This school year, Son La province has 609 kindergartens, general schools, and continuing education centers with 374,819 students. The total number of teachers is 19,945 people.
According to Mr. Nguyen Van Chien - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Son La province, the current teaching staff is still lacking compared to the staff assigned by the Provincial People's Committee of 1,222 people.
Of which, the preschool block lacks 337 people, primary schools lack 284 people, secondary schools lack 492 and high schools lack 109 people.
"This is a shortage of teachers compared to the number assigned by the Provincial People's Committee, and if compared to the standards prescribed by the Ministry of Education and Training, the current shortage of teachers in Son La is 3,678 positions" - Mr. Chien said.
According to Mr. Chien, the authority to decentralize the management of the recruitment, reception, transfer, secondment, and transfer of teachers and staff in educational institutions in the province has not been delegated to the Department of Education and Training.
Therefore, the secondment and assignment of teachers to teach at the inter-school level from 2 or more commune-level administrative units cannot be implemented.
Although Son La province has had many policies to attract teachers to work in disadvantaged areas, remote areas.
However, due to difficult traffic conditions, limited teaching and learning facilities, and lacking economic and living conditions, it is difficult to attract pedagogical graduates to register for recruitment.
Many schools in disadvantaged areas do not have candidates to register for admission, while schools in disadvantaged areas have many candidates registering compared to the allocated teacher staffing quota.
Meanwhile, candidates who register to apply for admission to schools in favorable areas and if not admitted, will not be able to register for the second wish to enter schools in disadvantaged areas, leading to not recruiting enough teachers.
To overcome the shortage of teachers, the Department of Education and Training has advised the Provincial People's Committee to second teachers, send teachers to support teaching, and assign teachers to teach in inter-schools from educational institutions without teachers to units with a shortage of teachers. Strengthening the application of information technology, promoting digital transformation such as online teaching, virtual classrooms, etc.
At the same time, direct educational institutions to implement contracts and guest lecturers. Advising the Provincial People's Committee in implementing teacher training orders according to Decree No. 116/2020 of the Government.
Challenges in geographical, economic, social conditions, teaching conditions in schools in mountainous areas and disadvantaged economic regions are a "difficult problem" in recruiting teachers, making the education sector of Son La province concerned.
