Ministry of Education and Training: Teachers' salary policy is not a 'favor'

TPO - Mr. Vu Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training) said that "teachers' salaries being ranked highest in the administrative career salary scale system" is not a "favor" but a worthy treatment for teachers. In fact, for many years, teachers' salaries have not been ranked highest in the administrative career salary scale system.

The Ministry of Education and Training is seeking comments on the draft Decree regulating salary policies and allowances for teachers. Commenting on the draft, the Ministry of Home Affairs said: the "special salary coefficient" applying the special salary coefficient of 1.25 for preschool teachers, 1.15 for general education teachers in the draft has no legal basis, breaking the design of the salary system.

According to Mr. Vu Minh Duc, over the past 29 years, the policy of "teachers' salaries being given the highest priority in the administrative salary scale system" and in addition to salaries, teachers "have additional allowances depending on the nature of work and region" has always been identified as a consistent task and solution in resolutions and conclusions.

"Special salary coefficient" is a specific policy solution to implement "Teachers' salaries are ranked highest in the administrative career salary scale system", with political and legal basis.

Mr. Vu Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers (Ministry of Education and Training)

The Ministry of Education and Training affirmed that the regulation of "special salary coefficient" does not disrupt the design of the current salary system because the special salary coefficient is only used to calculate the salary level (which is the basic salary calculated according to the current salary coefficient) according to the formula:

Salary effective from January 1, 2026

=

Basic salary

x

Current salary coefficient

x

Special salary coefficient

Basically, with this calculation method, the salary scale of teachers still uses the general salary scale for civil servants of public service units, only with an additional special coefficient to ensure the principle that "teachers' salaries are ranked highest in the administrative career salary scale".

According to Mr. Duc, since determining that "education and training is the top national policy" and teachers "are the decisive factor in the quality of education and are honored by society", the Party also determined the policy of ranking teachers' salaries "highest" in the administrative career salary scale system to match the position and role of teachers.

But the actual salary structure of teachers is not as per the policy that has been established for the past 29 years. “Teachers’ salaries are not currently ranked at the highest level in the administrative and career salary scale system, and most teachers are even ranked at a lower salary scale,” he said.

Specifically, currently only about 12% of teachers are classified into 3 salary groups: A1 - A2.1 - A3.1, but almost 100% of civil servants in other sectors and fields are classified into these 3 salary groups. In reality, with this salary classification, the teaching profession has not been recognized and honored as it deserves, as the Party's policies have determined.

Salary policy is not a "favor"

The Director of the Department of Teachers and Educational Managers also said that the Ministry of Education and Training's proposal of policy contents in the draft Decree regulating salary policies and allowance regimes for teachers is completely to carry out the tasks assigned by the National Assembly and the Government according to the provisions of the Law on Teachers.

Most of the comments submitted agreed with the provisions of the draft Decree. The Ministry will compile the comments and submit them to the Government for consideration and decision.

On the other hand, it is also necessary to affirm that the ranking of "Teachers' salaries at the highest level in the administrative career salary scale system" is not a "favor" but a worthy treatment for teachers.

Paying high salaries is a way to recognize the value of a certain profession. With the special nature of labor, creating products of knowledge and a highly qualified workforce; taking on the role of "deciding the future of the nation" as Resolution 71 of the Politburo has just issued, "having a special coefficient" so that teachers' salaries are the highest in the administrative career salary scale is a worthy treatment for the role, position and responsibility of teachers.

The Ministry of Education and Training informed that before developing and promulgating the Law on Teachers, statistics for the 2022-2023 school year showed that the rate of teachers quitting or changing jobs was about 10% of the total number of teachers; most of whom were teachers under 35 years old (accounting for 61%).

At the same time, recruiting teachers in all localities is difficult in terms of resources, especially in large urban areas. The entrance scores of teacher training colleges are low, affecting the quality of teacher training.

After the Law on Teachers was passed by the National Assembly, the salary policy provisions in the Law immediately had a positive impact on the enrollment of teacher training colleges and the recruitment of teachers in localities. The benchmark scores of teacher training colleges are high compared to other professions. The rate of people applying to become teachers in many localities is 7-10 times higher than the recruitment target. Some subjects that were difficult to recruit in the past (such as Foreign Languages, Information Technology, Fine Arts, Music, etc.) now have many applicants.

"The Ministry of Education and Training will continue to perfect the content of the regulations to demonstrate the consistency of the Party and State's policies and viewpoints on teachers' salaries over the past nearly 30 years as mentioned above. At the same time, the Ministry will coordinate with the Ministry of Finance to calculate and determine the budget source to implement the policy contents in the Decree, ensuring feasibility with the socio-economic development situation of the country," Mr. Vu Minh Duc affirmed.

In the Draft Decree regulating salary policy and allowance regime for teachers, the Ministry of Education and Training proposed that all teachers enjoy a "special salary coefficient". In particular, preschool teachers enjoy a special salary coefficient of 1.25 compared to the current salary coefficient; other teacher positions enjoy a special salary coefficient of 1.15 compared to the current salary coefficient.

However, commenting on this draft, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the regulation of a special salary coefficient for teachers has no political or legal basis. Currently, teachers apply the general salary scale and salary allowances including: seniority allowance, preferential allowance for teachers from 25 - 70%, so the total salary and allowances, teachers' salaries are the highest in all career sectors.

Source: https://tienphong.vn/bo-gddt-chinh-sach-ve-luong-nha-giao-khong-phai-la-mot-an-hue-post1796222.tpo