>> Few male teachers for kindergarten schools
So far this year, more than 400 pre-school teachers and staff in Ho Chi Minh City have quit their jobs due to heavy workloads coupled with low pay.
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| Many pre-school teachers in Ho Chi Minh City have quit their jobs due to heavy workloads coupled with low pay |
Tran Thi Kim Thanh, Deputy Director of the municipal Department of Education and Training, said recently that the city has 759 public and private pre-schools, with nearly 11,000 teachers. This number of teachers is not sufficient to ensure an acceptable teacher-to-student ratio. Ho Chi Minh City does not currently meet the quota for teachers set by the Ministry of Education and Training. The city also is in need of educational administrators.
This issue was highlighted at a recent meeting between the municipal Department of Education and Training and the local People\'s Council.
At the meeting, Thanh added that the main reason that teachers are quitting their jobs is low salary. The average income of nursery-school teachers is VND1.8 to VND2.4 million (USD86.53 to USD115.38) per month. They often work more than 12 hours a day. Schools are also short on other types of staff, including cooks and security, who make even less.
According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, since 1996, local pre-schools have been charging VND3,000-5,000 (USD0.14-0.24) for each student every month for hygienic fees and VND30,000-50,000 (USD1.4-2.4) per month for each boarding school student. These fees are not in balance with rising prices in the country, much less offering competitive wages or chances for upgrades to facilities.
The department proposed to raise hygiene fees by VND15,000 to 20,000 (USD0.72-0.96), and fees for boarding school students by VND150,000 to 200,000 (USD7.2-9.6) per month.
The shortage of public pre-schools also remains a problem in Ho Chi Minh City. Up to 13 wards in the city have no public pre-schools or schools for disabled children.
At the meeting, representatives from the People’s Council recommended that the local education sector scrutinise pre-schools to gather more information about the most severe shortfalls in education, infrastructure and the quality of meals.
They also recommended that the Department of Education gather the opinions of parents and submit a plan for raising school fees to the municipal authorities.
