School accountants and clerks want extra allowances

After graduating with a bachelor's degree in IT and working as a clerk at a secondary school in Hoang Mai district, Hanoi, Ms. Nguyen Thanh Tam received a salary of more than 4 million VND/month, which she said was low because she did not have the same allowance as a teacher.

Every day, Ms. Tam rarely comes home before 6 p.m. She said that the secretaries at agencies usually deliver and receive documents, manage and use seals, but at school it is different.

She is always busy with reports, plans, decisions, submissions, official dispatches, lists... She also supports the school board and union in completing documents, competitions, rewards, student test scores, and managing software. There are inspection periods when she stays at school until 11pm.

"It's all nameless work," said Ms. Tam, 33 years old.

Ms. Tam said she graduated from university with a degree in information technology, then studied intermediate clerical work. Before being hired last year, she taught on contract for many years. She currently enjoys a salary coefficient of 1.86, as an intermediate clerical worker, with a total salary of more than 4 million VND/month.

"After paying for my two children's kindergarten and third grade, I run out of money for food," said Ms. Tam. "We spend time and effort working at school like everyone else, but our salary is not commensurate."

Working with Ms. Tam, Mr. Nguyen Thanh Sang, Thanh Loc High School, District 12, Ho Chi Minh City, reached the salary milestone of 8 million VND/month after more than 20 years.

He said that the clerical work seems easy but is busy all day, especially after the education sector went digital. In addition to being in charge of paperwork and official dispatches from all levels, Mr. Sang has to upload information and documents to the digital system for storage, and attend meetings with all levels to grasp the sector's instructions.

"Teachers still have classes and breaks, but office work is always present, with constant meetings," he shared.

The whole school has only one accountant, Ms. Tran Thi Ngoc Thu at Nguyen Huu Cau High School (Ho Chi Minh City), who has to calculate salaries and benefits for the entire staff, manage assets, purchases in the school and many records. The most stressful times are when financial reports and tax settlements are required.

With a bachelor's degree, she enjoys a coefficient of 3.33, equivalent to a salary of 7.2 million VND/month after 12 years of working. Adding a responsibility allowance of 0.1%, each month Ms. Thu has an additional 200,000 VND.

Ms. Tam, Mr. Sang and Ms. Thu are currently school officials but do not enjoy preferential policies and allowances like teachers (30-70% of salary).

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training, nationwide there are about 246,800 people in this category, known as specialized and general professional civil servants. Of these, 95,600 are on the payroll, the rest are on contract.

According to Decree 204 of the Government, school staff are paid according to the coefficient of 1.86-4.89, equivalent to a monthly salary of 4.35-11.4 million VND. Depending on the job position, they need to have a secondary school degree or higher and appropriate professional certificates.

In the same group, medical staff receive a 20% preferential allowance; accountants, cashiers, and laboratory equipment managers receive a 0.1-0.2% responsibility allowance. Clerical, library, and IT staff do not receive any allowance.

In other state administrative agencies, clerks on the payroll are entitled to a 25% public service allowance.

At the regular Government press conference in October, the Ministry of Education and Training said it is researching and proposing to the Government to amend a number of policies so that school staff can receive vocational allowances appropriate to their position, job, and commensurate with the nature and level of training.

Having additional allowances or support policies is a long-standing desire of many school staff. Ms. Thu at Nguyen Huu Cau High School said she is luckier than many of her colleagues because Ho Chi Minh City provides additional income for civil servants and public employees. If she completes her tasks well, she can receive about 25 million VND in this amount each quarter.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Anh Mai, Principal of Nguyen Huu Cau High School, supports the plan to increase allowances for school staff. According to her, they are an important part, supporting and maintaining the operation of schools but have long received little attention, low salaries, insignificant or non-existent allowances.

"They are a disadvantaged group with little voice at school," said Ms. Mai.

She gave an example of a full-time accountant with a bachelor's degree, receiving a monthly salary of about 7 million VND, which is the highest salary in the school, while an academic staff member who is also a treasurer only receives 5 million VND. Meanwhile, they still have to work 44 hours a week, be present at school all the time, and still have to go to work on Saturdays if the school has work.

"With such a workload, they cannot do anything else outside. With a salary of 5-7 million VND, how can they live well in a big city?" Ms. Mai said.

In Vinh Phuc, the principal of an elementary school assessed that although they do not have to prepare lessons or teach classes like teachers, this group still has many activities with students such as psychological counseling, medical care or library services.

"Whether directly or indirectly, they contribute to the process of educating students of the school," he said. "The proposal of the ministry is legitimate and humane, and has a positive impact on the operation and quality of education."

During a survey, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc An, Chairman of the Vietnam Education Trade Union, also found that school staff were "disadvantaged". Working in the same environment, when compared with teachers' salaries, they saw the difference.

"The union has petitioned for more attention to be paid to this group," he said.

Ms. Thu said that although the salary is low, she still stays because the environment has many children and is fun, so she gradually stops thinking about working in a company. Ms. Tam stays because the job is stable.

"We hope to have more allowances or support policies, even if small, but it is recognition and encouragement," she said.