The Ministry of Education and Training stated the reasons for the need to increase salaries and allowances for teachers.

(NLDO)- In the past 3 years, over 40,000 teachers nationwide have quit their jobs. The implementation of salary policies, allowances... for teachers still has some shortcomings.

The Ministry of Education and Training said that as of April 2025, the whole country still lacked 102,097 teachers at all levels of preschool and general education in the payroll compared to the prescribed norms of the Ministry of Education and Training (of which preschool lacked 30,057, primary school lacked 22,255, secondary school lacked 30,702, high school lacked 19,083).

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the implementation of salary policies, allowances, and preferential policies for teachers still has some shortcomings. Photo: Van Hien

According to statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training in the 3 school years, from August 2020 to August 2023, the whole country had more than 40,000 teachers quit their jobs, changed jobs, teachers quit their jobs under the age of 35 accounted for 60% of the total number of quits.

From August 2023 to April 2024, 7,215 teachers quit their jobs, of which the number of teachers quitting the profession at preschool level accounts for a high proportion (about 1,600 teachers, accounting for about 22%) and gradually decreases according to the levels of education from low to high.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the implementation of salary policies, allowances, and preferential policies for teachers still has some shortcomings.

Teachers enjoy preferential allowances depending on their profession from 25% to 70%, of which most teachers only enjoy allowances of 25% - 35% (about 76%) - mainly concentrated in the plains and cities where the standard of living is higher than other regions; higher levels only apply to special cases.

Besides, in the first 5 years of work, new teachers only receive salary according to salary coefficient and preferential allowance, without seniority allowance, so the total income is still low, therefore, there is a big gap compared to experienced teachers even though the basic tasks are the same.

Specifically, the lowest salary of preschool teachers is about 6.6 million VND, primary school teachers is about 7.3 million VND, middle school, high school and university preparatory teachers is about 7.1 million VND; there is a huge gap compared to the highest salaries of teachers, respectively 20.6 million VND, 24.6 million VND, 28.5 million VND and 30.5 million VND; lower than the average salary of 7.7 million VND of workers in 2024.

Income that is not enough to live on is also part of the reason why the number of teachers quitting their jobs has increased in recent years, especially among young teachers under 35 years old.

According to the Ministry of Education and Training, the issuance of a Decree regulating salary policies and allowances for teachers is necessary to overcome existing shortcomings, ensure stable quantity, and improve the quality of the teaching staff.

Another reason, according to the Ministry of Education and Training, is that the policy has not been implemented: Teachers' salaries are given the highest priority in the administrative career salary scale.

Specifically, the salary scale applied to civil servants in general includes 10 salary scales arranged from low to high, respectively C1, C2, C3, B, A0, A1, A2.2, A2.1, A3.2, A3.1 (with levels from 1 to 12, the number of levels depends on the type of civil servant).

However, the current salary classification for teaching positions is that only 3 positions are subject to the salary of A3 type officials (including A3.2 and A3.1 - the 2 highest salary scales), which are senior university lecturers (including professors and associate professors), senior vocational education lecturers, and senior vocational education teachers; accounting for about 1.17% of the total number of teachers. Meanwhile, in other sectors and fields, about 10% of officials are subject to the salary of A3 type officials.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Education and Training, the tasks of all first-class civil servants in general are similar to those of senior teachers (first-class), which are to develop documents and guide lower-class civil servants; act as judges, set questions or give instructions at competitions and contests; be a pioneer group in developing and implementing innovation directions for the industry... and especially do not require policy-making tasks like civil servants.

The salaries of most teachers (except college and university lecturers and vocational education teachers) are lower than those of civil servants in other sectors such as healthcare (doctors, pharmacists), construction (architects, accountants), transportation (road technicians, managers, construction maintenance, etc.), justice (criminal records officers, etc.), culture - sports (directors, actors, artists, coaches, etc.), science and technology (researchers, engineers), and information and communication (reporters, translators, television directors).

Civil servants in other sectors are classified into 3-4 ranks (from rank IV to rank I), receiving salaries from A1-A2.1-A3.1 (corresponding to the salary scale 6-8-10). Except for university and college lecturers and vocational education teachers, teachers are also classified into 3-4 ranks (from rank IV to rank I), most of whom are receiving salaries from A0-A1-A2.2-A2.1 (corresponding to the salary scale 5-6-7-8) and are preschool, general education, university preparatory, and continuing education teachers (accounting for about 88% of the total number of teachers).

In addition, Point c, Clause 1, Article 23 of the Law on Teachers stipulates that "preschool teachers... are entitled to a higher salary and allowance regime than teachers working under normal conditions". However, currently, preschool teachers' salaries are ranked lowest compared to other teaching positions (A0-A1-A2) and almost lowest compared to civil servants in other sectors and fields...

Source: https://nld.com.vn/bo-gd-dt-neu-ly-do-can-tang-luong-phu-cap-cho-giao-vien-196251103110132181.htm