Ministry of Education and Training proposes to temporarily lower teacher standards

This is the content of the draft proposal to build a Resolution of the National Assembly sent by the Ministry of Education and Training to the Government and announced on March 22.

The Ministry said that the current number of teachers does not meet the quota; local surpluses and shortages are common in many localities, especially in integrated subjects (history and geography, natural sciences), and specialized subjects (English, information technology, music, fine arts). It is forecasted that by the 2024-2025 school year, the country will lack 12,400 teachers at the primary level, and nearly 18,200 at the secondary level.

The 2019 Education Law, which took effect in July 2020, stipulates that primary, secondary and high school teachers must have a bachelor’s degree or higher in teacher training. Previously, primary school teachers only needed to graduate from a teacher training college, and secondary school teachers had a college degree. Therefore, localities can only recruit new teachers with university degrees; those who have not yet achieved the required degree will have to study to obtain the required degree.

Over the past two years, the education sector has been assigned to add more than 27,800 teaching positions each year, but has only recruited more than half. According to the ministry, a major reason is the limited number of graduates (mainly in integrated subjects and arts); many bachelors in information technology and foreign languages ​​do not have the demand to pursue the profession.

Meanwhile, the number of students is increasing. Compared to the 2015-2016 school year, the average primary school class increased by 3.7 students, and secondary school class increased by 4.

To overcome this, the Ministry proposed allowing localities to recruit teachers with college degrees, then raise standards. However, this regulation only applies to the subjects of history and geography, natural sciences, technology, English, information technology, and arts (music and fine arts). This has also been a recommendation of many localities in recent times.

According to the draft, if approved, substandard recruitment will be implemented until the end of 2028, expected to attract about 10,000 college-level teachers.

The draft is open for comments from now until April 22.

As of the end of the previous school year, the country had 1.33 million teachers and administrators, of whom nearly 90% worked in public schools. The total number of teachers still lacking nationwide was 118,000.

The two localities with the biggest shortage are Thanh Hoa and Hanoi, both about 9,000-10,000 people.