Teacher's allowance for a school is cut from 35% to 30%, citizens send petitions
Ms. L.P - a teacher at a Gia Lai high school reflected that Nguyen Binh Khiem High School No. 2 (Gia Lai) cut the preferential allowance for teachers from 35% to 30% from May 2025 and recovered 5% of the allowance spent in the first 4 months of 2025. The school based Decision 861/QD-TTg to state that Chu Se town is no longer in the region entitled to the 35% preferential level.
Ms. L.P said that the reduction is lacking a legal basis because Decision 861 only classifies communes according to the level of development to implement social security policies, not changing the nature of mountainous areas. According to previous regulations, the determination of mountainous areas must be based on the list issued by the Committee for Ethnic Minorities Affairs and apply the principle of benefiting workers; therefore, she proposed to fully recover the 5% allowance cut in the period from May to December 2025.
Gia Lai Department of Education and Training affirmed that the payment of preferential allowances to teachers in 2025 is carried out in accordance with regulations when determining mountainous areas according to Decision 861/QD-TTg for the period 2021-2025. From 2026 onwards, the application of allowances continues to be based on Decision 209/QD-UBND of Gia Lai province, according to which Chu Se commune is classified as a commune in zone I, as a basis for paying preferential allowances to teachers. See more...
Teachers' salaries and unknown barriers
In fact, the income of teachers is not "sky-high" as many people think, because the salary increase roadmap is very slow and largely dependent on promotion. A secondary school teacher with nearly 28 years of experience like Ms. Hang only achieves an income of about 16.5 million VND/month when she is ranked II, while most of the time before that her salary was only around the 10 million mark. Achieving a high rank - the decisive factor for a high salary is a long journey, requiring many conditions, so very few people achieve it.
According to the Ministry of Education and Training, 88% of teachers are currently ranked lower than civil servants in other sectors. The percentage of teachers enjoying the highest salary scale is very low, while the majority of civil servants in other fields have the opportunity to enjoy a higher salary coefficient. In particular, preschool teachers are at the lowest level in the administrative and non-business salary scale, both in the starting coefficient and the ceiling, causing a large income difference compared to other professions with the same qualification requirements.
According to the Ministry of Education and Training, 88% of teachers are currently ranked lower than civil servants in other sectors. The percentage of teachers enjoying the highest salary scale is very low, while the majority of civil servants in other fields have the opportunity to enjoy a higher salary coefficient. In particular, preschool teachers are at the lowest level in the administrative and non-business salary scale, both in the starting coefficient and the ceiling, causing a large income difference compared to other professions with the same qualification requirements.
Forecast of a series of promising occupations, wide open job opportunities
Parents' representative board illegally mobilized, forced to return 469 million VND
Quy Nhon Nam Ward People's Committee (Gia Lai) has inspected and verified the reflection of Lao Dong Newspaper and determined that the Parents' Representative Board of Nguyen Van Cu Elementary School mobilized more than 469 million VND from parents in the period from September 2025 to January 16, 2026.
The mobilized amount includes more than 153 million VND for roofing and more than 316 million VND for hiring sanitation workers. Through inspection, the Ward People's Committee determined that the mobilization and spending for these two items was not in accordance with regulations in Circular 16/2018/TT-BGDDT and did not have a policy approval from competent authorities. After spending, there was still an excess of more than 156 million VND.
From the verification results, Quy Nhon Nam Ward People's Committee requested Nguyen Van Cu Elementary School and the Parents' Representative Board to return the entire amount of more than 469 million VND that was illegally mobilized to parents, and at the same time clarify the responsibilities of individuals and collectives involved to handle according to legal regulations. See more...
