On October 8, the National Assembly Standing Committee gave opinions on the draft Law on Teachers.
This is a draft law that was first commented on by the National Assembly Standing Committee at the 37th session (September 2024) with many concerns, including regulations on policies for teachers.
Reporting on the reception and explanation of opinions at the meeting, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that the Government has reviewed and completed policy contents.
In particular, some policy contents (regulations on salary policy, allowances, and support for teachers) are carefully reviewed to ensure both breakthroughs and suitability with the context of salary reform implementation in the coming time.
Accordingly, the draft Law proposes that teachers' salaries in public educational institutions be as follows: The basic salary according to the teachers' salary scale is ranked highest in the administrative career salary scale system.
The draft law also proposes policies to support teachers, including subsidies based on the nature of work and region; policies to support training and development; periodic health care, occupational health care; tuition exemption for biological children and legally adopted children of teachers while working...
Presenting the review report, Chairman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture and Education Nguyen Dac Vinh affirmed that the Standing Committee of the Committee basically agrees with the regulations on salary and allowance policies for teachers in Article 25. This is an important and necessary issue to promptly institutionalize the Party's policies, especially Conclusion No. 91 of the Politburo.
There are suggestions to clearly define the scope and beneficiaries, thoroughly and fully assess the impact of resources to ensure the implementation of policies to support and attract teachers (Articles 26 and 27), especially the policy of exempting tuition fees for teachers' children (Point d, Clause 1, Article 26).
The policy of exempting tuition fees for teachers’ biological or legally adopted children in the draft law is a humane policy, but Vice Chairman of the National Assembly Nguyen Khac Dinh said that this provision is difficult to apply to private educational institutions and even public educational institutions. Therefore, it is necessary to stipulate a policy for teachers with specific difficult circumstances.
The Vice Chairman of the National Assembly said that this content should not be stipulated in the draft Law. Incentives and special policies are acceptable, but the provision of "privileges and special benefits" is not advisable.
Speaking at the meeting, Politburo member and National Assembly Chairman Tran Thanh Man suggested that the draft Law should be completed in the direction of assessing the impact and then regulating the scope and subjects of regulation, making the Law truly meet the requirements of the new period.
Citing data from the Government's Report on Acceptance and Explanation, the National Assembly Chairman said that implementing the tuition exemption policy for children of teachers and lecturers requires about 9,200 billion VND/year.
“Where does this source come from, where does it come from so that we can allocate annual spending? You must evaluate more carefully to ensure feasibility and fairness in relation to other priority subjects,” the National Assembly Chairman noted.
