The Draft Law on Education (to be submitted to the National Assembly soon) must clearly stipulate specific policies for teachers, such as basic salary and highest allowance, in the spirit of Conclusion 91-KL/TW: Teachers' salaries must be given the highest priority in the administrative career salary scale system and have additional allowances depending on the nature of the job and the region.
That is one of the very important and timely instructions of Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh when chairing the thematic meeting on law making in August 2024 , giving opinions on a number of draft laws and proposing law making yesterday (September 4).
Specific regulations mean that the policy of "teachers' salaries being given the highest priority in the administrative career salary scale system" needs to be expressed in clear numbers, such as what the highest level is, instead of just general statements, bringing unclear hopes.
Currently, teachers' salaries range from about 4.9 - 15.87 million VND/person/month, after adjusting the basic salary from 1.8 million to 2.34 million VND from July 1, 2024.
Although the new salary is about 1.13 - 3.7 million VND higher than the old one, it is clear that this level is far from being considered the "highest". This is also one of the reasons why from August 2023 to the end of April this year, 7,215 teachers nationwide quit or changed jobs, according to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training.
In fact, the “highest” goal as set out in Conclusion 91-KL/TW is still facing many difficulties. One of the biggest difficulties is that Resolution 27 of the Central Committee stipulates that the salary level in the administrative career system is the same, making it difficult for teachers to receive the highest salary.
With this knotty problem, there may be a way to resolve it when Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requests to separate teachers from the subjects regulated by the Law on Civil Servants, but at the same time, it is necessary to inherit the regulations that are still suitable for the characteristics of the teaching profession of this law - also in yesterday's meeting.
Previously, in July, at the discussion "Implementation of policies and laws on teachers" organized by the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education, Vice Chairwoman of the Committee Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa - the chair of the discussion - also emphasized a similar viewpoint to the Prime Minister's direction.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa, the goal of building the Law on Teachers is to create a separate law for teachers. Currently, teachers are regulated by the Law on Public Employees for public teachers and the Labor Code for non-public teachers. Teachers are public employees but need to be considered special public employees; they are workers but must be workers in special occupations.
When the policy is materialized in numbers; when teachers are recognized as special civil servants, not regulated by the Civil Servants Law - that is, not affected by Resolution 27 on salaries - then surely the goal of the highest teachers' salary will soon become a reality!
