The latest report from the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) said that as of April 2024, the country still lacks 113,491 teachers at all levels of preschool and general education.
In particular, the shortage of teachers still exists in most localities, especially teachers of new subjects (such as English, Information Technology, Music, Fine Arts). This makes it difficult to implement the curriculum and teaching plan for the new school year.
It is worth noting that while the education sector nationwide is lacking teachers as the new school year begins, there are about 72,000 surplus positions because localities cannot recruit or are too slow in the recruitment process.
To partly overcome the shortage of teachers, especially teachers teaching new subjects according to the 2018 General Education Program, the Ministry of Education and Training has recently developed a draft National Assembly Resolution allowing the recruitment of college-level teachers to teach a number of subjects at primary and secondary levels.
According to the Draft Resolution - which is still being reviewed and commented on by relevant ministries and agencies - localities lacking teachers to teach Foreign Languages, Information Technology and Technology, and Arts (Music, Fine Arts) according to the 2018 General Education Program for primary and secondary schools will be allowed to lower the recruitment standards for teachers with college degrees, instead of the previous minimum requirement of having a bachelor's degree.
This is a very necessary resolution that needs to be promoted to be submitted to the National Assembly for approval and promulgation soon to solve the immediate problem of teacher shortage, in the context of difficult recruitment and the source of teachers from the education sector not meeting the demand.
However, there are also many opinions that in the Draft, the Ministry of Education and Training should expand the policy of recruiting college teachers to non-public educational institutions, which are also facing a similar shortage of teachers.
In particular, the Ministry of Education and Training should consider the proposal to convert the resolution into a “pilot resolution” for many reasons. One of the main reasons is that using college graduates is only a temporary solution to deal with the shortage of teachers.
If not careful, the education sector can fall into the "trap" of abusing and taking advantage of policies during implementation, when "rampant" recruitment leads to many bachelor teachers losing job opportunities.
Not to mention, the difference in qualifications and experience between college and bachelor's degree teachers can lead to differences in the quality of education.
Therefore, the fundamental and long-term solution is still to recruit good teachers with bachelor's degrees, in line with the trend of teachers being ranked at the highest salary in the salary scale system currently being implemented.
Covering all subjects with teachers is of course necessary and urgent, but ensuring the quality of education as well as fairness and impartiality in policy implementation are equally important!
