New school year and new expectations for education

Tomorrow (September 5), teachers and students across the country will enter the new school year 2023-2024, a school year considered a breakthrough period in the process of reforming general education.

In the bustling, eager atmosphere preparing for the first day of school, the staff and teachers expressed their expectations for a school year with many changes in the regime, policies for teachers and investment resources for education.

Hope to increase resources for education

Sharing her joy about the changes in each school in Tien Giang, Ms. Nguyen Thi Duyen, Tan Hoa Thanh Primary School (Tan Phuoc District) said that the school is one of the schools in the rural area of ​​Tien Giang province.

In previous years, primary schools in the province faced many difficulties in organizing teaching and learning activities, especially schools in remote rural areas. However, with the attention of the Party and the State, most of the schools have been built spaciously, with adequate and standard desks and chairs for students and teachers, and dirt roads have been replaced by asphalt and concrete roads to help students get to school easily.

In addition, the locality also has support policies for poor, near-poor and disadvantaged students. Therefore, 100% of primary school-age children in the province have been able to attend school.

However, in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning according to the 2018 General Education Program, before the new school year, Ms. Nguyen Thi Duyen expressed her wish for more policies and resources to support schools to be fully equipped with teaching facilities to meet current practical needs. Because the facilities serving the new Program are still lacking, the equipment for each grade is still limited and not uniform, some classrooms are not fully equipped with computers, screens, projectors, and teaching equipment.

Regarding the salary regime for teachers, Ms. Duyen believes that every teacher participating in the education sector is very passionate about the profession, dedicated to their work, and constantly strives to improve their knowledge to improve the quality of teaching.

However, for a newly graduated teacher, the current salary is not enough to cover living expenses, many teachers have to change majors. Some students graduate but do not teach but apply to work in other majors due to low salaries. Therefore, in the near future, the State needs to have a more suitable salary level so that teachers can work with peace of mind.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huong, Principal of Le Hong Phong Primary School, Ngo Quyen District (Hai Phong) shared that the teachers' greatest wish is to have their policies and regimes resolved.policysuch as salary policy, salary according to qualifications; have a mechanism for teachers to be able to work extra with their own profession.

Receiving information that the Ministry of Education and Training is submitting to the Government the Law on Teachers, Ms. Huong expressed that this is good news. The Law on Teachers is a legal corridor to protect the legitimate rights and interests of teachers, demonstrating the Party and Government's concern for the teaching staff; creating opportunities for teachers to feel secure in their professional activities and make better contributions to the industry and the country.

As a teacher with nearly 15 years of experience teaching Music at the Junior High School level, Mr. Pham Ngoc An, Hung Dao Junior High School (Tien Lu district, Hung Yen province) expressed his joy with the innovations in the Music teaching program, especially for the first time, the content of musical instruments was included in the program.

However, Mr. An is concerned that although there are many subjects, students are not provided with musical instruments, making it difficult to implement or having to completely eliminate a subject that cannot be taught. Therefore, Mr. Pham Ngoc An hopes that investing in teaching equipment corresponding to the innovations in the 2018 General Education Program is a necessary condition for the successful implementation of this program.

In addition, Mr. An shared that as art teachers, teachers will also take on many other roles in the school such as the General Leader of the Youth Union; Secretary of the School Youth Union, busy work all year round, even working during the summer, practicing arts, and programs on holidays. However, the allowance for teachers in charge of the Youth Union is currently only about 1-2% of the basic salary/month, which is very low.

Not only that, if you are concurrently the Secretary of the Youth Union in primary and secondary schools, you have a lot of work to do, such as participating in Youth Union activities at all levels, implementing annual recruitment activities for Team members and Youth Union members, participating in extracurricular activities while doing professional activities and teaching, but teachers are not receiving any benefits such as reduced teaching hours or salary allowances.

Ms. Ly Thi Trinh Nguyen, Hoa Mi Kindergarten (Long My town, Hau Giang province) said that with the attention of the Party, the State, and leaders at all levels towards the education sector, many new policies and guidelines have been issued, including the policy on preferential allowances for teachers, which has brought about positive results, contributing to supporting income increase and ensuring necessary conditions for teachers to fully perform their roles and responsibilities.

Thereby, the quality of education is improved. However, currently, the salary and allowance regime for teachers, especially preschool teachers, is still low compared to other professions, so it is necessary to soon have adjustments commensurate with the efforts of teachers.

There will be movements in policy.

Sharing before the new school year, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that in the coming time, the Ministry of Education and Training will proactively overcome professional issues so that teachers feel more supported and facilitated in their work, reducing stress and pressure; increase training and guidance. At the same time, localities need to actively share experiences in organizing teaching, testing and evaluation.

In addition, the Ministry of Research proposed to adjust Decree 116/2020/ND-CP on teacher training, to remove obstacles related to local ordering mechanisms and support living expenses for pedagogical students.

The revised Decree 116 is expected to be completed this year and is expected to expand the source of teacher recruitment.

The Ministry of Education and Training is in the process of submitting to the National Assembly for temporary permission to recruit teachers according to the standards of the old Education Law and set a requirement that teachers must meet the standards by 2030. This is considered a temporary measure to have a source ofteacherflexible in teaching Computer Science and Foreign Languages.

Regarding the allowance regime for teachers, the Minister of Information and the Ministry of Education and Training are coordinating with the Ministry of Home Affairs to consult with other ministries and branches to submit to the Government a proposal to increase preferential allowances for preschool and primary school teachers.

Initially, the two ministries have reached an agreement, planning to increase the preferential allowance for preschool teachers by 10% and for primary school teachers by 5%. The remaining issue is to reach an agreement with the Ministry of Finance, report to the Government and ministries and branches. Hopefully, this will be agreed soon. Although the number is small, it will be a further encouragement for preschool and primary school teachers.

For preschool teachers, in the coming time, the Ministry of Education and Training will continue to consider and pay attention to the remuneration for teachers' long working hours. Because in reality, preschool teachers' working hours are currently longer than the prescribed time, because children come early and leave late according to their parents' working hours. This is also one of the reasons that creates pressure for preschool teachers.

Regarding the retirement age of preschool teachers - which has been mentioned and given much attention recently, the Government is currently adjusting the Law on Social Insurance and in its comments on the draft Law, the Ministry of Education and Training has officially proposed to include preschool teachers in the group of people doing heavy and hazardous work.

Therefore, there should be a retirement regime for heavy laborers, women should still be at the age of 55 but should ensure income and benefits so that there is no disadvantage.

Regarding the preparation of classrooms, libraries, subject classrooms and teaching equipment, Minister Nguyen Kim Son shared that due to economic conditions, different levels of interest and difficulties of each locality, meeting the conditions for innovation is still limited.

In the coming time, the Ministry of Education and Training will continue to make recommendations to ministries, branches and localities on the need to pay special attention to creating equality in access to education.

A new school year has begun, and proposals on policies and regimes for teachers are gradually changing positively. This is considered an important motivation for every teacher across the country to feel secure in their work; for every teacher who is staying close to the village every day, sowing knowledge in remote areas, to have more faith and strength to stick with students and the teaching profession; to constantly strive, work hard, and bravely face difficulties and challenges to successfully carry out the cause of educational innovation.