Vietnam - Poor pay, conditions make teachers resign

Overloaded kindergartens, teacher shortages, industrial parks without kindergartens in HCM City and related problems dominated discussions during a TV talkshow held last Sunday

Speaking at the "Listen and Discuss" show focusing on pre-school education in the city, Nguyen Thi Quyet Tam, chairwoman of the HCM City People's Council, said many kindergarten teachers suffered high work tension but their incomes were not sufficient to make ends meet.

Last academic year, the city's pre-school education sector saw 422 teachers and staff quitting their jobs because the work was very hard and the income very low, according to the city's Department of Training and Education.

Nguyen Thi Bich Lien, a teacher at the Be Ngoan Kindergarten in District 8, said: "I care for 40 students. I have to come to the school at 6.30 am, then I clean the classroom, teach and feed students. When the students sleep at noon I take this time to clean their toys. I have to work from the morning until dusk.

"But my salary is less than VND3 million (USD142) a month," Lien said.

Huynh Cong Hung, head of the city legislative body's Culture and Social Affairs Division, said newly graduated kindergarten teachers received VND2.1 million a month while those with a lot of experience received about VND5.4 million a month.

The Government should have policies and plans to address the salary issue for kindergarten teachers so they can make a decent living from the profession, Hung said.

"If this issue is not resolved soon, the situation of teacher shortage will be prolonged and affect the target of making kindergarten education compulsory for all five-year old children," he said.

Le Hong Son, director of the city's Department of Education and Training, said his office would ask the municipal administration to introduce preferential policies for recruiting kindergarten teachers.

Hua Ngoc Thuan, deputy chairman of the city People's Committee, said the city's investment in classrooms has not been able to keep up with the population growth.

The city's 12 industrial parks (IPs) and export processing zones (EPZs), which had a total of 260,000 workers, did not have kindergartens, participants said at the meeting.

Nguyen Van Be, general director of the Linh Trung Export Processing Zone in Thu Duc District, said workers had to send their children to family-run nurseries despite not feeling secure about the quality and safety of these establishments.

Thuan said the city would review all IPs and EPZs to find land for building kindergartens and ask district administrations to draw up plans for having them built at IPs and EPZs with funds from the State budget.

Nguyen Quy Hoa, a representative of the city People's Council, said the administration should have clear policies to strengthen private investment in pre-school education to deal with the situation of overloaded kindergartens.

Tam said the city's National Assembly deputies would continue petitioning the parliament to amend policies and salaries to benefit kindergarten teachers.

VNS

Business & Investment Opportunities

YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd, Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Consulting, Investment and Management, focusing three main economic sectors: International PR; Healthcare & Wellness;and Tourism & Hospitality. We also propose Higher Education, as a bridge between educational structures and industries, by supporting international programs. Sign up with twitter to get news updates with @SaigonBusinessC. Thanks.