"Eating hand to mouth" due to lack of teachers

Although retired, teacher Dinh Thi Nho is still teaching at Tien Dong Primary School (Tu Ky).

Currently, many schools are having to "make do" to overcome the shortage of teachers.

Layering

In the 2022-2023 school year, Tuan Viet Primary School (Kim Thanh) has 1,216 students with 52 administrators, teachers, and staff. According to regulations of the Ministry of Education and Training, each class has no more than 35 students, so the school will have 37 classes. However, due to a lack of teachers, the school has combined 3rd and 5th grade students, so the whole school has only 35 classes, with many classes having nearly 40 students.

The school is short of 8 teachers according to the assigned staffing quota and has contracted with 5 teachers. The most difficult problem is the lack of 1 English teacher and 1 culture teacher because there is no source of recruitment for these 2 positions. 1 contract teacher of culture is not qualified to take the teacher recruitment exam this year because he does not have a university degree. In order for grade 3 to follow the new general education program in 2018, the school had to reduce 1 English lesson/week for grades 4 and 5 to 3 lessons/week.

Similarly, this school year, Tien Dong Primary School (Tu Ky) has 677 students with 28 administrators, teachers, and staff. The school has also condensed students from 21 classes to 20 classes and cannot add more because the number of students in each class is too large. Currently, the school has 16 cultural teachers, lacking 4 teachers to teach and be homeroom teachers for the remaining classes. There is a shortage of teachers, no source of recruitment, but recently a contract teacher of the school has resigned.

An Phu Secondary School (Kinh Mon) currently has 629 students, 15 classes with 28 administrators, teachers and staff. This school year, there will be 2 more classes, and next school year, there is expected to be 2 more classes. The school is short of 3 teachers but has not been assigned to increase the staffing quota.

The above are just 3 of many schools in the province that are facing difficulties due to lack of teachers, increasing number of students in each class, which has significantly affected management, expertise as well as teaching and learning quality.

Teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, Vice Principal of Tuan Viet Primary School (Kim Thanh) is teaching an additional 13 periods/week.

"Tie the bear, patch the shoulder"

Contracts with retired teachers, administrators and teachers who teach overtime, inter-school contracts with teachers... are temporary solutions that many schools are trying to find to overcome the shortage of teachers.

Ms. Dong Thi Huong, Principal of Tuan Viet Primary School, said that all teachers at the school had to teach 5-8 extra periods per week, the principal taught 5 extra periods per week, and of the two Vice Principals, one taught 8 extra periods per week, and the other taught 13 extra periods per week. The school's two English teachers taught a maximum of 10 extra periods per week, but still did not teach the required number of periods for grades 4 and 5. In addition, the school is also under contract with a retired teacher. Because teachers teach overtime, they have little time to study the new 2018 general education program. Many schools also face many difficulties in paying for overtime.

At Tien Dong Primary School, school leaders are all teaching more hours than the regulations. Vice Principal Ngo Thi Van Chi teaches 18 extra hours per week and is in charge of one class. The school is also under contract with three retired teachers. These teachers are both teaching and in charge of the class. "The fact that managers have to teach extra hours makes management difficult. In addition to teaching, all other professional work must be done outside of office hours, at home in the evenings and on weekends. If a teacher is on maternity leave or sick, the school will have a harder time arranging a substitute teacher," said Ms. Chi.

Many schools still have to contract teachers to teach across schools and find sources of contracts with young teachers who have just graduated. Teacher Tang Thi Mai, Principal of An Phu Secondary School, said that the school is asking 2 teachers from An Phu Primary School and 1 teacher from Thuong Quan Primary School (both in Kinh Mon town) to participate in teaching at the school.

This school year, Dong Lac Secondary School (Chi Linh) has more than 400 students and 23 administrators and teachers. Last September, the school signed a contract with a young teacher born in 2000 to teach math. The school is currently signing contracts with 3 teachers to ensure the educational program.

The 2022 provincial teacher recruitment exam is expected to partly resolve the above difficulties. However, while the province's recruitment demand is over 1,700 teachers and staff of public schools in the education and training sector, only 1,443 candidates are eligible to take the second round. On the day of the written exam for professional skills, only 1,298 candidates came to take the exam. The number of candidates taking the exam is still lower than the recruitment target due to lack of recruitment sources.

THE ANH