Many obstacles with the new general education program

An online training course on the new textbook program for teachers

The urgent problem in the implementation process is the lack of teachers, which is putting great pressure on the local education sector.

Deputy Director of Son La Department of Education and Training Nguyen Van Chien said that over the past two years, the locality has tried to recruit new teachers but there were very few applications submitted, and only a few people were interviewed.

The Department of Education and Training of Son La province has worked with Tay Bac University on training and supplying human resources for the locality, but it still cannot meet the demand. Meanwhile, Vice Chairwoman of Gia Lai Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Thi Thanh Lich said: The merger of schools will lead to some large-scale educational institutions not being in accordance with the school's charter, not ensuring the criteria for recognition of national standard schools... On the other hand, the facilities of many schools have not met the requirements; the number of classrooms for primary schools is still lacking, not ensuring 1 class/1 room.

The situation of local teacher surplus and shortage and difficulties in facilities also occurs in big cities. In Can Tho City, primary schools still lack 39 IT teachers and 36 English teachers; secondary schools do not have a source of second foreign language teachers; high schools do not have teachers in charge of teaching Music and Fine Arts.

In Da Nang City, secondary school science teachers have not been trained in time to meet the requirements of the new curriculum; recruiting cultural teachers has encountered many difficulties because the number of training courses at teacher training colleges each year has not met the actual needs of the locality. In addition, due to the rapid increase in student numbers, some primary schools have had to use functional rooms as classrooms to ensure two-session/day study; teaching equipment at all levels has not fully met the list of equipment for the new general education program.

Faced with difficulties in implementing the new general education program, the education sector has sought solutions to minimize the impact on teaching quality. Director of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training) Vu Minh Duc said: Recently, the Ministry of Education and Training has implemented a number of solutions for localities to gradually overcome the surplus and shortage of teachers.

The Ministry of Education and Training has proactively worked with the Ministry of Home Affairs to agree on the supplementary teacher quota for the sector according to the roadmap. In the immediate future, the education and training sector has proposed that competent authorities supplement 27,850 teachers for the new school year. The Ministry of Education and Training has assigned Hanoi National University of Education to research and accept the national-level project "Research on forecasting teacher training needs to 2025, vision to 2035", serving the planning of the network of teacher training schools, improving the quality of training in teacher training schools, meeting social needs.

The Ministry of Education and Training also requested localities to promote socialization and mobilize resources from foreign language and information technology centers to limit staff increase and use of state budget.

According to Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son, the innovation of general education programs is taking place quickly, on a large scale and in the context of being heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to fluctuations and many changes in human resources...

Therefore, the Ministry of Education and Training is actively working with competent authorities to achieve the quota; reviewing policies and mechanisms to remove obstacles in teacher recruitment. The Ministry will also direct teacher training colleges in teacher training and development...

On the part of provinces and cities, they should pay attention, make the most of and synthesize measures, thereby having additional recruitment targets, using local budgets for contracts, arranging inter-school teaching... to ensure that there are teachers to teach subjects in the new program. Regarding the purchase of teaching equipment, specialized units of the Ministry of Education and Training should consult and work with the Ministry of Finance to establish a price frame for equipment in the list of equipment prescribed by the Ministry.

According to People