006/TTLT-BGDDT-BNV-BTC dated January 23, 2006, after 20 years of implementation, have contributed to increasing income, ensuring necessary conditions for teachers to fully fulfill their roles and responsibilities, thereby improving the quality of education. In addition to the achieved results, the implementation of the preferential allowance regime according to the profession still has some shortcomings:
The total income of preschool teachers is not commensurate with the characteristics and complexity of professional activities: Preschool teachers have to care for and educate children from 3 months to 6 years old, requiring high concentration to ensure safety and attract the attention of children, usually working 9-10 hours/day...
"However, their income is the lowest compared to other levels of education (startup salary coefficient 2.10, allowances 35%, total income of about 6.63 million VND/month), leading to a high rate of unemployment, with 1,600 preschool teachers quitting their jobs from August 2023 to April 2024, accounting for 22% of the total number of teachers quitting their jobs" - the Ministry of Education and Training informed.
The Ministry also pointed out that the apprenticeship level for the preparatory school teachers is not fair compared to the boarding school teachers of the boarding ethnic minority school: Despite the level of similar work complexity (managing, taking care of boarding students, organizing activities to preserve and develop ethnic cultural heritage), with payrolls applied to each professional title, but at present, the higher school teacher is the same for the school teacher The boarding ethnic group has the difference. The teachers of the preparatory school are 50% and the inpatient school teacher is 70%.
cross-examination, lack of synchronization in the system of legal documents and application is not unified between localities: The criteria for determining socio-economic regions are still different, causing inadequacies in the application of allowances. Many documents determining mountainous and highland areas have expired but are still used as a basis for paying allowances.
Many job positions are difficult to recruit
The Ministry of Education and Training also believes that changes in administrative units over the years (separation, merger) have not been updated in a timely manner, causing difficulties in implementing policies.
In implementing the policy, localities applying different allowance levels due to different understandings of the beneficiary area (for example: all are city teachers but some places pay 35%, some 50%). Some localities still pay preferential allowances at the old level even though the commune has met new rural standards and moved to an area.
School staff have not yet received preferential allowances according to their profession: Currently, most staff positions apply the salary table of type B or A0 civil servants according to Decree No. 204/2004/ND-CP, which are the two lowest salary tables in the salary tables of cadres, civil servants and public employees.
The positions of civil servants with experimental equipment, education, and education support for people with disabilities only have 1 rank, so there is no opportunity to be promoted to a professional title and the salary table is applied with a higher starting salary coefficient, a longer salary gap, and a wider salary range; other civil servant positions have very few opportunities for promotion.
With the current income and job requirements, it is difficult for educational institutions to recruit full-time staff positions and staff tasks to support teaching and education activities that are not complete, timely and ensure quality as required.
The above shortcomings reduce motivation for attachment to the profession, affect the quality of education and the stability of the education sector's human resources, requiring a new regulation to ensure fairness and more effective support.
Faced with these shortcomings, the Ministry of Education and Training proposed to adjust the preferential allowance level according to the profession:
- Preschool teachers: Increase allowances from 35% to 45% in favorable areas and up to 80% in areas with particularly difficult socio-economic conditions, to accurately reflect the level of complexity and work pressure.
- Teachers at pre-university schools: Increase allowances from 50% to 70%, equal to teachers at ethnic boarding schools, ensuring fairness for similar tasks.
- School staff: Add first-time allowances, at a rate of 15% for support and service positions (library, clerical, ...), 20% for shared professional titles (accounting, healthcare, ...), and 25% for professional titles, to recognize their important role.
