There should be preferential policies for preschool teachers

Stressful job, low salary

Ms. Nguyen Thi Chinh (name changed) works as a preschool teacher at a public school in Bac Giang City (Bac Giang Province). Although she has 15 years of experience in the profession, Ms. Chinh's total income is only about 10 million VND/month. This female teacher born in 1987 said that currently, teachers' salaries are still low, but even in the industry, preschool teachers' salaries are lower than other levels.

“Preschool teachers really want the government to pay attention to salaries that are appropriate to the job,” said Ms. Chinh. According to Ms. Chinh, due to the nature of the job, even if they wanted to, preschool teachers cannot work extra to earn more income.

This female teacher in Bac Giang agrees to reduce the retirement age (5 years) for preschool teachers compared to the regulations. According to Ms. Chinh, preschool teachers have to take care of a lot of students; the children are at an active age, so teachers are very stressed and pressured. They always have to work in a noisy environment, which is harmful to their health.

“Preschool teachers around 50 years old have encountered many difficulties in their work. At this time, their health has declined, their hands are stiff, and they cannot dance as “flexibly” and quickly as young teachers. In fact, psychologically, the children also do not like to study with older teachers,” said Ms. Chinh.

Therefore, Ms. Chinh said that she and many other teachers agree with reducing the retirement age for preschool teachers, according to which they can retire no more than 5 years earlier than the regulation and will not have their pension rate deducted.

Priority policies are needed to ensure peace of mind at work.

Recently, in a group discussion at the 8th Session of the 15th National Assembly on the Law on Teachers, delegate Au Thi Mai (Tuyen Quang Delegation) said that the draft law provides salary policies for teachers at all levels in general, not specific to each level. For preschool level, the nature of the work has its own characteristics, unlike primary, middle and high school levels. The working time for civil servants is regulated to be 8 hours/day, however, for preschool teachers, the working time is often more than 8 hours/day.

The delegate pointed out that in the morning, preschool teachers often have to open the doors to ventilate rooms, groups, and classrooms 15 minutes in advance; in the afternoon, they have to clean up the rooms after work for at least 15 minutes; and at noon, they have to be on duty during the children's nap time. Preschools carry out the task of nurturing, caring for, and educating children, so there is no recess after each activity; teachers do not have time to rest but have to supervise the classroom during the entire time the children are studying, playing, and living at school.

According to delegate Au Thi Mai, although the salary regime for teachers has been given attention, the regime for preschool teachers is at the lowest level. "Therefore, it is recommended that there should be a preferential salary policy for preschool teachers compared to other levels of education so that they can work with peace of mind" - the delegate proposed.

Delegate Nguyen Thi Yen (Ba Ria - Vung Tau Delegation) also agreed that there should be different policies and regimes for preschool teachers compared to other levels of education due to the nature of the work.

According to delegate Nguyen Thi Yen, preschool teachers at the age of 40 face many difficulties in teaching. The delegate agreed that preschool teachers should be allowed to retire 5 years earlier than the regulation, without having their pension benefits deducted, in order to encourage this group.