Minister of Education: Teachers' salaries are not enough to live on, leading to extra teaching

(Dan Tri) - Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son said that one of the reasons for extra teaching and learning is that teachers' salaries are not enough to live on.

Have to teach and learn extra because... "not enough"

Questioning the Minister of Education and Training at the National Assembly on the afternoon of June 19, delegate Nguyen Thi Tuyet Nga (Quang Binh) stated that the widespread practice of extra teaching and learning is putting pressure on students, negatively affecting the school environment and going against the spirit of educational innovation.

Delegates highly appreciated the Ministryof Education and Training's issuance of Circular 29, especially the drastic and consistent directions of the Minister of Education and Training to rectify this situation.

Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son (Photo: Pham Thang).

"However, Circular 29 is still not a perfect solution, especially in a school environment where the pressure of achievement and exams is heavy, and social expectations are still very high. I would like to ask the Minister the fundamental and core causes of this situation and the fundamental solutions to solve these problems," the delegate questioned.

Regarding the reason for extra teaching and learning, Minister Nguyen Kim Son said that extra teaching and learning is necessary because it is not enough.

The Minister pointed out that there are still many things that are not enough. First of all, teachers' salaries are not enough to live on, and then there are not enough schools and classes so that students do not have to compete, especially in big cities, urban areas, and densely populated areas.

In addition, Mr. Son said, parents do not have enough confidence and do not feel satisfied when their children do not achieve high results. In addition, innovation in teaching and learning also needs to be done more in the near future.

"Therefore, there are many "not yet" things that still require extra teaching and learning. In addition, management and operating mechanisms are also not enough, so that is the root of the problem," the Minister stated.

According to him, the core to solving this problem is the shift from education that approaches knowledge provision to developing children's capacity, of which the 2018 general education program is the soul.

To fundamentally solve this problem, the Minister said that it is difficult to overcome it "overnight", but requires a very comprehensive solution.

Large enrollment scale can lead to consequences in training

Delegate Nguyen Danh Tu ( Kien Giang ) said that according to the report, along with university autonomy and diversification in enrollment, many schools have increased their enrollment capacity to generate revenue from tuition fees. This situation directly affects the quality of human resources, especially high-quality human resources.

The delegates asked the Minister to state the causes, management responsibilities, and solutions for higher education to contribute to improving people's knowledge, training human resources, nurturing talents, practical learning, experimentation, good teaching, good learning, and good management.

Answering this question, Minister Nguyen Kim Son admitted that this is a real phenomenon in some universities, not all. Some universities with a scale of 30,000-40,000 students are real.

Delegate Nguyen Danh Tu (Photo: Pham Thang).

Regarding the reasons for the increase in the size of some universities, the Minister stated that one of the reasons was related to tuition fees. This tuition fee is a significant amount compared to the difficult living standards of the people.

Currently, the average tuition fee of public universities in Vietnam is 25 million VND/year, equivalent to about 1,000 USD/year, while the tuition fee of some lower majors is 15-20 million/year.

Mr. Son cited the average tuition fee of American universities at 55,000-60,000 USD/year. Compared to the cost of 1,000 USD/year in our country, it is only 1/50 of the average cost of universities in the US.

"If the above amount of money is needed to ensure the operation of a university, schools tend to increase their scale, using the scale to compensate for the operating revenue of the school. That is because schools mainly rely on tuition fees," said the Minister.

Other sources of income for schools from services, budget support, and scientific and technological research revenue are very little.

The Minister admitted that with large-scale enrollment schools, there will be risks and consequences affecting training quality.

Regarding solutions in state management, the Minister said that there will be strict control, ensuring full quality with enrollment rates, and inspection tools forcing schools to comply with quality assurance conditions.

At the same time, Mr. Son said that we must also consider state budget support for public schools, not just rely on tuition fees. In addition, we need to support students from different sources.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/bo-truong-giao-duc-luong-giao-vien-chua-du-song-dan-den-day-them-20250619192954863.htm