The case of teacher Nguyen Van Xuan (Ngo May Secondary School, Quy Nhon City, Binh Dinh) denouncing his salary cuts seems simple but turns out to be complicated by the strange way local leaders at all levels handle the issue.
After more than 2 months, the case has not been completely resolved, due to conflicts in direction between management levels from the Department of Education and Training, Quy Nhon City People's Committee, to the Quy Nhon City Education and Training Department, as pointed out in a series of articles in Lao Dong Newspaper.
Ms. To Thi Thu Huong, Head of the Department of Education and Training of Quy Nhon City, said that Ngo May Secondary School's inclusion of Binh Dinh Traditional Martial Arts in its 12-period elective sports program is "in accordance with regulations".
This is explained on the basis of local culture and guidance on developing appropriate sports by the Binh Dinh Department of Education and Training.
However, the report of Quy Nhon City People's Committee confirmed that the school did not follow the instructions correctly. The school did not report to the Department of Education and Training before implementing the program, violating the educational management process.
The inconsistency was also evident when Mr. Dao Duc Tuan, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Binh Dinh province, affirmed that the Department only instructed to include Traditional Martial Arts in extracurricular teaching, not in formal teaching.
Mr. Tuan emphasized: "The main teaching program belongs to the program distribution issued by the Ministry of Education and Training and has been approved by the National Assembly. The Department of Education and Training cannot violate the regulations."
This completely contradicts the argument of Ms. Huong and the Department of Education and Training of Quy Nhon City.
The conflict between management levels has put teacher Nguyen Van Xuan in a difficult situation and caused him to suffer from poor treatment for many years.
The verification and settlement of overtime pay regime is still at a standstill despite being directed by the leaders of Quy Nhon City People's Committee to review it since the end of November 2024.
It is worth mentioning that this incident does not stop at the story of a teacher's personal interests, but also exposes major loopholes, showing the lack of uniformity in educational management in Binh Dinh, causing public outrage, and eroding people's trust in the education system.
Furthermore, the Vice Chairman of Quy Nhon City People's Committee Nguyen Phuong Nam requested relevant units to review the number of teaching hours and implement the overtime salary regime, but after nearly a month, there was still no response, which also raised the issue of "hot above, cold below" in management.
This reality requires local authorities to quickly take more drastic actions to resolve the issue, setting an example for similar cases in the future.
Finally, for whatever reason, the rights of teachers - those who directly carry out the task of "growing people" - need to be given priority protection.
An education system can only be truly strong when it ensures fairness and transparency for teachers, so that they do not have to struggle for their basic rights!
