Localities lack teachers but have not boldly recruited
The above reality was presented by Minister of Education and Training (MOET) Hoang Minh Son at the explanation session on the morning of September 20 organized by the National Assembly's Committee for Culture and Society.
According to calculations by the Ministry of Education and Training, by June 2026, the whole country will still lack 104,500 preschool and general education teachers in the payroll compared to the quota. Among them, secondary school teachers are the most short, reaching nearly 42,500 people.
As of May 31, 2026, the whole country still has more than 40,000 teacher positions assigned but have not been recruited.
Minister Hoang Minh Son clearly stated that the current surplus and shortage of teachers is determined according to staff quotas. In fact, in places where there is a shortage of teachers, localities must recruit more contract teachers or increase the number of students in the class. Therefore, according to the Minister, it is not entirely true that schools do not have teachers in charge, but having to use contract teachers or increase the number of students will affect the quality of teaching.
The Minister explained that one of the reasons for the teacher shortage is that although staff have been assigned, many localities have not yet recruited all of them. The reason, according to the Minister, is that localities have a need to recruit teachers but are under pressure to reduce general staff in the whole system, while the teaching staff accounts for a large proportion of the total staff.
Some localities have not boldly recruited. Recently, quite a few localities have synchronously recruited 2,000 - 3,000 teachers, but there are also places that have not had time to recruit" - the Minister stated the reality.
Another reason pointed out by the Minister is the situation of local teacher surplus and shortage due to population fluctuations. Some places are short, some places are surplus, but the transfer and rotation of teachers has not been implemented in time. The situation of surplus and shortage also occurs between levels of education, subjects and between schools. According to norms, one school may lack a part of teachers while another school has a corresponding surplus. The difference in staff distribution also contributes to the current situation of surplus and shortage.
Faced with the above situation, the Minister said that Resolution 248/2025 of the National Assembly on a number of specific and outstanding mechanisms and policies to implement breakthroughs in education and training development, in which assigning the Director of the Department of Education and Training the right to recruit, rotate, and mobilize the teaching staff is an important solution to handle the situation of local surplus and shortage.
Over the past time, some localities have organized centralized recruitment, recruiting once according to targets and needs of schools. This approach brings many advantages, and also helps candidates have more choices" - the Minister said, while also saying that the decentralization of teacher recruitment to communes and wards by some localities is not in accordance with Resolution 248.
He analyzed that if a province or city has more than 100 communes and wards and each unit organizes recruitment, it is necessary to establish more than 100 councils and organize more than 100 recruitment periods. Meanwhile, each area has different needs but the quota is limited, leading to difficulty recruiting enough teachers.
Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training requests localities to implement synchronously and uniformly, so that the Department of Education and Training can organize recruitment and general rotation.
About 22,000 principals and vice principals have been arranged to return to work as teachers
Regarding the arrangement of the school network, the Minister said that about 33,000 principals are subject to rearrangement and rearrangement. Among these, localities have arranged for about 22,000 people to return to work as teachers, and the rest continue to be arranged.
Minister Hoang Minh Son said that the Ministry of Education and Training is developing new norms for the teaching staff, expected to be issued at the end of September or early October.
The new norms will take into account the characteristics of two-session teaching, each area, region, level of education, and subject. The calculation method is also based on both student size and class size.
According to calculations by the Ministry of Education and Training, with the new calculation method, the number of teachers still lacking compared to the quota and the actual number will be above 43,000 people.
This number is almost equivalent to the number of teachers working under contract, and also close to the number of teacher payrolls in localities that have been assigned but have not been recruited. In the coming time, if competent authorities assign payrolls as in 2025, and localities recruit, basically the teacher shortage problem can be solved" - the Minister said.
Regarding the local shortage of English, art, music and aptitude subject teachers, the Ministry of Education and Training said that it has guided localities to implement a number of solutions. In which, schools can sign contracts with artisans and external trainers to participate in teaching. In addition, the Minister said that it is necessary to promote the application of technology, especially for English, informatics and digital competencies.
Applying technology and artificial intelligence is not only a short-term solution but can also be effective in the long term" - the Minister said.
He also believes that there should be appropriate regimes and policies to attract teachers in subjects that are difficult to recruit. Fields such as English, art, and music have many job opportunities outside the education sector, so attracting human resources to schools is not easy.
Therefore, besides solutions on recruitment, contracts and technology application, preferential policies suitable for this team are also issues that need to be concerned about," the Minister added.
